Beethoven love-fest and my personal Circle of Hell
At the risk of outting myself as a complete nerd (though I'm pretty sure everyone knows that already), I find myself waving my hands and giving a little "Whoo" every time the radio announcer says "Welcome back to our Beethoven Weekend Festival (*WHOO!*) and now we will be playing Beethoven's [INSERT NUMBER 1-9]th Symphony (*WHOO!*)". I'm treating this like my own dream rock concert or something. Seriously, if The Doctor appeared and asked where I wanted to go in all of Time and Space, I would say "The opening night of Beethoven's 7th Symphony, so I could see the audience's expression when they see Heaven for the first time" (and maybe followed by the opening night of his 5th and 3rd, which apparently turned music around on its head and is the classical equivalent of punk rock or something).
ABC Classic FM have decided to hold a Beethoven Music Festival Weekend, where they will play all his Symphonies, and hold talks about his music in between. The highlight has been "The Great De-Beethoven Debate" (it is a Punne or Playe on Wordes), which technically should be about one group of people saying "Beethoven is the greatest composer EVER! Natch" and another group saying "No, his not really and here's why", but turned out to be more of a general Beethoven love-fest, if not appreciation society, where everyone loves his work to varying degrees.
But really, can you really, truly hate Beethoven? As someone in the debate said, you can't hate Beethoven as his body of work is so varied, touching on so many different emotions and giving a window to all aspects of humanity, that there's something for everyone. Just listen to the 7th Symphony and you go through playfulness, joy, grief, terror, horrific beauty, awe, pride and triumph (and that's not including the 3rd Movement which confuses me). To paraphrase a quote from the debate which I found quite touching,
"To listen to Beethoven is to be ennobled, to see the nobler side of what it is to be human and what can be achieved"
And now for a quote I found hilarious
"Beethoven may possibly have written the four greatest notes known to mankind ... and three of those notes are the same note!"
Truly this festival is a perfect antidote to a night spent in my own personal Circle of Hell: Clubbing. I tried clubbing numerous times in numerous places. It's not fun. It's not my thing. I'm not a huge fan of the music in clubs. And I prefer to drink in a quiet area with close friends (bars and pubs are fine). And I can't dance. I've no skill, coordination or creativity in that area. Plus the floors were really sticky. And the guys were a little creepy. Mind you, we went to Star Bar, which is apparently, as someone in my group said, "Scraping the bottom of the barrel" when it comes to clubs in the city. I was obliged to stay due to my ride being obliged to stay (she's not a clubber either, and we ended up texting friends in a corner).
Anyway, managed to get out once another friend came to join us for midnight dining at the Superbowl in Chinatown. Surprisingly pleasant. Congee with preserved egg, deep-fried dough bread and wonton soup are goooood! That part was enjoyable. Ended getting home at 2.30am after 2 hours of girl-talk in a crowded little Chinese restaurant.
Finally, to the chef of Fujiya Japanese Restaurant: you call that a Potato and Cod Roe Gratin?!? What was that with the burnt Tasty cheese and rubbery texture? I've made better gratins than that in desperation (the secret ingredient is nutmeg).
ABC Classic FM have decided to hold a Beethoven Music Festival Weekend, where they will play all his Symphonies, and hold talks about his music in between. The highlight has been "The Great De-Beethoven Debate" (it is a Punne or Playe on Wordes), which technically should be about one group of people saying "Beethoven is the greatest composer EVER! Natch" and another group saying "No, his not really and here's why", but turned out to be more of a general Beethoven love-fest, if not appreciation society, where everyone loves his work to varying degrees.
But really, can you really, truly hate Beethoven? As someone in the debate said, you can't hate Beethoven as his body of work is so varied, touching on so many different emotions and giving a window to all aspects of humanity, that there's something for everyone. Just listen to the 7th Symphony and you go through playfulness, joy, grief, terror, horrific beauty, awe, pride and triumph (and that's not including the 3rd Movement which confuses me). To paraphrase a quote from the debate which I found quite touching,
"To listen to Beethoven is to be ennobled, to see the nobler side of what it is to be human and what can be achieved"
And now for a quote I found hilarious
"Beethoven may possibly have written the four greatest notes known to mankind ... and three of those notes are the same note!"
Truly this festival is a perfect antidote to a night spent in my own personal Circle of Hell: Clubbing. I tried clubbing numerous times in numerous places. It's not fun. It's not my thing. I'm not a huge fan of the music in clubs. And I prefer to drink in a quiet area with close friends (bars and pubs are fine). And I can't dance. I've no skill, coordination or creativity in that area. Plus the floors were really sticky. And the guys were a little creepy. Mind you, we went to Star Bar, which is apparently, as someone in my group said, "Scraping the bottom of the barrel" when it comes to clubs in the city. I was obliged to stay due to my ride being obliged to stay (she's not a clubber either, and we ended up texting friends in a corner).
Anyway, managed to get out once another friend came to join us for midnight dining at the Superbowl in Chinatown. Surprisingly pleasant. Congee with preserved egg, deep-fried dough bread and wonton soup are goooood! That part was enjoyable. Ended getting home at 2.30am after 2 hours of girl-talk in a crowded little Chinese restaurant.
Finally, to the chef of Fujiya Japanese Restaurant: you call that a Potato and Cod Roe Gratin?!? What was that with the burnt Tasty cheese and rubbery texture? I've made better gratins than that in desperation (the secret ingredient is nutmeg).