Friday, February 8, 2013

From beginning to end, but never mind the middle

Dear Ludwig...

Something that seems to have made an impression on me (it was some years ago now), I stepped into the family van to ride from Grandma's to Our House, and via radio caught the finale of what was, for me, a frustrating symphony to listen to, though I'd never heard it before. It sounded like a young, energetic composer whose only knowledge of orchestral music was late Beethoven symphonies. There were simply too many ideas, and they all sounded too familiar --- this motif, that's definitely the 5th, and there goes 3rd of Chorale, and now back to Pastorale we go...

Dramatic finish, just like the end of... oh, now I can't remember which. The kindly announcer lets us know.

It was Beethoven, of course. No, not a patchwork, but original Beethoven; the First symphony. Young, energetic, and easily too many ideas. But, it seems, he went on to work out a great many of them properly!

... the Audience

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