Comparing 5 conductors VERY different openings of Beethoven 5th Symphony (& why they chose that)

Today I have a look at Beethoven's 5th symphony opening bars, to see what he wrote and why it's so open to many different interpretations. I'll discuss the tempo, what's the deal with the fermatas and what conducting challenges there are, and for this I will use versions from Carlos Kleiber, Claudio Abbado, Herbert von Karajan, Pierre Boulez, Bruno Walter and John Eliot Gardiner.

VIDEOS ON THE WHOLE METRONOME DEBACLE
~~ Jaime Altozano's great summary video (only in Spanish but worth it!!)    • el ENIGMA del metrónomo de Beethoven... re...  
~~ HOWEVER, in this video he discusses a study on Beethoven's metronome which IS in English from Almudena Martin-Castro and Iñaki Ucar:
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/art...
~~ Authentic Sound (Wim Winters) thesis:    / authenticsound  

THE ULTIMATE BEETHOVEN 5TH COMPARISON VIDEO
Beethoven - Symphony No. 5 opening (42 conductors + 1 pianist)
   • Beethoven - Symphony No. 5 opening (42 con...  

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This video uses very small fragments of Beethoven's 5th symphony conducted by Carlos Kleiber, Claudio Abbado, Herbert von Karajan, Pierre Boulez, Bruno Walter and John Eliot Gardiner for educational purposes