Nicolas Croze-Orton ([log in to unmask]) wrote:

>I don`t discard it has a mere curiosity, many intelligent things have been
>said in the past.  But this is not the point, the point being, I am not
>quite sure, like many composers, that Beethoven thought so much about
>structure while composing.  And if it does not come out naturally, it is
>not a force he is endowed with.

   If he [Beethoven] seems content with plainness of material we may be
   sure that the harmonic and tonal proportions are meant to engage us
   before everything else; the supreme example of this is perhaps the
   introduction to No.7...No one has ever written more individual or
   beautiful themes than Beethoven; where necessary he display a power
   of self-denial that should not mislead anyone, and Stravinsky's remark
   that he lacked the gift of melody was surely a missile thrown from
   inside a glass house.

     Robert Simpson.

Deryk Barker
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