Classical Music Metrics
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Performance metricsUnit: bpm

Tempo minus metronome mark

Tempo measured near the end of the track (the coda) minus Beethoven's metronome mark for that section.

Formula
measured tempo − mark. Where the measurement fell below 0.6× or above 1.4× the mark it was treated as a tempo-tracker harmonic and corrected by the nearest factor among 1/3, 1/2, 2/3, 3/2, 2, 3 (17 of 1,332 rows, all in Symphony 9, which the summaries exclude; none of the 1,188 Symphony 1–8 rows is corrected).
How to read it
−12 means twelve beats a minute slower. Median −12.7 for Romantic conductors, −8 for HIP-influenced conductors, −6 for period-instrument conductors. Every conductor's 33-movement median is negative, yet 152 of the 1,188 single movements (12.8%) run faster than the mark.
Caveats
Tempi are the original authors' Marsyas estimates from a single coda sample. Symphony 9 is excluded from summaries, as in the source paper.
RomanticHIP-influencedHIP

HIP: historically informed performance (period instruments and practice).

−15.0−10.0−5.0+0.0bpmBöhm (Romantic, 1969)Böhm (Romantic, 1969): −17.5Klemperer (Romantic, 1960)Klemperer (Romantic, 1960): −17.0Furtwängler (Romantic, 1947)Furtwängler (Romantic, 1947): −16.5Ferencsik (Romantic, 1969)Ferencsik (Romantic, 1969): −16.0Davis (Romantic, 1995)Davis (Romantic, 1995): −16.0Barenboim (Romantic, 2011)Barenboim (Romantic, 2011): −15.0Jochum (Romantic, 1967)Jochum (Romantic, 1967): −15.0Walter (Romantic, 1958)Walter (Romantic, 1958): −15.0Kegel (Romantic, 1982)Kegel (Romantic, 1982): −14.0Cluytens (Romantic, 1957)Cluytens (Romantic, 1957): −14.0Hickox (HIP-influenced, 1984)Hickox (HIP-influenced, 1984): −13.5Masur (Romantic, 1972)Masur (Romantic, 1972): −12.7Szell (Romantic, 1956)Szell (Romantic, 1956): −12.7Karajan (Romantic, 1951)Karajan (Romantic, 1951): −12.0Haitink (Romantic, 1985)Haitink (Romantic, 1985): −12.0Polizzi (Romantic, 1986)Polizzi (Romantic, 1986): −12.0Wand (Romantic, 1985)Wand (Romantic, 1985): −12.0Bernstein (Romantic, 1977)Bernstein (Romantic, 1977): −11.7Leinsdorf (Romantic, 1961)Leinsdorf (Romantic, 1961): −11.0Muti (Romantic, 1985)Muti (Romantic, 1985): −10.0Harnoncourt (HIP-influenced, 1990)Harnoncourt (HIP-influenced, 1990): −10.0Solti (Romantic, 1986)Solti (Romantic, 1986): −10.0Abbado (HIP-influenced, 2000)Abbado (HIP-influenced, 2000): −9.0Brüggen (HIP, 1984)Brüggen (HIP, 1984): −8.0Rattle (HIP-influenced, 2002)Rattle (HIP-influenced, 2002): −8.0Gielen (HIP-influenced, 1997)Gielen (HIP-influenced, 1997): −8.0Mengelberg (Romantic, 1940)Mengelberg (Romantic, 1940): −7.0Hugget (HIP, 1982)Hugget (HIP, 1982): −7.0Toscanini (Romantic, 1949)Toscanini (Romantic, 1949): −7.0Tremblay (HIP-influenced, 2009)Tremblay (HIP-influenced, 2009): −7.0Hogwood (HIP, 1985)Hogwood (HIP, 1985): −7.0Immerseel (HIP, 2005)Immerseel (HIP, 2005): −6.0Norrington (HIP, 1987)Norrington (HIP, 1987): −6.0Pletnev (Romantic, 2007)Pletnev (Romantic, 2007): −4.0Gardiner (HIP, 1991)Gardiner (HIP, 1991): −2.0Chailly (HIP-influenced, 2007)Chailly (HIP-influenced, 2007): −1.0
Median per conductor over 33 movements of Symphonies 1–8; recording years in parentheses.
ConductorStyleRec.nMedianQ1Q3Rectified
Böhm, KarlRomantic1969-197233−17.5−22.0−12.00
Klemperer, OttoRomantic196033−17.0−20.0−12.00
Furtwängler, WilhelmRomantic1947-195433−16.5−22.5−10.00
Ferencsik, JanosRomantic1969-197633−16.0−20.3−11.00
Davis, ColinRomantic199533−16.0−20.0−9.00
Barenboim, DanielRomantic201133−15.0−18.0−8.00
Jochum, EugenRomantic1967-196933−15.0−19.0−8.00
Walter, BrunoRomantic1958-195933−15.0−19.0−10.00
Kegel, HerbertRomantic1982-198433−14.0−18.3−8.00
Cluytens, AndréRomantic1957-196033−14.0−18.0−8.00
Hickox, RichardHI influence1984-198833−13.5−17.0−6.00
Masur, KurtRomantic1972- 197533−12.7−16.0−6.00
Szell, GeorgeRomantic1956-196433−12.7−17.0−5.00
Karajan, Herbert vonRomantic1951-195533−12.0−16.0−4.00
Haitink, BernardRomantic1985-198733−12.0−16.0−10.00
Polizzi, AntoninoRomantic1986-199433−12.0−15.0−7.00
Wand, GünterRomantic1985-198833−12.0−17.0−6.00
Bernstein, LeonardRomantic1977-197933−11.7−16.0−6.00
Leinsdorf, ErichRomantic1961-196933−11.0−15.7−8.00
Muti, RiccardoRomantic1985-198833−10.0−16.0−4.00
Harnoncourt, NikolausHI influence1990-199133−10.0−14.0−2.00
Solti, GeorgRomantic1986-198933−10.0−14.0−6.00
Abbado, ClaudioHI influence2000-200133−9.0−12.0−4.00
Brüggen, FransHI1984-199233−8.0−12.0−2.00
Rattle, SimonHI influence200233−8.0−12.0−2.70
Gielen, MichaelHI influence1997-200033−8.0−10.0−5.00
Mengelberg, WillemRomantic194033−7.0−12.0−2.00
Hugget, M. and Goodman, R.HI1982-198833−7.0−13.0−4.00
Toscanini, ArturoRomantic1949-195233−7.0−12.0+2.00
Tremblay, Jean-PhilippeHI influence200933−7.0−13.5−4.00
Hogwood, ChristopherHI1985-198933−7.0−11.0−2.30
Immerseel, Jos VanHI2005-200733−6.0−11.0−1.00
Norrington, RogerHI1987-199033−6.0−8.0−1.00
Pletnev, MikhailRomantic200733−4.0−10.0+4.00
Gardiner, John EliotHI1991-199433−2.0−6.0+0.00
Chailly, RiccardoHI influence2007-200933−1.0−4.0+2.00

Source

Martín-Castro & Ucar (2020), "Conductors' tempo choices shed light over Beethoven's metronome", PLOS ONE 15(12): e0243616. Track lengths and coda tempo estimates for 36 conductors' complete Beethoven symphony cycles (1,332 tracks), plus metronome marks and bar counts from the scores. R package bmetr. https://github.com/Enchufa2/bmetr · License: MIT

beethoven_symphony_coda_tempo.csvbeethoven_symphony_duration_ratio.csvbeethoven_symphony_conductor_summary.csvbeethoven_symphony_movement_summary.csvbeethoven_symphony_marks.csvbeethoven_symphony_recordings.csvbeethoven_symphony_tempo_trend.csvbeethoven_symphony_conductor_year.csv