Jon Johanning wrote (of Beethoven's 9th):

>I myself think that the first three movements are great, but the Great
>One bit off a little more than he could chew on the last one.

The Great One thought so too, or at least he told one of his acolytes
(Czerny, IIRC) that the choral finale had been a "terrible mistake."

Richard, who invites you to visit his music, outdoors and other WWW sites
at:  http://infoweb.magi.com/~richard/