Beethoven

What could anyone say on Beethoven other than sheer brilliance. To go all through the nine symphonies  and listen to tonight's performance was truly wonderful. I literally cannot describe the feeling it produced in me.

I have been listening to Beethoven forever, or rather it feels like that. as from the time of being a tiny little girl, aged three, I heard his music as my mum loved it. We used to listen to what I called Radio Three but I'm not sure I understood the BBC bit at that age; I merely loved his music.

Later on we had records, from my uncle and I progressed from "The Pastoral", Symphony no.6 to many other composers, including Chopin, Ravel, and many others, and so my love of classical music grew. I learned how beautifully Julian Bream played classical guitar and what a harp sounded like.

However, and I have discovered many composers since whom I love, and the musicians who perform their music, but Beethoven will always have a special place in my heart, yes, because it's something my mum and I just loved listening to together, and I just listened so intently, I felt I had every note and rhythm in my heart and if I could sing every part of the orchestra at once, I would.

I agree with my mum on the symphonies she liked best apart from the fourth which is  one of my favourites. She agreed in the end too. The first two she felt, were a bit like Mozart, which I see no problem with at all, but I know what she meant. The third, "Eroica", she adored and she loves the seventh and the ninth is the absolute conclusion to sheer beauty. So I basically will totally thank my dear mother for my total love of Beethoven.

In younger and sillier days, my mum and I used to prance around the living room, pretending we could actually perform ballet, and what a wonderful memory that is, which will never leave me. :-).

My mum never played an instrument , and probably never got the opportunity to learn but she danced, and I would have loved to have learned to do that, but we give each other different things. She gave me the chance to learn piano and violin later and I an eternally grateful for that.Most of all though, she gave me my love of Beethoven, and it will remain forever.

As a pianist, I had a great adoration of his piano concertos, another of my gifts in listening from my mum. We started as usual with the 5th (Emperor) and progressed through the earlier ones; all beautiful, but the slow movement of the 5th will always be part of me.

I was a reasonable pianist, I think, well got good grades, and my teacher believed in me but I only went so far, but I did play the first movement of the "moonlight sonata", think that is grade five, and loved playing it. His music is technically difficult, hence the brilliance of him.

Anyway, enough ranting for tonight. I will always love Beethoven's music.