Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827)

[Bryn]

Mention was made of a biography of LvB by Barry Cooper. Anyone know it? Views?

Any alternative recommendations?

Jan Swafford leads the way. Maynard Solomon is a good fallback. John Suchet's 3 volume fictionalised biography is not that bad. I see there is a new edition of his straight biography too (not read it). Then there's Frida Knight's Beethoven and the Age of Revolution.

[kernelbogey]

Thanks Bryn. I'll see if I can get hold of the Swafford when the libraries reopen!

(I tried the first vol of Suchet fiction a few years ago but it didn't appeal.)

BW, kb

[gurnemanz]

I knew the Gerhaher/Huber Ferne Geliebte already but was again deeply impressed by their collaboration as played today on CotW. I was in the garden in lovely sunshine listening on headphones, which probably enhanced the experience. (Sitting on a hill, peering down would have been even more appropriate.) The two of them go back a long way having met as students in Munich in the late 80s and have such a brilliant understanding. Nice older photo here.

[kernelbogey]

In the last of this week's focus on Beethoven's vocal music

Missa Solemnis and the smaller scale but the equally profound Abendlied unter dem gestirnten Himmel express many of Beethoven's beliefs. Perhaps he was in need of some light relief from the enormity of his musical preoccupations and his domestic problems when he found time to set some rather saucy lyrics too.

And there'll be a discussion of that movement of the ninth symphony.

[Bryn]

. . . And there'll be a discussion of that movement of the ninth symphony.

Ah, the culminating triumph. Indeed, a superb transcending of the musical material of the preceding movements.

[kernelbogey]

Ah, the culminating triumph. Indeed, a superb transcending of the musical material of the preceding movements.

Simone Young, as you would expect, made that point with a strong musical argument, and, incidentally promulgating her belief in playing all the repeats in the Scherzo. Also a moving account of conducting the symphony in Japan on Christmas Day.

[kernelbogey]

Beethoven Unleashed: New Pathways: In Search of a Cure
Week 10 of 26 (18.5.20)

Beethoven turns to medical science in a desperate attempt to find a remedy for his failing hearing.

[kernelbogey]

Donald Macleod traces Beethoven’s story through the momentous years of 1802 and 1803.

[antongould]

Thanks to the wonders of Sounds I am now up to date .... very much enjoying it .......

[jayne lee wilson]

Very moving episode today.....an evocative text, beautifully spoken by Macleod....

[gurnemanz]

Very moving episode today.....an evocative text, beautiful spoken by Macleod....

Yes, indeed. Even when you know the details already. The deafness coupled with the compensation (burden? responsibility?) of being Beethoven and a genius.

[vinteuil]

.

... but I also thought Donald did a good job in delicately pricking the bubble of Beethoven's overly grand / pompous style in parts of the Testament, and slyly noting the patronising tone that crept in when Beethoven was addressing his brothers.

[Bryn]

I reproduce, below, only very slightly edited text messages I have received this week from poet and writer on music, Harry Gilonis. They are presented without further comment by me, at this stage:

18th: If the 'new path' of 1802 onwards is the focus, why pad out the discussion with the Op. 20 Septet, which was a piece of populist salon 'Tafelmusik' from way back in 1799, when the path was still very old? It would make sense to play it, as it is the sort of thing the general public liked, and that shows how far Beethoven was moving beyond mass comprehension. But it was presented without any such context.

19th: . . . He's shown off LvB's "new path" by playing 2nd mov'ts of the 'Tempest' and 'Kreutzer' sonatas - where the key breakthroughs of the "new path" are in the 1st movts - and played 3rd & 4th movts of the 2nd symphony, where the formal technical leap is in 1st mov't and the advance in handling sonorities is in the 2nd mov't. To cap it all, he sums up LvB's state of mind at the time of the Heiligenstadt Testament (1802) by playing the 'Kyrie' of the "Missa Solemnis" (1819-21). As Ezra Pound says, "stupidity carried beyond a certain point becomes a public menace".

20th: D. MacLeod opened with "Fidelio" - the march from Act I, obviously and necessarily generic. Then the Op. 40 Romance for violin & orchestra, *introduced as "betraying no signs of Beethoven's 'new path'". Then 5 pointless WoO piano variations on 'Rule, Britannia', followed by "Christ on Mount of Olives', of which Adorno could find no copy in a university city, as "entirely forgotten", which Lockwood called 'routine' and 'bombastic'. We got 20 minutes of that - summed-up thus: "but the true legacy of Heiligenstadt was to be [the 'Eroica'], not a rushed oratorio". The only 'new path' music we had was some of the 'Eroica' to close. My question is: who actually plans and writes this stuff? And *why? There are hundreds of B.Mus-es out there who can talk *and think!

21st: Earlier in the week C.o.t.W. displayed Beethoven's "new path" by playing the 2nd movements of the 'Tempest' and 'Kreutzer' sonatas - both works where the breakthroughs of the "new path" are in the 1st movements - and played 3rd & 4th movements of the 2nd symphony, where the formal technical leaps are in the 1st movement and the advance in handling sonorities is in the 2nd movement. To cap it all, Beethoven's state of mind at the time of the Heiligenstadt Testament (1802) was exemplified by playing the 'Kyrie' of the "Missa Solemnis" (1822). As Ezra Pound put it, "stupidity carried beyond a certain point becomes a public menace".

22nd: First off the Op. 31 no. 2 piano sonata, for biographical- anecdotal reasons (fine; it is still a masterpiece). Then ditto the Quintet for piano and winds, Op. 16, firmly pre-'new path' (1796), which Lockwood says was "designed for popularity and little more". Next the under-rated (as a 'WoO?) "Andante Favori", again played for reasons of anecdotage (quarrel with Ries); followed, ditto, by the Op. 47 "Kreutzer" sonata (quarrel with Bridgetower). With 10 minutes to go, the first mention of the 'new path' (declared theme of the week's programmes) and the the Op. 53 piano sonata, played with a *musicological rationale . . . As Adorno put it, it is formal laws that have to be identified, for if you cross the line into the documentary, any of Beethoven's conversation-books could be more meaningful than the Op. 131 string quartet.

[pastoralguy]

I wonder if there were any planned performances of the sketches for the Symphony No.10 in the elaborationby Dr. Barry Cooper. I'm currently listening to the Wyn Morris recording with the London Symphony Orchestra.

[Sir Velo]

I reproduce, below, only very slightly edited text messages I have received this week from poet and writer on music, Harry Gilonis. They are presented without further comment by me, at this stage:

Succinctly sums up my problem with CotW: too often the musical choices either throw insufficient light on the narrative, or are a distinct odds with it. In the case of this round of CotWs the musical performances are too obviously "old school" and the selections aimed squarely at the MOR Classic FM audience (eg Andante Favori; Septet etc).