Birthday Music
Today we commemorate the 235th birthday of Ludwig Van, as Alex was wont to call him. Alex's favorite Beethovian work was, of course, the Ninth Symphony. Now that's a great symphony and one that everyone's heard. At least the fourth movement. Rumor has it that the spec for the current audio CD was set at 70 minutes in order to hold the complete Ninth on one disc rather than spread across 2 the way it had been up till then. The Japanese - who were significantly involved in the design of audio CDs - have a passion for this symphony.
But Ludwig Van's Ninth is not my favorite symphony. Nor is his fifth piano concerto - "The Emporer" and the one most loved by the public - my favorite piano concerto. So in celebration of Ludwig Van's birthday, I've uploaded the first movements of my favorites. If you want to hear the whole thing, you'll have to check out ArkivMusic.com.
Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58. Hélène Grimaud, New York Philharmonic, Kurt Mazur
Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92, Berlin Philharmonic, Claudio Abbado
Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor, "The Appassionata", Op. 57. Daniel Barenboim
My sincere hope is Ludwig Van's music cures what ails you.
Just like it did for Alex.
K-
For me, Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange has forever fused itself to Beethoven's great works as has Gary Oldman's portrayal of Ludwig Van in Immortal Beloved but you ought to see and hear Deep Purple's renditions of Ode to Joy and Für Elise. Its on Deep Purple's Come Hell or High Water DVD and its worth a rental if you're inclined and can find it. I'm a bit of a closet classical music enthusiast. My limited knowledge of titles keeps me in the closet. A real enthusiast probably knows a thousand titles. I know maybe twenty.
Classical works generally don't have catchy names that are easy to remember. "Symphony No. 7 in A major" is more difficult to recall than, say, "Wang, Dang, Sweet Poontang."
I've been interested in and enjoyed so many kinds of music in life: from hard rock as a college kid, to blue grass, jazz, and clasical. Classical is my basic mainstay now. And for nearly everyone we start out not knowing anything. Any good book on the basic repertoire (I like Ted Libbey's) will help as will trips to the library.
In any event, just do what I do and always remember what Duke Ellington said: "If it sounds good it is good.
K-