Summary: <p>There are few musical moments more well-worn than the first four notes of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. But in this short, we find out that Beethoven might have made a last-ditch effort to keep his music from ever feeling familiar, to keep pushing his listeners to a kind of psychological limit.</p> <p>Big thanks to the folks at <a href="http://www.alanpierson.com/">Brooklyn Philharmonic</a>: Conductor Alan Pierson, Deborah Buck and Suzy Perelman on violin, Arash Amini on cello, and Ah Ling Neu on viola.</p> <p>And check out <a href="https://www.symphonystore.com/the-first-four-notes-guerrieri.html">The First Four Notes</a>, Matthew Guerrieri's book on Beethoven's Fifth.</p> <p>Support<em> Radiolab today at <a href="https://pledge3.wnyc.org/donate/radiolab-it/onestep/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=notes&utm_campaign=membership&utm_content=radiolab" target="_blank">Radiolab.org/donate</a>. </em></p>
