"A Fifth of Beethoven" is an instrumental composer and arranger of U.S. Walter Murphy & The Big Apple Band , which was released as single on May 29 in 1976 and drew considerable attention worldwide after mixing modern sounds of disco music with parts of the famous Beethoven's 5th Symphony .
Music History Murphy began when he was four years old and attending classes with his tutor body, the famous Rosa Rio, who then had a great reputation all over Manhattan by playing in several radio-opera that played the cold winter nights.
At that time, Rio taught in a small room in a house label, and that was where he learned Murphy reading notes by color, which was a popular strategy to facilitate the reading scores. Years passed, and Murphy came to manage well the instrument, and even appeared in several commercials promoting the brand acclaimed Hammond and also share the stage with his teacher River. As a teenager
Murphy, who was already playing the piano own several pieces of jazz, he enrolled in the School of Music Manhattan, where he completed the musical arrangements and composition, being the best student of his promotion and that while a student and had a good curriculum which highlighted his work as arranger for several of the famous instrumental jazz trumpeter Doc Severensen .
After graduating from the School of Music, Murphy began a celebrated career as a composer of jingles for TV and movie soundtracks children. With several brands and companies in need of their services, the pianist decided to give free rein to these ideas and gain a place in the music business.
But if there was something he called more attention to Murphy was the Rock. Since he had called, began to form several bands where he got his taste the smooth rock of the 60's playing the piano in many Pub's and college parties with friends.
Perp was not until the late 60's when he had the interesting idea of \u200b\u200bmixing pieces of music Docta rhythm Rock and Disco, and what I encouraged him to go for that experiment was to hear two songs influenced by the works Composer Johann Sebastian Bach : "Joy" in the hands of the experimental band British Apollo 100 and "A Lover's Concerto" by the American band The Toys ; the which were very popular on the radio and lamaron considerable attention among the public.
Based on these works, Murphy began recording several " demos with adaptations to the disco recognized in several pieces of classical music. Once finished, he decided to send to various record labels in New York, and sat down to wait for their answers ...
"I had this crazy idea to make symphonic music and combine it with the current pace after seeing that no one had done in those years. So I took it as an experiment that went far beyond pop music, but with the idea to get a hit single "s WM ENAL years later in an interview to a radio station in New York.
spent a few weeks, and Murphy received a proposal from the Private Stock label to record a single. Of course, the only piece that caught the attention of the owners of the label was "A Fifth of Beethoven" it was a piece that mixed the famous work of this famous German musician with all the "power" Disc. Another thing I asked
seal the author of this striking piece of music, was to use the name of a band to be promoted as the best single. That's how the producers invented Big Apple Band , An invisible band as each instrument in the melody was played through by Murphy.
"It was I who wrote the song, I fixed it, I played most of the instrument, so that the single had to carry my name. But producers did not like the idea of \u200b\u200ba solo so they decided to invent a backing band called Big Apple Band . Although I expressed my opposition to such ideas, I had to accept it ... They just sent " mention years after the author of this extraordinary piece of music.
After accepting this proposal, "A Fifth of Beethoven" was released as a single in late May 1976 year in a few days and was ranked # 80 on the Billboard Hot 100.
"I was driving through New York, and suddenly I heard my song on the radio. From the impression I was almost buried in a tree. Is that he knew the song already sounded in various parts of the United States, but until that entnces received no news if sounded in New York. It was then when I heard that the disc had sold 750,000 copies, "said a surprised Murphy to Billboard magazine in 1976.
On October 9, 1976, "A Fifth of Beethoven" led the Billboard Hot 100 and the way the press reported that the single had sold 2 million copies worldwide. Obviously Murphy jumped for joy and enjoying his fame throughout the U.S. playing their musical experimentations .. .
But in January 1977, Murphy received a "buzz" of a producer who asked that song rights to be included in the soundtrack of the upcoming film starring John Travolta . This tape was called Saturday Night Fever . sto
About the author of the song said " nobody knew what it was that movie but they wanted it or yes use "A Fifth of Beethoven" on the soundtrack . We said to me he was fine, served to further promote total. At that time we had no idea they were in front of the soundtrack that would best seller in the history of pop music live that moment when we could not believe, again we were touched by luck. "
After
pring this musical, WM success began to wane as the price of the dollar. Slowly faith passing into oblivion for many people, but not stopped throwing singles, none of these works had the impact of this extraordinary piece influenced by Beethoven .
Since then, WM returned to work on soundtracks and commercial jingles, where one of his most popular today is the main theme of the animated series "Family Guy."
Enjoy!
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