Grosse Fuge

Except for a weakness in composing vocal vocal and operatic music to which he himself admitted notwithstanding a few vocal works like the opera fidelio and the song adelaide beethoven had complete mastery of the art form he left his stamp in nine symphonies five piano concertos ten violin sonatas 32 piano sonatas, numerous string quartets, and dozens of other key works.

Many of his works are ingeniously imaginative and innovative, such as his third symphony, the Eroica, his ninth violin sonata, the Kreutzer, his Waldstein piano sonata, his fourth and fifth piano concertos, or his Grosse Fuge for string quartet.

of course each of beethoven's works adds its own unique detail to beethoven's grand musical paradigm it is difficult to sum up briefly what his musical works represent or symbolize since taken together they encompass a vast system of thought generally however those who apprehend his music sense that it reflects their own personal yearnings and sufferings it egotistically and always intelligently discusses with its listener his or her feelings in the wake of personal failure and personal triumph from the lowest depths of despair to the highest heights of happy or triumphant fulfilment in his music he represents the feelings felt by those attempting to achieve their goals within their societies whether they are competing for love status money power mates and or any other things individuals feel naturally inclined to attempt to acquire in the thematic sense beethoven does not promote anarchist ideas the listener cannot in listening to beethoven's music apprehend ideas which if applied would compromise the welfare of his society the music is thus civically responsible as is the music of bach or mozart for beethoven the society exists as a bulwark with which the individual must function in harmony or at least not function such as to harm or destroy it and should the society marginalize or hurt the individual as it often does the individual must according to beethoven humbly accept this never considering the alternative act of attempting to harm or destroy the society in the wake of his or her personal frustrations but thanks to beethoven such an individual is provided with the means to soothe his or her misery in the wake of feeling hurt at the hands of society the means is his music and the euphoric pleasure that it can provide to minds possessing the psycho-intellectual wiring needed to apprehend it some post-world war two composers such as the late lsd using john cage reject the music of beethoven because of its predominant reliance on beauty as a way of communicating idealized concepts also since the music intimately reflects the cravings and thought processes of the natural human mind which in numerous ways is emotionally and intellectually irrational the music may itself be consequently irrational the following book consists of brief biographical commentaries about beethoven each followed by sections of quotations attributed to the muse in these quotes beethoven demonstrates his intense preoccupation or obsession with thinking artistically and intelligently and with helping to alleviate man's suffering by providing man with musical art works that could enlighten him so as to become educated enough to pull himself out of his misery he felt immediate strong disdain at any artistic statement that was not truly intelligent and artistic such as in his view the music of rossini although not prudish he had high standards when it came to marriage and was morally against reproductory pleasure for its own sake or any form of adultery he never married interestingly experimental psychologists have discovered that people who have an intense love of humanity or are preoccupied with working to serve humanity tend to have difficulty forming intimate bonds with people on a personal level this little book came into existence as if it were by chance the author had devoted himself for a long time to the study of beethoven and carefully scrutinized all manner of books publications manuscripts etc in order to derive the greatest possible information about the hero he can say confidently that he conned every existing publication of value his notes made during his readings grew voluminous and also his amazement at the wealth of beethoven's observations comparatively unknown to his admirers because hidden away like concealed violets in books which had been there is no urgent call.

These observations are of the utmost importance for the understanding of Beethoven, in whom man and artist are inseparably united.

He left his stamp in nine symphonies, five piano concertos, ten violin sonatas, thirty-two piano sonatas, numerous string quartets, and dozens of other key works.

Many of his works are ingeniously imaginative and innovative, such as his third symphony, the Eroica, his ninth violin sonata, the Kreutzer, his Waldstein piano sonata, his fourth and fifth piano concertos, or his Grosse Fuga for string quartet.

Of course, each of Beethoven's works adds its own unique detail to Beethoven's grand musical paradigm.

It is difficult to sum up briefly what his musical works represent or symbolize, since taken together they encompass a vast system of thought.

Now back to the podcast.

Nicolas Namoradze's new album couples the Hammerklavier with the much earlier F Major Sonata, Opus 54, and his own arrangement for piano of the Grosse Fuge, the original closing movement of Beethoven's Opus 130 string quartet.

So the program has a fugal flavor, and that's where we started our conversation.

Well, in your notes to this new recording, you describe the, the fugue as one of the defining features of Beethoven's late style, but it's interesting because as a form, it's, it was already by that sort of period, uh, regarded as somewhat archaic.

So I think Beethoven is one of the most interesting early examples of this, and I think in the fugue he found lots of potential, not only for complexity, but also for drama and the way in which the inherent transformation in a fugue, the way in which it re-digests material that is presented at the beginning, really had a, a kind of spark, I think, for Beethoven.

He saw in it the potential to communicate a kind of journey of transformation where we are the same person in some sense, we are dealing with the same material at the end of the journey, but the journey has changed us profoundly.

And if you look at these very grand fugues, and of course these are not the only two fugues, for example, you know, the ones on the disc from the Hammerklavier and the Grosse Fuge, these are not the only two fugues that, that we see in his late style.

There, there are many of them in s- piano sonatas such as Opus 110 or in, in his choral works or, or other pieces.

He left his stamp in nine symphonies, five piano concertos, ten violin sonatas, thirty-two piano sonatas, numerous string quartets, and dozens of other key works.

Many of his works are ingeniously imaginative and innovative, such as his third symphony, the Eroica, his ninth violin sonata, the Kreutzer, his Waldstein piano sonata, his fourth and fifth piano concertos, or his Grosse Fuga for string quartet.

Of course, each of Beethoven's works adds its own unique detail to Beethoven's grand musical paradigm.

It is difficult to sum up briefly what his musical works represent or symbolize, since taken together they encompass a vast system of thought.