The struggle for self expression was evidently severe, as Beethoven is said to have rewritten the symphony no less than three times, yet there is no trace of hesitancy in the finished work, which is on an altogether more spacious scale than it’s predecessor. Both the introduction and the slow movement are longer than anything of the kind written up to that time.

The introductory adagio molto is remarkable for its imposing unisons, the rich ornamental treatment of the strings and woodwind, and the overall modulatory freedom. It runs without a pause into the allegro con brio, of which the principal subject is no more than an ornamental version of the notes of the common chord of D, swinging up and down. This is repeated at a higher level, and is joined by new figures, gradually pressing on with increasing urgency towards the broad rising phrase of the second subject, in the dominant. The whole of the exposition is based on the simplest elements of scale and arpeggio, but the effect is of a series of brilliant surprises. The whole movement, with its flourishing and upward striving has a fanfare-like bravado.

The slow movement, in which trumpets and drums are silent, is a lyrical outpouring in which Beethoven unfolds one lovely melody after another. The development, in a free and rhapsodically shaped sonata form, brings a long sequence of darker moods; the only real indication in the whole work of Beethoven’s inner turmoil. By way of contrast the prevailing mood of the scherzo is altogether high spirited, with dramatic dynamic and harmonic contrasts. The trio, still in D, starts with a gentler theme harmonised in four parts for oboes and bassoons, reinforced by horns at the sixth bar, which is repeated before the strings plunge unexpectedly into F sharp major.

The finale appears to carry on the boisterous character of the scherzo, eventually giving way to a kind of ‘obbligado polyphony’, almost in the Baroque manner, but here Beethoven employs a total of three different thematic groups thus creating a framework that avoids looking back to historic models, but applies structural principles of the composer’s own design from the outset. After a wide variety of different treatments there is a final round up of all the themes and a lengthy coda which contains a number of significant new ideas, before the movement runs to its exuberant close.