Beethoven
Okay, basically everyone knows Beethoven, and everybody also knows that he is possibly the most talented composer ever. That makes it tricky to write a short little snazzy number about him. It’s hard to do justice to such a towering and grand figure. That towering grandness is not just apparent in his reputation, it’s also a strong characteristic of his music. He was a powerful, firm, and above all (here’s that word again) grand kind of guy.
Beethoven was the first romantic composer, but he straddled the line - he was also a classical composer. He lived about thirty years on either side of the pivotal year 1800. People tend to ignore the earlier, more traditionally classical stuff and focus on his revolutionary strides into the romantic genre. This is characterized by expressive, feely, big old airing-out-your-emotional-laundry moves in the music. In contrast to the delicate, flighty, clockwork precision of Mozart you get booming, grand, swooping melodies with a fuller, throatier orchestra.
I found it tricky to listen to Beethoven at first. He sounded too “stereotypically classical” - probably just because I was already familiar with his sound at least a little bit, as most people are (even if they don’t realize it). In fact, I remember initially thinking that there was too much going on, which seems bizarre coming back to him from Shostakovich. There is a huge amount of depth to his pieces, and it might be hard to hear that when just starting out. If you’re into powerful, emotional but “classically” sounding classical music, which will always have new discoveries lying in wait, he’s a darn good choice.
Musical Snippets
- Symphony No. 9, 4th movement - This is the peak of symphonic everything and if you don’t like it the classical mafia are gonna do a hit on you. I don’t like it that much. Well let me qualify that: it doesn’t appeal to me in the same way that much of his other works do. Maybe I just don’t know it well enough. This is the ultrafamous melody from the last part of the symphony, with singing (a totally new concept in a symphony, at the time) later on. (buy at Amazon)
- Moonlight Sonata, 1st movement - Another fantastically famous piece of Beethoven, the moonlight sonata for solo piano. This is wonderfully simple, yet completely and utterly, devastatingly beautiful. (buy at Amazon)
- Apassionata Sonata, 1st movement - …but this is possibly even better than the Moonlight. I love how the aggressive little run comes out of nowhere. It’s almost an angry caricature of itself. (buy at Amazon)
- “Pastoral” Symphony, No. 6, 1st movement - This piece is a pretty famous symphony. It’s supposed to represent the countryside (in fact, this particular movement is the “awakening of happy feelings upon entering the countryside” or some other such charming subtitle) and it does indeed remind me of that every time I hear it. It makes me miss walking in English woods. (Yes yes, I know Beethoven was German…) (buy at Amazon)
- Symphony No. 7, 4th movement - A great rhythmic symphony here. The blast from the trumpet mimicking the same descending melody in the strings is the best bit. Fantastic driving, wildly alive stuff. You wouldn’t catch any of this kind of thing fifteen years before he composed it. He was a real pioneer. (buy at Amazon)
