On Wed, 21 Jan 2009 23:07:05 -0500, nemesis wrote:

> "triple_r" <nomail@nomail> wrote:
>> Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:
>> > > Dunno. What's he sound like?
>> >
>> > His later work is loud, largely due to his deafness.  Check out his
>> > fifth symphony (a very well known work) or the 9th.
>>
>> Or his late string quartets (~Op. 127-135), some of the last music he
>> wrote, not to mention some of the best.
> 
> I don't know what loudness you guys are talking about.  If you're
> talking about dynamics of expression, Beethoven always had a passion for
> very contrasting dynamics.  His music is filled with passion and extreme
> emotional states, even from before deafness:  going from pianissimo to
> fortissimo and vice-versa -- using the full dynamic range the developing
> piano-forte allowed in contrast with the older harpsichord.  How can you
> convey passion without dynamics?

Have you heard Barber's "Adagio for Strings"?  Very passionate piece of 
music (I've been fortunate enough to perform it as a member of an 
orchestra), and while there is one notable section that is has a very 
strong fortissimo, the quiet sections aren't any less passionate.

> Think Beethoven is loud?  Ever heard Wagner?  But yes, not too many
> people enjoyed his "savage" sounds, like Chopin once put it.

I regularly listen to the entire "Ring" cycle.  Beethoven's loudness is 
very different from Wagner's, but it is no less pronounced.  The final 
movement of the 9th symphony is kinda the epitome of this, but the later 
works definitely have fewer quiet places than his earlier works.

Particularly when comparing the different periods of music the two 
composed in; I could as easily argue that Beethoven is quiet as a mouse 
compared to Aaron Copland, Howard Hanson, Igor Stravinsky, or Antonin 
Dvorak.  The four of them are much more modern composers than Beethoven.  
Compared to his contemporaries, Beethoven was quite loud.

This is not to say Beethoven wasn't absolutely brilliant.  It was, and I 
listen to my collection of the 9 symphonies about as often as I listen to 
the Wagner.  There is a lot of musical variety just in those 9 works of 
his.

Jim

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