Art is most known for its iconic images. There are many in fine art: Leonardo Da Vinci, Mona Lisa Vincent Van Gogh, The Starry Night In sculpture too. Michelangelo, David Auguste Rodin, The Thinker But there are also iconic images from film: Casablanca North by Northwest The performing arts too are notable for many iconic … Continue reading The Making of an Icon: Symphony No. 5
Category: Beethoven
The Breath of Life: Beethoven’s Violin Concerto
I can't recall if my father owned a copy of Beethoven's Violin Concerto. Our resources were limited and he most concerned himself with collecting the recordings of great pianists performing the highlights of the late Classical and Romantic repertoire. So it is entirely possible that my first brush with Beethoven's Violin Concerto came in 1983 … Continue reading The Breath of Life: Beethoven’s Violin Concerto
Echoes of Fate: Beethoven’s Appassionata Sonata
I know nothing that is greater than the Appassionata; I would like to listen to it every day. It is marvellous, superhuman music. I always think with pride – perhaps it is naïve of me – what marvellous things humans can do. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin to Maxim Gorky Read The Tempest. Ludwig van Beethoven, when … Continue reading Echoes of Fate: Beethoven’s Appassionata Sonata
Beethoven Goes Boom: In Celebration of the Memory of a Great Man
You either die a hero of you live long enough to see yourself become the villain. The Dark Knight Beethoven’s Symphonies are major events in music history. And that really began in 1803 with his Third, the Eroica. Settle in, this is going to be a long one. To understand what Beethoven was doing in … Continue reading Beethoven Goes Boom: In Celebration of the Memory of a Great Man
The Strange Tale of Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata
As a (former) violinist, I cannot leave this period without paying homage to one of the great violin sonatas ever composed, Beethoven’s Kreutzer. In this piece, written more or less contemporaneously with his Third Symphony, Beethoven begins to emerge as a new artist altogether. I’ve often described him as music’s first punk—smashing the same chord … Continue reading The Strange Tale of Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata
A Gertus History of Music 