Symphony No. 1: A Great (But Not Groundb...

Its power and sheer ambition influenced and intimidated scores of composers who followed Beethoven. 

A fun, almost comical, moment before Beethoven stepped away from the symphony for a decade and wrote his ultimate triumph. 

Ludwig van Beethoven's Seventh Symphony pulses with rhythmic invention. The reliance on the beat gives the piece an immediacy that rivals the music in any of Beethoven's symphonies. 

<p>Today begins a pretty massive project for Sticky Notes - a complete Beethoven cycle over the next few weeks! We start of course with Beethoven's 1st symphony. Some people tend to think of Beethoven's 1st as a cautious foray into the symphonic world, but I couldn't disagree mor ... Show More

<div>Brahms was only 20 years old when Robert Schumann wrote his famous Neue Bahnen(New Paths) article that proclaimed Brahms as the future of music and the heir of Beethoven. Beethoven had only been dead for 26 years at this point, and his shadow still loomed large over every si ... Show More

<p>More has been written about the meaning of Beethoven's 9th than any other symphony. There are more recordings of it, more performances of it, and more uses of its most famous theme, the Ode to Joy, than any other piece. But what is often talked about less than the political an ... Show More

We continue the Beethoven cycle this week with his underrated 2nd symphony. Written at the height of Beethoven's despair over his increasing deafness, you might think that the symphony would be a dark and stormy one, but instead Beethoven writes one of his most relentlessly cheer ... Show More

This is my first recording of a work by Muzio Clementi. I thank one of the visitors to my Facebook page for suggestion a recording by Clementi! Clementi wrote many, many Sonatas (and Sonatinas) for the piano and was considered the first great composer for the piano (or pianoforte ... Show More

In 1812, Beethoven's life was in ruins. He was embroiled in court battles, pining away for his "Immortal Beloved," and profoundly depressed. His musical response is one of his funniest, most charming, and most "classical" symphonies - the 8th. This is an underappreciated work tha ... Show More

In the first movement of his famous symphony, Beethoven sets up a battle between hope and despair. The dark side of that spectrum is represented by the anguished opening notes of the first movement: DUN DUN DUNNN. Over the course of the next three movements, Beethoven keeps tryin ... Show More

<p>The pianist Andras Schiff on Schubert: "There is a folk song like simplicity in Schubert's Music; his music is never crowded. He does not want to impress you or overwhelm you. He tells you a very simple story and invites you by very simple means to come and join him and share ... Show More

This week we're diving into one of the great movements ever written in Western Music with the slow movement of Beethoven's Op. 132 quartet. This is a movement that explores Beethoven's contradictory religious beliefs, his core optimism despite all that happened to him during his ... Show More