A sample of what’s in store for music?

ROLL over Beethoven. Vienna has the news. The Fauxharmonic Orchestra, a digital “ensemble” brought to life by software developed by the Vienna Symphonic Library, plans to record all nine Beethoven symphonies over the next three years, according to the Fauxharmonic’s website. The project will involve the collaboration of four conductors working in film and television, including project director Paul Henry Smith, a former Leonard Bernstein conducting student at Tanglewood. A sample from Beethoven’s Eighth Symphony -- as well as works by Brahms, Debussy and Vaughan Williams -- can be heard on the website, www.fauxharmonic.com.

The software was the brainchild of Herb Tucmandl, a former substituting cellist in the Vienna Philharmonic who wanted to try out his ideas for film scores but could not afford to pay for an orchestra. Developed by Tucmandl and a team of about 45 engineers and more than 100 musicians, the program draws on 1.5 million digital samples from live performances. Program costs range from a low of about $215 for virtual harp sounds to a high of about $6,370 for a package of 10 CD-ROMs that provides a full virtual orchestra capability.

The Fauxharmonic’s goal in recording the Beethoven symphonies is “to perform them with some revealing insight or in a way that allows a qualitatively different experience,” according to the website. “Sadly, many of the performances of these works are trotted out for listeners without making that kind of contribution.”

*

Chris Pasles