David Stewart wrote about Liszt:

>Being an innovator, it is not often the case that the best music, or
>more perfectly wrought music is created by the innovators, more by those
>who follow in their footsteps, so the Sons of Bach and to some extent
>Scarlatti defined the classical style but it was Mozart and Haydn who wrote
>the best music in it.  Similarly with Beethoven, although he wrote loads of
>excellent music, Brahms took his models to their zenith.

I'm not so sure that the above applies to Beethoven or Liszt.  The both
wrote excellent music.  It is true that Brahms used B:s models, but I don't
think that his musical ideas really was ideal for that purpose.  They are
too lyrical.  My point is that music history is not necessarily linear.
During the Romantic Period, musical development spli into one new path and
one more conservative.  It is hard to talk about a single composer taking
Beethoven's models zenith.  Brahms represents one zenith (and a dead end),
and another (and later) Germanic zenith is represented by R.  Strauss and
Mahler.

Mikael ([log in to unmask])