MetaFilter posts tagged with beethoven

Sonata per uno mulaticco lunattico

lucia__is__dada — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 06:44:32 -0800

Beethoven's Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 9 in A, Op. 47 (audio) was originally dedicated to the black violin virtuoso George Bridgetower after he gave such a brilliant rendering of the piece that prompted Beethoven to jump from his seat and embrace him. Bridgetower was a musical child prodigy and composer who, despite rampant racial prejudice, reached "unusual heights in the music world of his day". Having lived and performed in major European cities such as London, Paris, and Vienna, he would later die forgotten and in poverty. A personal disagreement with Bridgetower led Beethoven to dedicate the sonata to the famous violinist Rodolphe Kreutzer instead who, incidentally, never played it in public deeming it “outrageously unintelligible”. For the object fetishists: a tuning fork given by Beethoven to Bridgetower is on show at the British Library.

bored swedish multi-instrumentalist + youtube = ?

defenestration — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 22:24:25 -0800

Fredrik Larsson (Freddie25) presents: Für Elise, Mega Man 9: Rock Medley and Wind Waker Unplugged.

Overthinking a platter of Beethoven

pjern — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 23:00:30 -0800

An analysis of 376 recorded performances of Beethoven's Eroica (Symphony #3), broken down by such variables as the age of the conductor, length of the recording, and tempo variations. I thought this is worth a FPP and was surprised that the datahounds here do not appear to have posted it before. Even Celibidache is represented. (Paging matteo)

Argument to Beethoven's 5th

Zephyrial — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 20:59:01 -0800

Argument to Beethoven's 5th [youtube 5:51], a brilliant sketch by 1950s funnyman Sid Caesar, shows that you don't need words to tell a story. To explain further: a married couple pantomimes an argument while their dialogue is replaced by Beethoven's 5th Symphony.

The REAL milkman of human kindness (sorry, carsonb)

maudlin — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 18:39:00 -0800

The Big-Nosed Bastard from Barking has been very, very busy. In the past month, Billy Bragg has won the Classic Songwriter Award from Q, then collaborated with Beethoven (some of the B-Man's fans mutter darkly), and taken the hand of a small, matronly admirer before kindly giving it back to her, along with an autographed copy of the score. (He's prepared for the fallout: "I'll probably get struck off Morrissey's Christmas card list." ) And while he continues to work on Jail Guitar Doors, (previously), you can expect a new CD from him in 2008. Many old CDs available here. A found stash of old cassettes straight from Billy here (first come, first served, no guarantees). Free downloads from Billy here if you find his ideas interesting and want to subscribe to his newsletter.

...So the musician would have a place to put his beer.

Wolfdog — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 07:36:03 -0800

A lovely free online text on the Fundamentals of Piano Practice. (Tuning, too.)

dass ist nicht so funky

Flem Snopes — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 09:14:50 -0800

YouTube Funky Für Elise Wars :

Not so funky.

Trying hard to be funky

Indeed funky.

The Beethoven piano sonatas

Gyan — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 18:30:10 -0800

Andras Schiff's lecture-recitals on Beethoven's piano sonatas

Symphony No. 3 in E-Flat Major, by Ludwig van Beethoven

crunchland — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 05:28:12 -0800

Explore Beethoven's Eroica Symphony [note: flash, sound]

Aletheia

Blazecock Pileon — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 01:18:26 -0800

Beethoven stretches out and relaxes. Gorillas belch to let others know where they are. Fish sing the body electric (.mov, 12 MB) for food and safety. How has your own perception shaped your worldview?

Pianolina

jann — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 22:29:32 -0800

The Pianolina - an addictive flash game - is something like a cross between Pong and WolframTones. Brought to you by Grotrian, piano manufacturers since 1835, the pianolina visualizes musical notes as little squares that chime when they bounce against each other or against a wall. Its sophisticated interface lets you add chords, gravity, or start with the basic notes of well known compositions like Beethoven's "Für Elise".

Friday Non-Flash Trauma

Protocols of the Elders of Awesome — Fri, 13 Jan 2006 05:15:23 -0800

what is the point of it all

What I learned from Sergiu Celibidache

matteo — Fri, 14 Oct 2005 09:31:40 -0800

Music is nothing.
Sound could become music.
The end must be in the beginning,
and the beginning in the end.
I am here because I am not here.
Music lives in the eternal now.
Music is the now becoming now.
What I learned from Sergiu Celibidache, by Markand Thakar. More inside.

Beethoven's Ninth: the Score

matteo — Tue, 11 Oct 2005 09:47:47 -0800

Beethoven's Ninth -- the score.

From Skid Row to Disney Hall

PenguinBukkake — Sun, 09 Oct 2005 09:13:55 -0800

"I haven't been in a concert hall in 4 billion years". Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, 54, had been excited about an invitation to see the Los Angeles Philharmonic in action at Disney Hall. "The anticipation is horrible". He'd started showering daily at a shelter, to gussy himself up as much as possible. Nathaniel was a music student more than 30 years ago at the Juilliard School when he suffered a breakdown. Today, as he continues to battle the schizophrenia that landed him on skid row, he plays violin and cello for hours each day in downtown Los Angeles, lifting his instruments out of an orange shopping cart on which he has written: "Little Walt Disney Concert Hall — Beethoven." After the Philharmonic's rehearsal, Ayers has played Disney Hall -- the real one, this time. Without the bow at first, picking the strings with his right hand, Bach's Cello Suite No. 1: Prelude. Several Philharmonic staffers heard the music and wandered over, peering in to see a man of the streets, tattered and elegant, close his eyes and drift into ecstasy.

Wilhelm Furtwängler

matteo — Wed, 05 Oct 2005 16:15:43 -0800

The Wartime Ninth. "Berlin. October 7, 1944. In the Beethovensaal a concert is about to begin, but the theater is empty, relieved of its usual audience studded with Nazi elite. The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra is on stage, awaiting its cue. Conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler stands awkwardly on the podium. The vague meandering of his baton summons the first shadowy note of Bruckner's Ninth Symphony. A Radio Berlin engineer starts his Magnetophon. The most extraordinary orchestral recording of the century has just begun". More inside.

Classic FM Radio Analysis

RonZ — Thu, 04 Aug 2005 16:15:13 -0800

Classic FM Radio Analysis scans play lists from various FM radio stations and allows you to make queries such as how often was Beethoven's Symphony #9 played, what are the most popular pieces played, who are the most popular composers, etc.

Unrecorded works of Beethoven

Wolfdog — Mon, 11 Jul 2005 11:05:08 -0800

The Unheard Beethoven - This website endeavors to make all of Beethoven's unrecorded music readily accessible to the public. These never-before-heard works are now available to anyone with a computer, a modem and a soundcard, in the form of MIDI files. At present, over twelve hours of Beethoven's music is available on this website and in no other listenable format.

Beethoven 6, 7, 8 and 9

soplerfo — Thu, 30 Jun 2005 11:24:23 -0800

As a follow up to this earlier thread, the BBC has just posted the final installment of their Beethoven Experience, free mp3s of Beethoven's symphonies 6 through 9. Get them while you can, they're only up for a week (Number 6 goes down on Monday).

Eat up your Beets

holgate — Thu, 02 Jun 2005 17:35:48 -0800

"This, as never before, is Beethoven for free - a gift to the world, just as he might have wished." From Sunday, the BBC will broadcast Beethoven's entire musical output over a six-day period, with all nine symphonies offered as free (and DRM-free) MP3 downloads. By doing so, critic Norman Lebrecht argues that the BBC Philharmonic's cycle may become 'the household version to computer-literate millions in China, India or Korea who have never heard of Karajan or Klemperer.' What that might mean for the struggling classical recording industry is anyone's guess.

kindall — Sat, 27 Jul 2002 01:14:03 -0800

9 Beet Stretch - What if you took Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, which normally runs about 70 minutes (this is, incidentally, the reason CDs are the length they are), and stretched it out to 24 hours using digital audio processing? The pitch remains intact; only the length is changed. What you end up with can only be called majestic and ethereal, kind of an orchestral version of loveliescrushing. For your convenience, you can listen to the work in one-hour, twenty-minute RealAudio chunks. Hm, I wonder what other music might work well with such radical time-expansion... (via interconnected)