A Fifth of Beethoven Piano Cover by Don Puryear

A FIFTH OF BEETHOVEN Piano Cover by Don Puryear

Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, commonly known as “Beethoven’s Fifth”, is one of the most well-known and popular compositions in classical music.

In 1976, Walter Murphy wrote a famous disco version “A Fifth of Beethoven,” an adaptation of the first movement of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony in C Minor. Murphy’s A Fifth of Beethoven was a smash hit, reaching Number 80 on the Hot 100 in May of 1976, ultimately becoming a Top 40 hit. It reached #1 after 19 weeks, holding the Number One position for a week.

In 1977, A Fifth of Beethoven was licensed to RSO Records to be included in the soundtrack of the movie Saturday Night Fever starring John Travolta.

The song title — A Fifth of Beethoven — was a play on the classical title, Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, which is often simply called “Beethoven’s Fifth”, and a “fifth” which is a common size for bottles of hard liquor. A Fifth of Beethoven remains one of the most popular and recognizable songs from the disco era.

This performance is my cover arrangement of Walter Murphy’s “A Fifth of Beethoven”.

Beethoven’s Fifth is written in C Minor. The symphony was written between 1804 and 1808, and was first performed in 1808. ETA Hoffman described Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony as “one of the most important works of the time.”

For fans of the classical version of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, check out this INCREDIBLE duet: http://youtu.be/ow1oUqmDexw

If you’d like to hear A Fifth of Beethoven from the soundtrack of Saturday Night Fever, check out this video: http://youtu.be/4MFbn8EbB4k

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Fifth_of_Beethoven
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_van_Beethoven