Ludwig Von Beethoven, was born in 1770, in the town of Bonn, the son of court tenor and musician, Johann van Beethoven. At the age of eight, he gave his first public performance as a pianist. Tragically, the last ten years of life life he spent in deafness. The deterioration was slow and many would have given up in despair, but Beethoven threw himself into composing until his death in 1827, where some 30,000 mourners and onlookers attended his funeral procession, to honor the greatest composer of his day, on March 26 of that year.
Recently, live performances of Beethoven's first five symphonies, were broadcast as part of "The Beethoven Experience" on BBC Radio. Free downloads were then offered to the public and this resulted in some 657,399 requests during the week long trial. The digital classics featured the BBC Philharmonic in Manchester, conducted by Gianandrea Noseda. This trial occured between June 5-10, in which the complete works of Beethoven were broadcast in one week.
"The success shows Beethoven's enduring appeal and we hope this will encourage new audiences to explore online classical music." Simon Nelson, Controller of BBC Radio & Music Interactive, said: "This trial was all about gauging listeners' appetite for downloads and the results are astonishing. "We are hopeful that we have attracted people who wouldn't previously have explored much classical music, as well as inspiring others to embrace digital technology." Gianandrea Noseda added: "I'm thrilled that our performances have reached such a large, new audience and hope this trial will encourage more people to experience and enjoy orchestral music live in concert." |
The remaining symphonies '“ numbers 6 to 9 will be offered later this month, so head over to Music Industry News if you would like to participate and show your support for this type public program! The BBC has also made an announcement it will be offering more podcasts and downloads, to get a better idea of audiences' appetite for such activities. Sounds great to me.
Source: Music Industry News
