Patrik Enander <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Yesterday I heard an interview with Christopher Hogwood on Swedish Radio
>He thought that Beethoven's violin concerto was rubbish.  He also thought
>that Beethoven on the whole was overrated, that his symphonies were so
>badly written you had to "clean" them before performing them!

Everyone is entitled to an opinion and has the right to express it.  What
I find difficult to deal with is the 'absolutism' of those who say "all
beethoven is rubbish/overrated/badly constructed" etc.

1.  History disagrees -- I'm not suggesting history is always right
(otherwise I would agree with the pundits who tell me that Thomas Ades is
the Second Messiah of British music!) but I do suggest that the collective
opinions of a large number of people over a long time should at least give
us pause for thought.  After all -- there's no smoke without fire.

2.  Absolutism or extremism in any form is dangerous, and is an easy
route to voicing an opinion without the drudgery of analysis and original
thought.  Some of Beethoven's works I find tiresome and trite -- but the
vast majority satisfy my soul in some way and therefore fulfil the function
I expect of music -- emotional satisfaction and catharsis.

3.  To say all of Beethoven is rubbish (or all of Stravisnky, or Brahms, or
Mahler, or...) makes as much sense as the opinion "I'm a pacifist -- and if
you don't agree with me, I'll kill you!"

Tim
Off to listen to the slow movment of LvB's Piano Concerto No. 5