The 4th really is the precursor to the 5th?!

[euphony131]

The 1st mvt of the 4th symphony has that passage toward the end of the Development where everything quiets down and you have just muted strings and a ghostly, very faint drumbeat (if your volume is too low you could easily miss it)then the strings grow in urgency and it leads into the jubilant Recap.
It totally makes me think of the Scherzo-to-Finale transition in the Fifth!
The suspension and suspense.
Does anyone else see a similarity?

You can start at 5:36 mins into this video which also has a very cool color-coding of the sections:

[Michael]

I think you're right. It is a fact that Beethoven got stalled halfway through the Fifth symphony (probably at the end of the scherzo) so he left it aside for a bit and completed the Fourth symphony, which probably gave him the idea for the weird transition from the scherzo of the Fifth to the finale. The drums play a major part in both works.

There's a passage in the first movement of the Waldstein sonata (leading up to the recap) which is like a rehearsal for the same place in the Fourth symphony's first movement. (Minus timpani, of course).

[euphony131]

There's a passage in the first movement of the Waldstein sonata (leading up to the recap) which is like a rehearsal for the same place in the Fourth symphony's first movement. (Minus timpani, of course).

That's interesting! I'd never thought of that. You mean starting at 6:12 mins in this video with those suspenseful bass chords?

That was also composed in LvB's Middle Period, right?
Was it around the same time as the 4th?

[Michael]

Yes - that's the section. The Waldstein was composed around 1804 and the symphony completed a couple of years later.

[Peter]

There's also the passage just after the 3rd movement of the Pastoral symphony that transitions into the storm.

[euphony131]

There's also the passage just after the 3rd movement of the Pastoral symphony that transitions into the storm.

Right, I can see that.
But the one for the 4th is more flagrant a similarity, I think.
BTW, it was Adam Fischer's version that made me take notice.
He really brings out the extremes in dynamics. Yes, some people think his interpretation (for the whole cycle) is a bit too willful.
But I like it!