Tag Archives: Beethoven
The Greatest Musical Composition Ever – VI
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 16th November 2024Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis is one of art’s mightiest thunderbolts. Written about the same time as the 9th Symphony, it was first performed in Saint Petersburg, Russia on April 7, 1824. The mass is scored for a quartet of vocal soloists, chorus, and orchestra. The first three parts were performed in Vienna a month later. A performance…
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Leonore Overture #3
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 4th January 2023Opera was not Beethoven’s forte. He devoted a decade (1804-14) to tinkering with his only opera – Fidelio. Even its name changed. It was initially called Leonore; she’s the opera’s heroine and its focal point. The composer was an idealist who fervently believed in the triumph of justice over tyranny and and love over oppression….
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The Greatest Musical Composition Ever – III
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 3rd August 2021My exercise in hyperbolic analysis continues with Beethoven’s Missa solemnis (Op 123), specifically the Benedictus. Written between 1819-23, the mass was first performed in Saint Petersburg, Russia in 1824. It’s part of the composer’s late period that produced a series of stupendous masterpieces such as the 9th Symphony, the Diabelli Variations. the Hammerklavier Sonata, and…
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The Invention of Jazz
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 16th June 2020The conventional view is that jazz is an American art form that originated in African-American communities of New Orleans. It was a derivative of blues and ragtime. Over time it split into many branches. When one thinks of the original New Orleans version, names like King Oliver (1881-1938), Jelly Roll Morton (1890-1940), and Louis Armstrong…
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Why is Beethoven Greater Than Reicha?
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 19th November 2018I recently attended a performance of one of Antonin Reicha’s wind quintets – there are 24 of them. The number of the one I heard was not given. It was a competent work devoid of genius. Reicha (1770-1836) was born the same year as Beethoven and went to the same high school. They became friends….
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San Francisco Symphony Plays Haydn, Sibelius, and Beethoven
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 16th September 2016On Thursday evening, September 15, the San Francisco Symphony played Haydn’s Symphony # 69 for the first time in it’s long history. Its Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas conducted. The orchestra played the short work with a lush sound better suited to the symphonic works of the succeeding century. The concluding movement marked presto was…
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Cleveland Orchestra Plays Beethoven and Shostakovich in Miami
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 1st March 2015Not surprisingly the Cleveland Orchestra spends part of the winter in Miami. On Saturday evening February 28 the band, led by its Music Director Franz Welser-Möst, played Beethoven’s 5th Symphony followed after the intermission by Shostakovich’s 10th Symphony. The venue was the Knight Concert Hall. They had played the same composers’ 3rd and 6th symphonies…
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Beethoven in Santa Fe
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 22nd August 2014On Thursday evening August 21 the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival presented and all Beethoven program at the Lensic Performing Arts Center. The evening began with the last of Beethoven’s sonatas for cello and piano – the 5th in D Op 102, #2. Written in 1815 along with the 4th sonata, it was dedicated to…
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All Five
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 23rd August 2011The Lubbock Symphony Orchestra will open its season next month with a program unique in my experience. The brilliant young pianist Adam Golka will perform all five Beethoven piano concertos. Numbers 2, 3, and 4 will be played on Friday September 23. Numbers 1 and 5 will follow the next evening. The orchestra will be conducted by Golka’s older brother Tomasz…
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Why Beethoven is so Great
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 22nd October 2010There’s nothing I can say about Beethoven that will in any way affect his Olympian stature other than to echo Verdi’s declaration that we must all bow before him. But if you want to see just how visceral his connection to all humanity is look at the video below. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0REJ-lCGiKU&NR=1]
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