Ramatganski mowi:

May 9, 2012 - Oh,Ok.I thought you said back then that the expressionistic composers killed art and humanity - wasn't that you, or did you say something else? That would've come across as siding with the worst tyrants ever and their followers in what they always had to say about relevant novelty. But I do recognize in this piece a brilliant burst of the same break from better "sounding" music, for the purpose of expression of radical experience, that otherwise developed gradually from romanticism to modernism.

sehnsto mowi:

May 10, 2012 - @smalin what is your opinion of this piece?

smalin mowi:

May 10, 2012 - I'm pretty much with Stravinsky on this one.

jakobthebadger mowi:

May 11, 2012 - a hardly understandable marsterpiece...

bonumfatum457 mowi:

May 11, 2012 - Isn't this more of a twisted toccata?

Edisher kipiani mowi:

May 13, 2012 - my life is merely a period of time secluded from all the word for listening to this piece

snoopdogg111000 mowi:

May 19, 2012 - Lots of people in nowadays underrate Beethoven, but noone will ever be able to overrate him!

smalin mowi:

May 19, 2012 - I think you just did.

AntholKinsidiousFoul mowi:

May 19, 2012 - Anyone else watch the full thing, and then on last panel with the quote by Igor Stravinsky it slightly kept moving like the notes during the piece! lol

Dave Smith mowi:

May 19, 2012 - Yes, exactly as you say. Well put. And thanks SO MUCH for these great projects. You are attracting millions of viewers who are now gaining a greater appreciation for classical music. To many of the younger generation your structured visualizations are irresistible. (We've got you now, my pretties!! Cackle cackle...)

KimmyRose12 mowi:

May 19, 2012 - I think I know who performed this recording. They are called: "The Lindsay String Quartet" I could be wrong, but I found a CD at the Library that has this exact recording on it.

rmalk4 mowi:

May 20, 2012 - what defines a toccata?

bonumfatum457 mowi:

May 21, 2012 - Well, in a fugue there is one clear melody or "theme", if you will, that is repeated, while a toccata has more than one melody that is bent to a performer's liking. for example in Bach's fugues always sound the same (other than timbre) and his toccatas vary a little by performers. I couldn't find a particular melody hence "Twisted Toccata".

jumpydave mowi:

May 21, 2012 - I don't see how he did. Would you bother explaining, or is this a joke I am taking too seriously?

smalin mowi:

May 21, 2012 - To say "Beethoven is so great that nobody can overrate him" is to overrate him.

jumpydave mowi:

May 21, 2012 - I suppose, although you, I, and snoopdogg have differing tastes. In my opinion, it is very difficult to overrate him. To you, it's easier, and yet to snoopdogg it is impossible. Each to his/her own, you cannot definitively say that Beethoven cannot be overrated, as music is extremely subjective.

smalin mowi:

May 21, 2012 - How about "Beethoven does everything better than every other composer that has ever lived or ever will live"? or "Beethoven is God"? Would either of those qualify as over-rating?

Nachtmarchen mowi:

May 21, 2012 - So why use teleologically-tinged "progress" in stead of the more neutral "change" (especially in the face of today's aesthetic pluralism)? It seems you didn't understand smalin's argument, and backed up his point: You need historical context to determine which piece came first, it's not like periodic phrasing and cadential harmony is intrinsically late 18th century - and even if you posses adequate knowledge of history, you may still fall prey to stylistic pluralism & deliberate counterfeiting.

jumpydave mowi:

May 21, 2012 - To you or I, yes, but not to our friend snoopdogg here. Clearly he thinks much higher of Beethoven than you and I do, but that's fine. I suppose what it comes down to, again, is opinion. Music, as with any art, is subjective. In my opinion, John Cage's 4'33" is a load of crap. To you, it could be brilliant. Therefore, I believe you are over-rating John Cage, just as you think snoopdogg is over-rating Beethoven. Are either of us wrong? No, of course not. We each just have differing opinions.

jeff22003 mowi:

May 21, 2012 - not particularly

banginghats2 mowi:

May 22, 2012 - Ha, if anyone thought that they should listen to Beethoven's Wellington's Victory! It's even worse than Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture. I say this as huge Beethoven fan btw.

fromMouq mowi:

May 22, 2012 - This is not entirely a debate of taste, as it is a debate of logic. If it is impossible to overrate him, therefor no possible utterance or what-not can overrate him, yes? No matter what, no thing can be too much. While it's entirely possible that @snoopdogg thinks that somehow sacrificing and destroying the Sun and Earth in some doomsday scenario only in honor of Beethoven is not overrating him, this is implausible to a very high degree and that is what I believe @smalin was pointing out.

ikschrijflangenamen mowi:

May 24, 2012 - Don't ruin the poetic inspiration of a good internet fellow who stopped trolling for a second to listen to some piece of music he liked and wanted to give it the best rating he could think of.

aaaarghgl mowi:

May 25, 2012 - I looooooooooooove Spohrs appraisal of the work :-)