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RE: What is Public Domain Entertainment – A Formal Introduction from a Longtime Steemian

I believe Arthur Nikisch's recording of Beethoven's Fifth is public domain, which may be of interest to any classical music fans on Steemit. It's been uploaded to YouTube, and I expect there are a handful of CD and LP releases from various publishers - to say nothing of the original 78s.

It was conducted by Arthur Nikisch and played by the Berlin Philharmonic. (Despite what some dated sources may say, it was not the first complete Beethoven's 5th. At least two predate it.) Despite its great age it's a magnificent performance - Nikisch after all could be called the father of the school of conducting that lead to such incredible luminaries as Furtwangler, Scherchen, Mengelberg, Celibidache and other highly individual, emotionally-charged and passionate - "Romantic" - conductors.

The recordings themselves date back to the acoustic era of recording. For those unfamiliar, this was before the advent of the microphone: a recording horn was used. For orchestral music this made recording very difficult - instruments had to be positioned differently, the size of the ensemble had to be drastically cut down to fit into a room, violins would be replaced by Stroh violins, cellos and basses would be replaced by tubas and such to strengthen the bass as the recording horn didn't capture bass very well.

Though incredibly old and fuzzy, it is true what that say about the ears being the best 'filter' and 'cleaner' of audio. If you listen through it, you will find - despite the fuzz, despite the muted sound, despite the limits of the recording horn, despite its age of 105 years! - it is a fantastic performance. (Of the three YouTube uploads linked above, I recommend the last of them, which links to the first movement. The same uploader has the other three movements on his channel as well.)


I am probably in the minority in that my greatest interest will emerge with recordings of classical music.

That said, you have my follow - I look forward to seeing more!

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Music is a fundamental staple of the public domain. I will certainly be focusing on music and old radio shows that are now public domain. I am sure more than a few eyes will be opened at some of this content. Get your CD burner ready to create those custom public domain music compilations.

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