hints, allegations and things left unsaid...
Beethoven composed this on my Birthday!
This Saturday was a somewhat strange (I'll call it "exquisite" in hindsight) one as far as the music I was a listening to is concerned. Srini had passed me this two CD set of Mozart's works that was gifted to him by a friend (Srini, like most people I know, doesn't do anything remotely classical - though I should make it a point to make acquaintances with his Mozart gifting friend *fiendish grin*). The first CD besides the usual (read clichéd) En-Kline-Nachtmuzik had a few overtures and �Serenata Notturna. Disc 2 held the real surprise - it had a concerto for Flute and Harp! I had never heard a Harp concerto before, and always thought that the Harp is something you use to embellish your symphonies or ballets or nocturnes, never quite thought of it as a "solo" instrument worthy of a concerto. Amazingly chirpy, gleeful piece - I can already envisage waking up to its sound for next few mornings...
The second big surprise came during visit to Planet M. They've restocked (at least here in Bangalore) their western classical section (and have gone slightly overboard - most of the new stuff they have added is in "set" of 4 CDs or more). For the first time in a long long while they had CDs that I wanted to buy but was woefully short of money (the fact that most "sets" were priced at Rs. 1500+ contributed greatly to this). Anyways I did pick up one CD of works for the Horn (again Horn is something I've heard in concertos or symphonies but never in chamber works (barring Beethoven's Septet, Op. 20) or as a solo instrument) which had Beethoven's Horn and Piano sonata! The sonata was composed by Beethoven hurriedly just a day before its performance on 18th April 1800 (making it a work that was composed on my Birthday!). Even more surprising was the fact that the Sonata was numbered as Opus 17! (my Birth-date again!). I must confess that despite the pleasant coincidence, there is nothing musically exceptional about the work and is one of the rare Beethoven works that are now part of my collection for purely academic reasons...
Hindsight: Realized today (17th December) that 16th was Beethoven's Birthday! What a coincidence to have made this post on his Birthday. Happy Birthday Beethoven!!!
The second big surprise came during visit to Planet M. They've restocked (at least here in Bangalore) their western classical section (and have gone slightly overboard - most of the new stuff they have added is in "set" of 4 CDs or more). For the first time in a long long while they had CDs that I wanted to buy but was woefully short of money (the fact that most "sets" were priced at Rs. 1500+ contributed greatly to this). Anyways I did pick up one CD of works for the Horn (again Horn is something I've heard in concertos or symphonies but never in chamber works (barring Beethoven's Septet, Op. 20) or as a solo instrument) which had Beethoven's Horn and Piano sonata! The sonata was composed by Beethoven hurriedly just a day before its performance on 18th April 1800 (making it a work that was composed on my Birthday!). Even more surprising was the fact that the Sonata was numbered as Opus 17! (my Birth-date again!). I must confess that despite the pleasant coincidence, there is nothing musically exceptional about the work and is one of the rare Beethoven works that are now part of my collection for purely academic reasons...
Hindsight: Realized today (17th December) that 16th was Beethoven's Birthday! What a coincidence to have made this post on his Birthday. Happy Birthday Beethoven!!!
posted: 15.12.03
0 Comments
Post a Comment
| Archives | Blogroll |
|
May 2003 | June 2003 | July 2003 | August 2003 | September 2003 | October 2003 | November 2003 | December 2003 | January 2004 | February 2004 | March 2004 | April 2004 | May 2004 | June 2004 | July 2004 | August 2004 | September 2004 | October 2004 | November 2004 | December 2004 | January 2005 | February 2005 | March 2005 | April 2005 | May 2005 | June 2005 | July 2005 | August 2005 | September 2005 | October 2005 | November 2005 | December 2005 | January 2006 | February 2006 | March 2006 | Current Posts |
All material posted on this blog is copyrighted and may not be used in any form without the explicit permission of the author.