Here we occasionally talk music, movies, politics, religion, society, culture. Things can get a bit dodgy (especially when The Pikey chimes in).
You've been warned. Read on at your own risk...
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
The 200 Year Shadow
I found this article in the LA Times today. I thought it was interesting given some of the things that we've been discussing here lately. I also find it interesting that they actually include the thoughts of living composers. How refreshing.
I'm partial to Concerto #5 largely for its beautiful marriage of music, architecture and flamboyance (and genius!!!). I think that there are few more perfect towering achievements in the history of music of the development of a composer than LVB's nine symphonies. Um let's see, Wagner's Ring, Bartok's String Quartets. Yep, that's about it.
I just thought the article was interesting because it basically reinforces the notion that, with the exception of opera, Beethoven left nothing he touched unchanged. How many artists in any field can have that said about them?
"One of the things about Beethoven that's interesting to me — the big leap that happened — is that, in a certain sense, material became unimportant. The reason why people listen to Mozart is because he's got the best tunes. With Beethoven, it's no longer 'I've got the best tunes' but 'Whatever I have, I can do the best things with it. Give me some trash and I'll turn it into something great.'
4 comments:
the piece that opened my braind to LvB was his 3rd piano concerto.
brain
I'm partial to Concerto #5 largely for its beautiful marriage of music, architecture and flamboyance (and genius!!!). I think that there are few more perfect towering achievements in the history of music of the development of a composer than LVB's nine symphonies. Um let's see, Wagner's Ring, Bartok's String Quartets. Yep, that's about it.
I just thought the article was interesting because it basically reinforces the notion that, with the exception of opera, Beethoven left nothing he touched unchanged. How many artists in any field can have that said about them?
My favorite quote from the article is:
"One of the things about Beethoven that's interesting to me — the big leap that happened — is that, in a certain sense, material became unimportant. The reason why people listen to Mozart is because he's got the best tunes. With Beethoven, it's no longer 'I've got the best tunes' but 'Whatever I have, I can do the best things with it. Give me some trash and I'll turn it into something great.'
For me, a guy who doesn't write "tunes", awesome.
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