Recording
Symphony No. 5 in C minor
Ludwig van Beethoven
- Released
- 1808
- On one list
- Classical Period
- Updated
- 2026-08-30
Analysis
12 sections, the first drop of 9 at 0:15, 3% of the way in.
- Tempo
- 95.7 BPM
- holds throughout
- Key
- C minor
- estimated from the pitch content
- Dynamic range
- 18.8 dB
- wide open — the quiet parts are genuinely quiet
- Length
- 7:18
- measured from the YouTube master
The record, end to end
Click the track to jump · ← → move between sections
- 0:00Aintro0
- 0:31Bpeakbar 13
- 0:44Abreakdownbar 18
- 1:04Csteadybar 26
- 1:34Abreakdownbar 38
- 1:57Bpeakbar 47
- 2:10Abreakdownbar 52
- 2:30Asteadybar 60
- 4:18Dbreakdownbar 103
- 4:44Bliftbar 113
- 5:00Abreakdownbar 120
- 5:28Csteadybar 131
Drops at 0:15 (bar 6), 1:08 (bar 27), 1:41 (bar 41), 2:34 (bar 62), 3:22 (bar 81), 3:59 (bar 96), 4:44 (bar 113), 5:56 (bar 142), 7:01 (bar 168). A drop is a moment, not a stretch — marked on the track above rather than shaded across it.
0:00 · A · intro
opens the record below its own average energy · instrumental · one of 6 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 0:31
- Energy
- 26
- Brightness
- 38
- Density
- 56
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
sits at the top of this record's range · instrumental · one of 3 stretches of the same music (B)
- Lasts
- 0:12
- Energy
- 100
- Brightness
- 45
- Density
- 100
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
energy falling away mid-record, percussion thinning · instrumental · one of 6 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 0:21
- Energy
- 17
- Brightness
- 10
- Density
- 32
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
holding a level — the groove, neither rising nor falling · instrumental · one of 2 stretches of the same music (C)
- Lasts
- 0:30
- Energy
- 76
- Brightness
- 63
- Density
- 67
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
energy falling away mid-record, percussion thinning · instrumental · one of 6 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 0:24
- Energy
- 27
- Brightness
- 43
- Density
- 59
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
sits at the top of this record's range · instrumental · one of 3 stretches of the same music (B)
- Lasts
- 0:12
- Energy
- 100
- Brightness
- 46
- Density
- 97
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
energy falling away mid-record, percussion thinning · instrumental · one of 6 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 0:20
- Energy
- 18
- Brightness
- 0
- Density
- 32
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
holding a level — the groove, neither rising nor falling · instrumental · one of 6 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 1:48
- Energy
- 51
- Brightness
- 36
- Density
- 55
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
energy falling away mid-record, percussion thinning · instrumental
- Lasts
- 0:26
- Energy
- 0
- Brightness
- 15
- Density
- 0
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
a short rise that does not resolve — a fill or a transition, not a build · instrumental · one of 3 stretches of the same music (B)
- Lasts
- 0:16
- Energy
- 79
- Brightness
- 47
- Density
- 99
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
energy falling away mid-record, percussion thinning · instrumental · one of 6 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 0:29
- Energy
- 23
- Brightness
- 24
- Density
- 29
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
holding a level — the groove, neither rising nor falling · instrumental · one of 2 stretches of the same music (C)
- Lasts
- 1:50
- Energy
- 78
- Brightness
- 100
- Density
- 61
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
Brightness and density are scored against this record's own sections, not against music in general — they say how its parts differ from each other, and nothing about how it compares to anything else.
- drums
- the drum kit, separated from the mix
- bass
- the bass part, separated from the mix
- vocals
- the voice, separated from the mix
- other
- everything else — synths, guitars, keys, strings
Separated into parts by a source-separation model, so each lane is the instrument it names.
- intro
- opens the record below its own average energy
- peak
- sits at the top of this record's range
- breakdown
- energy falling away mid-record, percussion thinning
- steady
- holding a level — the groove, neither rising nor falling
- lift
- a short rise that does not resolve — a fill or a transition, not a build
Measured from the YouTube master on . Section labels describe how the energy of the recording moves, not its musical form — a machine can see loudness climb and jump, it cannot hear a chorus arrive. Anything we were not confident enough to state is left out rather than shown with a caveat.
Ranked No. 1 in Classical Period
Four notes, and a forty-minute argument about what can be built from them. The most famous opening in music is also the most thoroughly worked-out, which is not a coincidence.