by Kenneth Woods | Feb 27, 2016 | Explore the Score
Beethoven’s Third Symphony is a work of such monumental historic and artistic importance that it’s worth prefacing a discussion of it by reminding the reader that even if Beethoven had died before composing it, he would have already secured his place in the pantheon...
by Kenneth Woods | Sep 22, 2010 | A view from the podium
As a short follow-up to my long post on the Eroica Marcia funebre, I thought I might mention a little bit about Metamorphosen, Richard Strauss’s late masterpiece mourning the end of the great and continuous musical culture that ran from Bach through to him. On the...
by Kenneth Woods | Sep 20, 2010 | Nuts and bolts
In my last post on Beethoven 3, I talked just a little bit about my experience of studying the work with my teacher, Gerhard Samuel (more on him here and here). It remains a particularly memorable experience since it was the first score we went through together, so I...
by Kenneth Woods | Sep 14, 2010 | Nuts and bolts
As part of an ongoing effort to make this blog less boring, I’ve decided to try a few posts on major pieces that are more anecdotal than analytical. (Yes, it’s the old master plan of using stories about your own life to avoid boring other people. Guess how well...
by Kenneth Woods | Jul 7, 2006 | A view from the podium, Favorite posts, Nuts and bolts
Very briefly…. My favourite moment in the second movement of Beethoven 3 is bars 157-159 (just after letter E), when we hear a very soft, very high a-flat in the first violins, followed by a very loud, very low a-flat in the celli and basses, then a very loud a-flat...
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