It took me two attempts to really "get" this piece. If I approached it as a typical fugue, it sounded discordant and off. When I abandoned my preconceptions, I was able to grasp the entire piece as it should have been. Incredible. Thanks for this piece!
Hear it on acid, change your view about music forever. Amazing piece, just brilliant details and perhaps overwhelming for the slow thinkers. You really need to grasp and visualize each single note at the same time, measuring their harmonic differences in your brain - do it fast enough and you'll get a delightful sense of serenity. I find myself listening to this daily for the past year or so.
@barc0deblankblank One of the handful of peak experiences of my life was hearing one of Beethoven's late string quartets on acid (back in the 1970s, when I could get it).
@shaenoffline glad i was of some help! this song is confounding. i read on wikipedia about what fugue is in the first place - chase and follow of different themes. so that is most recognizable in the part that i mentioned. but yeah. i'll stick with waldstein and the moonlight sonata. ha!
I personally find it very understandable that Beethoven's contemporaries did not particularly like this piece: even now it still sounds very modern - to the people of Beethoven's time (who were, after all, mostly used to totally different music) it must have sounded something like some of Arnold Schoenberg's more innovative compositions sound to us now ...and that is certainly not everybody's cup of tea ^^
To anyone interested, the part from about 4:45 to 7:21 are really beautiful and sonorous befoer it falls back into dissonant madness. I don't know that much about music, but is that part of the song like a theme or something? because it sounds nicer and makes more sense to the ear. Methinks beethoven was doing this one purpose...
@dalmationham I was just about the give up when I read your comment looking for some understanding why people felt this was good and it transitioned into this portion. I welcome this middle section, otherwise it was just a cluttered mess to me.
@shaneoffline There are lots of discussions of this in the comments; if you want to get some perspective on this piece, you might want to read through them.
@smalin Maybe in time. I saw a comment that a lot of people start where I am and learn over time how to listen to it for both aesthetics and its intellectual design. But it'll move to the backburner for me for now.
This is the first piece of classical music I really took the time for listening to. How beautiful is this!!! Can anybody recommend me some pieces that may be familiar to me?
@DMB5588 Some common classical pieces would be Mozart: "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik", "Rondo alla turca" "Sonata 16 k545" Beethovens: 5th symphony, 9th symphony, Moonlight sonata (all 3 movements) Pathetique sonata, Appassionata sonata, Fur Elise. Bach: Prelude to "The Well-Tempered Clavier" and "toccata and fugue in d minor" All beautiful, and well known even outside of the classical music world.
@MJFpryt Don't you worry that a person who can appreciate Beethoven's Große Fuge on first hearing will find the pieces you suggested a little ... tame?
@smalin I suppose, but he asked for common pieces he would already know, and that he is new to classical music. I was just giving him what he asked for.
@DMB5588 You could also try Chopin's Ballade no.1; Grieg's In the Hall of the Mountain King; Pachelbel's Canon; Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, Piano Concerto no. 1; Brahms' Hungarian Dances; and Debussy's Clair de Lune. I think all these songs are fairly recognizable, plus most of them are in movies.
@seredin89 Sorry, my mistake: my score is wrong at that point; the parts with repeated notes should have the repeated notes in both notes of the double-stop.
Even to many of the classical devotees and those who appreciate classical, this song seems to have an effect on the ear that brings confusion and misunderstanding, as it seems to lack the harmony and/or attractive melody which even the smartest of minds come to appreciate.
this was the first time i've ever heard this song and i don't understand how people can't understand it..? to me the piece is great and doesn't "confuse" me at all
For me it sounds like a blind Vivaldi.. but I just listened to the 9th of Beethoven and against that masterpiece, everything sounds like a blind Vivaldi :D
@sehnsto This is a great piece, and the more time you invest in it, the better it gets. At least, that's been true for me (and I've been listening to it for about forty years).
Its amazing that I couldn't follow this when I first heard it but now its just like any other song. This song must have changed the way I think or understand. There might actually be a benefit of listening to classical music.
@sehnsto Many people think that if they make some sense of music they're hearing, they're experiencing everything it has to offer (seldom the case). A five-year-old watching an adult movie will not get certain things; music works the same way. If a piece strikes you as not worth listening to, remember: the person who made it thought it was worth making (which is a lot more work than listening); if you explain this by saying "they have less taste than I do," you're probably wrong.
@ZOMGHALP I don't think there's a simple answer to your question "when should you trust your instinct?" For this piece, if it sound random, disorganized, ugly and meaningless, then it's pretty likely you haven't "got it" yet. There are lots of people who had that reaction at first who later came to understand the piece, and to find it organized, beautiful, and meaningful, and who believe that their first impression was a mistake, based on not understanding what the music was doing.
@smalin Agreed. I remember 20 years ago when my music teacher first played Foxy Lady at me. I didn't dig it until 10 years later. They never played this to me. I remember enjoying Benjamin Britten but not this one. And it's not even obscure.
Taste may be subjective. Genius never is. Genius shines and it doesn't take one to see one.
But I needed your visualisation to understand even half of it.
.
This is the guy who scratched Napoleons name out of the dedication of the Eroica..
I enjoyed every sound of it, every single second brought so much emotion to me. This music is a reflection of how I've been feeling since a long time ago... Excelent way to show it, I could watch the colors, circles and bars all day long XD
This is one of my favourite beethoven works. It enhances it so much to watch a score whilst listening to it. It just causes you to notice all of these different nuances that were so easy to miss otherwise. I think this surpasses the 9th symphony. It's easy to fuck up music this complex but Beethoven managed to nail it and in the process, blow over the heads of his audiences.
Beauty truely lies in the eye of the beholder, and Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. For some reason I always find my self coming back to this piece. I really do love this song. This is imitative counterpoint taken to an extreme level. Thank you smalin for uploading this. I would have never heard this if it was not for you. I enjoy your videos and please keep uploading. Curious to see what else I have not yet heard...
This piece sickens me because of the sadness I know Beethoven felt while composing it. He must have felt incredible anger because in his deaf state he was incapable of producing the beautiful music that he would otherwise be able to produce with ease. So he writes this madness as if screaming at the world, "I DARE you to renounce this piece! This piece by ME, Beethoven!" He knew it was bad and still he wanted it to be heard. This was his revenge on the world for taking away his hearing.
@xFayte ho...how...HOW is this bad?! You are a madman, sir! This is fantastic, how is this in any way bad to listen to? I have just recently heard what I would definitely call bad, it was a mess, but this is not at all! It's merely fast paced and invigorated. I would by no definition call this bad
@omamder5 I apologize for any misrepresentation of my own intentions, but I meant to call it relatively bad. It is bad in comparison to Beethoven's works which were produced at his full capacity. Of course there are things much worse than this. Listen to the radio for evidence.
@xFayte I think you're mistaken (about this being an example of Beethoven working at less than "his full capacity"). Please read all the comments here for a discussion of this.
@xFayte It isn't inferior, it's brilliant -- but it is very exploratory, even now after all the work of the 20th century, and harder to wrap one's head around than most of his other work. You have to meet it where it is. Worth the intellectual exercise.
I feel like this piece imposes a powerful cognitive dissonance on me. Esthetics be damned in the face of sheer brilliance; though one has to wonder, if the mechanical beauty of it is appreciated in part because of it's composer and in spite of his obvious handicap at the time...I wonder how it sounded to Beethoven.
@dookiecheez Do you like any spicy foods? If so, what would you say to a child who said, about a dish you found delicious, "this food imposes a powerful sensory dissonance on me"? With music, as with food, we are not born with the understanding and experience required to appreciate everything the world has to offer. If you find aspects of this piece unpleasant, don't worry; with time, you'll find yourself agreeing with Stravinsky.
What an unusual thing to say. You're mixing up different kinds of sensory information for one. Capsicum stimulates nerves telling them something is on fire, rather than taste buds. Like carbonation and vision non taste bud stimulation effects our enjoyment of food. But there isn't a cognitive dissonance in play here, spiciness is not a flavor, though it is associated with certain flavors. Now if you appreciated artificial sweeteners but hated the bitter after taste...
@dookiecheez In the analogy I'm making, the aural analogue of spicy food is dissonance, which is one of the factors involved in a naive listener's inability to appreciate this movement.
@dookiecheez Dissonance in music and spiciness in food are both types sensory experience that can be perceived as unpleasant (and are often perceived that way by people without experience with them) but can also be perceived as pleasant, satisfying, and desirable by people who have learned to appreciate them.
When I use the word dissonance I don't mean musical dissonance, though that is partially what is causing it. Intellectually I appreciate the piece, esthetically not. I don't see how that is analogous to spicy food.
@dookiecheez As I've said: many people find this piece esthetically unpleasant, but then over time learn how to hear it, and come to love it (both intellectually and esthetically). I hope this happens for you, and I hope you will admit the possibility that it could happen (and that your current perception of it is limited by your musical experience).
Do you even understand what cognitive dissonance is? Acquiring a taste for something that isn't esthetically pleasant does not make it esthetically pleasant, it also doesn't mean one then has a less limited perception. Nobody actually enjoys the pain associated with capsicum for example. If you get them to merely consume it, even if they love spicy food they don't go 'OH that's delicious to me now'. It's associative not assimilative.
@dookiecheez I actually enjoy the pain associated with capsicum. I know what cognitive dissonance is. In the appropriate context, I find musical dissonance pleasant (and would find its absence in that context unpleasant). It has to do with expectation. If you are expecting food to be spicy and it's not, you might say "yuck, this is so bland." If you don't understand the dissonance in music, it is unpleasant, but if you do understand it, you enjoy it.
Exactly. So the point is that our capacity to appreciate something that on it's own isn't intrinsically esthetically pleasing, is associative not assimilative. I never said I don't like this piece, or listening to it, in fact I liked and favorited it. However on a purely esthetic basis, in particular it's heavy use of dissonance, is not pleasurable. In a similar but different light I can appreciate a crudely 'drawn' painting that is not visually appealing.
@dookiecheez In that case, I don't know what you mean by "esthetically pleasing" or "on a purely esthetic basis" or "not pleasurable." For me, dissonance, in the right context is pleasurable, and I find it esthetically pleasing --- that is, more esthetically pleasing than consonance would be, in the same context. What is the difference between "I liked it" and "I found it esthetically pleasing"? Are you saying something other that "dissonance is dissonant"?
I think to a degree aesthetics are subjective, but there are certainly commonalities due to common biology. In terms of music there is clearly a well defined type or kind of noise we find as humans find esthetically pleasing or enjoyable, and while the common initial response appears to favor a the notion that there is a common issue with the esthetics of this piece, linked again to our common biology as I said there is an associative quality, perhaps mechanical beauty.
One that explains why I enjoy the piece not despite it's esthetic shortcomings, but in a certain way because of them. Analogously I have enjoyed films and television programs that depart from stylish cinematography. It's not that John Carpenter's the Thing is visually esthetically superior to it's remake, even in respect to the special effects, that make it a superior film in purely esthetic terms. There is some associative joy I find with 'real' special effects.
I had goosebumps for 15 minutes. This is so progressive. I guess I was right when I said that classical music has the most progressive characteristics of all.
Amazing. As far as pure reckless imagination in composition goes, I think Beethoven was far ahead of his time.
And as to people who don't see the structure and delicate rhythms... you all need to watch the original Fantasia. Get some sort of crazy visual, close your eyes and listen to the story... Such a visual composer!!!! *SIGH*
This is not good music. (Before you go on a rampage commenting about how its all how you interpret it let me explain.) Music is Music, and this, though very different and good in parts, as a whole is best described as messy, in my opinion. I understand he intended it to be ugly, but why? is my question, you have a piece which i can hear being great, and notes are put out of place it seems. Why Beethoven? What was your reason for making an ugly piece?
@TheMagic If he put the "misplaced notes" where you think they should be this piece would have fallen into obscurity. Beethoven's music is beautiful precisely because of it's inconsistencies, which reflect the paradoxes in the world around us. It marks a turning point where music stopped evoking only the sublime, and started addressing reality as it is, as fractured and disturbing, but also beautiful. Read Adorno's "Why is the new art so hard to understand?" for more on this stuff.
@themusicroob Many of his other pieces are very very famous and very well written. Music is a way to go away from reality, just look at a musical note, how amazing it is to hear a "perfect: noise on different scales, that's what music is, this a drifting from that. I love Beethoven when he combines emotions and music, but this is more emotion than music.
@TheMagicBolt Many people think, on first hearing, that this is ugly, just noise, random, etc., but later, with further experience, come to hear it as beautiful, expressive, highly organized, profoundly moving, etc. As far as I know, nobody has gone the other direction (starting out liking it but then deciding later that it is ugly). Also, musicians tend to like this piece on first hearing more than non-musicians. How do you account for these things?
@smalin Musicians of today, or of then? I hear parts that are good in here, i understand it, but i don't understand parts where their is a cluster of strings with no harmony or sense in them. for example 2:15-2:25 i understand the music, but it could of been made more "clear." In other words, if Mozart heard it, he would probably have his own version, more symmetrical and more together than this. Though beethoven, im sure intended it to be this way, which is beyond me as to why.
@TheMagicBolt Musicians both now and then. There's harmony throughout this but many things make it hard for a beginning listener to perceive: speed of notes, speed of harmonic change, suspensions and other contrapuntal devices, melodic leaps, etc. Lots of Beethoven's music (including pieces you like) was considered unpleasantly discordant at the time he wrote it. He uses a more complex harmonic language than Mozart's, and it takes more experience to understand and appreciate it.
@smalin His other pieces were revolutionary for its time yes, but it still made sense, even to alot of people during that time. This, is not like his other pieces this has notes that jump around while others overlap it and follow a pattern.At around 2:27 or so, it seems like three different pieces thrown in together, i see very little harmony there.
@TheMagicBolt Then and now, some people understand Beethoven's music and some don't. Nowadays, we've had more experience listening to it (and things like it), and more people understand it, but some of it (especially this piece) still eludes some people. At around 2:27, I hear the dominant (D major) harmony (seventh with a flat ninth, if you include the E-flat) going to the tonic (G minor). Maybe you don't hear that, but in that case, the problem is with you, not with Beethoven.
@smalin I understand it. It just sounds off a bit. Im not saying something is wrong with beethoven, other than him being deaf, which didnt seem to effect him. But this seems like a rough draft that should have some corrections. Its probably just me, i prefer a more symmetrial pure sound. I think that this piece could be one of my favorites if just a couple of modifications were made. But im sure he intended it to be his way. Could you explain the "yellow" part at 3:27 - 3:34.
@TheMagicBolt Starting with the first long note at 3:25, the second violin (yellow) has the beginning of main theme: F, F, F#, E-flat, D (same shape as at the start of the piece). After the first five notes, though, it leaves the theme and participates (along with the 'cello, blue) in a short harmonic sequence (C7 --> F7 --> B-flat7 --> E-flat ...). And at 3:37, it's back to the main counter-theme (the one that starts first at 0:54).
@smalin hmm. makes more sense now. I would like to hear this played with different instruments. It seems like the high pitch strings could make it sound odd for me.
@TheMagicBolt There's a version for piano duet, and I think there's even one for solo piano. I don't know whether it would make it any clearer to hear it on piano, though (since it would be harder to follow the individual voices). It might help you get more familiar with the harmonies (and that might transfer back to the string quartet version). But repeated listening, regardless of what instruments, will help it make more sense.
@ThiagoSkyMe no you do not. What you hear is what you try hard to hear, you hear a line of good compositions, surrounded by a chaos of jumbled up shapes and notes. I hear it too, but i dont understand why it is surrounded by such an incomprehensible mess.
@TheMagicBolt its not a mess if you really look at it. It makes perfect hearing for me I have no issues with it and if you can follow Shostakovitch then you can follow this much easier too. just look the the quartets.
@onyxreddragon I understand but their is noise and their is music, music if a noise in harmony with rhythm and melody, this, though still music, is creeping close to just noise, where as others like Mozart had every piece, or close to it, being as close to perfect music as possible. Not all of beethoven's work were like that, just this one for some reason, i dont know why he chose to purposely make it "ugly." I shouldnt have to search for what it sounds like in my opinion.
@xjtyu many people during his time also thought it was ugly. I love almost all of Beethoven's pieces, this one is an exception.I understand he was going in a new direction, but it wasn't a good one in my opinion.
@TheMagicBolt The rhythm is mostly static, the melodies and subjects are distinguishable, the instruments are played properly. I'm shocked, to say the least. I can't even tell what parts most of you can't comprehend and are referring to. I just don't get how someone can call this ugly, let alone noise. My first time hearing this was like my first time hearing a Chopin nocturne - beautiful.
Clever animation! I used to sing from plainsong music which looks a little similar, and I now work with the Logic Pro sequencer, which has similar visual representations of music; this is an authentic reflection of the complexities of this opus.
Don't you just love Beethoven?! I've rediscovered him after a long excursion (had enough of him for Grade 8 piano - I'm now over my resentment!).
Thank you, Ludwig. I SAID THANK YOU LUDWIG!!! Oh, never mind.
I have no idea what the hell is going on for the first 6 or so minutes, but after that it seemed to lock in... what the hell is going on with the first bit?
This piece is very similar to a painting by Jackson Pollock. His splatter paintings weren't something to look at they were something to see and marvel at Likewise this piece is something to hear and marvel at. Its not meant to be understood in a traditional way. This piece is pure art.
I am don't know anything about music...but I read the word "fugue" somewhere and decided to look it up. I'm having trouble focusing on (and remembering) individual instrumental parts because so much is going on throughout this performance. (EAR CONFUSION!! lol) The subject melody and similar response parts were much easier to recognize in his "simple fugue". To you musicians, i'm sorry i can't make more sense...I'm WAY outta my league here.
Simple word for it, a fugue is multiple melody lines running together, they can be hard to follow and even harder to enjoy for many people. Don't feel bad about it. There is a reason people shied away from Baroque music.
To see a video of the Opus 134 Piano Four hand version,just put Beethoven Op 134 in the search box.I had a link but stupid YouTube won't let me post it(even though it's one of it's own!)
If you are interested there is a recording of this work (in Beethoven's piano arrangement for four hands) on Naxos,on a disc entitled "Beethoven and his Teachers"
It is played on a Johann Nepomuk Trondlin piano,made in Lepzig in 1830;but which has a genuine "Vienna" sound, from the Frederick Historic Piano Collection in Ashburnham,Mass.USA.
It is quite different to the usual version,but equally as valid,and as Naxos discs retail at bargain prices the above set is really worth listening to.
This whole thing is fascinating and inspiring, especially the program which has rendered sound into form. As the fugue progresses, i can’t help but see an approximated depiction of a molecule of DNA (others may see this as well if one views the lines as the “rungs” and the circles as the chain of nucleotides which make up the DNA “ladder”).
Anyways, to me it’s like this deep metaphor for some unity or connection between music and the constituents of living things
To me this work is exquisite and one of my favourite examples of ugly-beautiful. I really don't go for anything too dissonant and almost nothing that is a- or polytonal, but maybe studying that kind of thing for so long makes this sweet in comparison, since it still has a structure it can push against - assuming you believe harmony is integral to beauty. This recording makes it a bit more approachable too, maybe. Thank you Smalin! I love your uploads.
Although I am not one of those crazed classical fanatics, I definitely love this piece for being so discorded and random. Yet again it doesn't seem like it is, like a journey is in the piece almost. Very lovely.
You encourage us to listen to this pair of fugues, Bach's and Beethoven's in sequence... odd but compelling. I am still at a place where the latter is still breaking into and taking a more profound shape in my mind, but after a work I was saddened, but perhaps not enormously surprised, to find referred to by references on Wikipedia as 'simple' or 'primitive'... appealing to the simpler melodic tastes. Compelling choice, and I still can't even imagine why humanity loves music at all.
@keillordc What emotions does it stir in you, at what points (eg., where on the timeline in this recording)? I am listening to it again, and find it not as irritating as the first time - but that doesn't mean much. It still doesn't stir anything in me except irritation and impatience for it to be over. I don't find any of it memorable. This may be the recording. I agree with SirSebastianWang that this could be played much more aggressively.
@amishcyborg The emotions it stirs in me are surprise, shock and discomfort to name a few, but these feelings are so intense. There are parts that used to make me want to grind my teeth in discomfort the first few times I heard it. Maybe it's just a matter of taste, but the fact that a piece of music could overwhelm me in such a way was awesome to me. It wasn't even ju
This has been flagged as spam show
the first violin in the crocendo right before two min gave me serious chills
crackabottlebeach64 9 hours ago
This has been flagged as spam show
the first violin in the crocendo right before 2 min gave me serious chills
crackabottlebeach64 9 hours ago
the first violin in the crocendo right before 2 min gave me serious chills
crackabottlebeach64 9 hours ago
my debt collector called and i had this in the background on high.. ahahahaha you can imagine the smile on my face.
odiumimbues 2 days ago
your eyes melt after a watching it for a couple minutes
soyviejodenme 4 days ago
I'm trying to figure out which one has the melody at which times...
LtCrunch42 4 days ago
@LtCrunch42 It's a fugue. EVERYONE has the melody! ;)
pentafusion 4 days ago
It´s like I am playing Classic Hero!!! \o/
maxoda 6 days ago
This has been flagged as spam show
It took me two attempts to really "get" this piece. If I approached it as a typical fugue, it sounded discordant and off. When I abandoned my preconceptions, I was able to grasp the entire piece as it should have been. Incredible. Thanks for this piece!
AlexMMI 6 days ago
Comment removed
AlexMMI 6 days ago
Hear it on acid, change your view about music forever. Amazing piece, just brilliant details and perhaps overwhelming for the slow thinkers. You really need to grasp and visualize each single note at the same time, measuring their harmonic differences in your brain - do it fast enough and you'll get a delightful sense of serenity. I find myself listening to this daily for the past year or so.
barc0deblankblank 1 week ago
@barc0deblankblank One of the handful of peak experiences of my life was hearing one of Beethoven's late string quartets on acid (back in the 1970s, when I could get it).
smalin 6 days ago
@shaenoffline glad i was of some help! this song is confounding. i read on wikipedia about what fugue is in the first place - chase and follow of different themes. so that is most recognizable in the part that i mentioned. but yeah. i'll stick with waldstein and the moonlight sonata. ha!
dalmationham 1 week ago
lol here i was wondering what stravinsky would have commented on this piece. should have known.
OwlyEagles 1 week ago
I personally find it very understandable that Beethoven's contemporaries did not particularly like this piece: even now it still sounds very modern - to the people of Beethoven's time (who were, after all, mostly used to totally different music) it must have sounded something like some of Arnold Schoenberg's more innovative compositions sound to us now ...and that is certainly not everybody's cup of tea ^^
chrisQ1000 1 week ago
If you listen this piece with a headset.... it's only beautiful ;)
bassonjoan 1 week ago
I showed this song to my friends and they hated it I love this piece it is my favorite by beethoven
CrossbowManD 1 week ago in playlist Liked videos
@CrossbowManD Well, I guess you either have to find different music to listen to or different friends. ;-)
smalin 1 week ago
To anyone interested, the part from about 4:45 to 7:21 are really beautiful and sonorous befoer it falls back into dissonant madness. I don't know that much about music, but is that part of the song like a theme or something? because it sounds nicer and makes more sense to the ear. Methinks beethoven was doing this one purpose...
dalmationham 2 weeks ago
@dalmationham I was just about the give up when I read your comment looking for some understanding why people felt this was good and it transitioned into this portion. I welcome this middle section, otherwise it was just a cluttered mess to me.
shaneoffline 1 week ago
@shaneoffline There are lots of discussions of this in the comments; if you want to get some perspective on this piece, you might want to read through them.
smalin 1 week ago
@smalin Maybe in time. I saw a comment that a lot of people start where I am and learn over time how to listen to it for both aesthetics and its intellectual design. But it'll move to the backburner for me for now.
shaneoffline 1 week ago
This is the first piece of classical music I really took the time for listening to. How beautiful is this!!! Can anybody recommend me some pieces that may be familiar to me?
DMB5588 2 weeks ago
@DMB5588 Some common classical pieces would be Mozart: "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik", "Rondo alla turca" "Sonata 16 k545" Beethovens: 5th symphony, 9th symphony, Moonlight sonata (all 3 movements) Pathetique sonata, Appassionata sonata, Fur Elise. Bach: Prelude to "The Well-Tempered Clavier" and "toccata and fugue in d minor" All beautiful, and well known even outside of the classical music world.
MJFpryt 2 weeks ago
@MJFpryt Don't you worry that a person who can appreciate Beethoven's Große Fuge on first hearing will find the pieces you suggested a little ... tame?
smalin 2 weeks ago
@smalin I suppose, but he asked for common pieces he would already know, and that he is new to classical music. I was just giving him what he asked for.
MJFpryt 2 weeks ago
@MJFpryt Ah, yes, you're right.
smalin 2 weeks ago
@DMB5588 I'd be happy to share more of my personal favorites with you if like the others I suggested.
MJFpryt 2 weeks ago
@DMB5588 You could also try Chopin's Ballade no.1; Grieg's In the Hall of the Mountain King; Pachelbel's Canon; Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, Piano Concerto no. 1; Brahms' Hungarian Dances; and Debussy's Clair de Lune. I think all these songs are fairly recognizable, plus most of them are in movies.
chocolatechimichanga 1 week ago
It's both beautiful and "ugly" sounding. but that just makes it sound more intriguing.
gmmg93 2 weeks ago
love it
Ludwigooo 2 weeks ago in playlist Fler videoklipp från smalin
at 15:10, what in the world is happening to the orange color's hands?? How would they play that?
seredin89 3 weeks ago
@seredin89 Sorry, my mistake: my score is wrong at that point; the parts with repeated notes should have the repeated notes in both notes of the double-stop.
smalin 3 weeks ago
I understood it.
sargsian2002 3 weeks ago
Does anyone's computer screen seem to be sliding to the left after watching this?
ItisThatGuy 3 weeks ago
Even to many of the classical devotees and those who appreciate classical, this song seems to have an effect on the ear that brings confusion and misunderstanding, as it seems to lack the harmony and/or attractive melody which even the smartest of minds come to appreciate.
BINGFRYSRDUN 3 weeks ago
this was the first time i've ever heard this song and i don't understand how people can't understand it..? to me the piece is great and doesn't "confuse" me at all
albpoolshark 3 weeks ago
one of my fave classical song ever!
crackabottlebeach64 3 weeks ago
well said Stravinsky, on the other hand, I got dizzy when I finished
iwannucci 4 weeks ago
i love it! the only distaste i have for it is the sixteenth-quarter note rythm. :)
sgn22 4 weeks ago
Is it just me or does this piece start to sound swung around 3 minutes in?
therapsids 4 weeks ago
I love you Beethoven!!! sorry sorry big fan big fan XD
iJJ1694 1 month ago
O M G (couldn't agree more)...the 5th season so to speak!
SuperZerodotcom 1 month ago
For me it sounds like a blind Vivaldi.. but I just listened to the 9th of Beethoven and against that masterpiece, everything sounds like a blind Vivaldi :D
Kadarin187 1 month ago
the atmosphere behind this piece, that's what makes it unique ..
BrunoCt86 1 month ago
the more i listen... more it gets better
GaidonxP 1 month ago
I agree, and am looking forward to hearing and understanding this piece even more.
sehnsto 1 month ago
@sehnsto This is a great piece, and the more time you invest in it, the better it gets. At least, that's been true for me (and I've been listening to it for about forty years).
smalin 1 month ago
Its amazing that I couldn't follow this when I first heard it but now its just like any other song. This song must have changed the way I think or understand. There might actually be a benefit of listening to classical music.
sehnsto 1 month ago
@sehnsto Many people think that if they make some sense of music they're hearing, they're experiencing everything it has to offer (seldom the case). A five-year-old watching an adult movie will not get certain things; music works the same way. If a piece strikes you as not worth listening to, remember: the person who made it thought it was worth making (which is a lot more work than listening); if you explain this by saying "they have less taste than I do," you're probably wrong.
smalin 1 month ago
@smalin you say that as if its impossible to come to an understanding of a piece.
how do you decide when you "get it"? or do you go through life believing you can't trust your own instincts?
ZOMGHALP 1 month ago
@ZOMGHALP I don't think there's a simple answer to your question "when should you trust your instinct?" For this piece, if it sound random, disorganized, ugly and meaningless, then it's pretty likely you haven't "got it" yet. There are lots of people who had that reaction at first who later came to understand the piece, and to find it organized, beautiful, and meaningful, and who believe that their first impression was a mistake, based on not understanding what the music was doing.
smalin 1 month ago
@smalin Agreed. I remember 20 years ago when my music teacher first played Foxy Lady at me. I didn't dig it until 10 years later. They never played this to me. I remember enjoying Benjamin Britten but not this one. And it's not even obscure.
Taste may be subjective. Genius never is. Genius shines and it doesn't take one to see one.
But I needed your visualisation to understand even half of it.
.
This is the guy who scratched Napoleons name out of the dedication of the Eroica..
bfandreasyt 4 weeks ago in playlist Favorite videos
Lous Spohr or whatever was an IDIOT ;)
BassicStorm 1 month ago
@BassicStorm you mean Alexander von Oulibicheff, no?
PiEndsWith0 1 month ago
this is a little too innovative for me
indgiu 1 month ago
After 200 years, this still reaches a new frontier in classical music.
SkeezeyJ 1 month ago
this is different then the last one but still rocks
zannadootothetenth 1 month ago
I think that i am addicted to this piece, i have to listen to it at least once in a day.
jani14jani 1 month ago
I enjoyed every sound of it, every single second brought so much emotion to me. This music is a reflection of how I've been feeling since a long time ago... Excelent way to show it, I could watch the colors, circles and bars all day long XD
TxusGirl91 1 month ago
@MajorasIrae i know holy crap doesnt it?
waitwh 1 month ago
After listening to some jazz, this makes alot more sense for some reason.
TheMagicBolt 1 month ago
i like it, because i find a meaning in it
thisiserdinc 1 month ago
This is one of my favourite beethoven works. It enhances it so much to watch a score whilst listening to it. It just causes you to notice all of these different nuances that were so easy to miss otherwise. I think this surpasses the 9th symphony. It's easy to fuck up music this complex but Beethoven managed to nail it and in the process, blow over the heads of his audiences.
MD11cat 1 month ago
This piece of music marked a before and after in my life
AmadeusWolfgangus 1 month ago
This is rapidly turning into my favorite Beethoven piece.
stackedactor1 1 month ago
Beauty truely lies in the eye of the beholder, and Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. For some reason I always find my self coming back to this piece. I really do love this song. This is imitative counterpoint taken to an extreme level. Thank you smalin for uploading this. I would have never heard this if it was not for you. I enjoy your videos and please keep uploading. Curious to see what else I have not yet heard...
axelracer 1 month ago
This piece sickens me because of the sadness I know Beethoven felt while composing it. He must have felt incredible anger because in his deaf state he was incapable of producing the beautiful music that he would otherwise be able to produce with ease. So he writes this madness as if screaming at the world, "I DARE you to renounce this piece! This piece by ME, Beethoven!" He knew it was bad and still he wanted it to be heard. This was his revenge on the world for taking away his hearing.
xFayte 1 month ago
@xFayte ho...how...HOW is this bad?! You are a madman, sir! This is fantastic, how is this in any way bad to listen to? I have just recently heard what I would definitely call bad, it was a mess, but this is not at all! It's merely fast paced and invigorated. I would by no definition call this bad
omamder5 1 month ago
@omamder5 I apologize for any misrepresentation of my own intentions, but I meant to call it relatively bad. It is bad in comparison to Beethoven's works which were produced at his full capacity. Of course there are things much worse than this. Listen to the radio for evidence.
xFayte 1 month ago
@xFayte I think you're mistaken (about this being an example of Beethoven working at less than "his full capacity"). Please read all the comments here for a discussion of this.
smalin 1 month ago
@xFayte It isn't inferior, it's brilliant -- but it is very exploratory, even now after all the work of the 20th century, and harder to wrap one's head around than most of his other work. You have to meet it where it is. Worth the intellectual exercise.
manthasagittarius1 1 month ago
This is my favorite Beethoven peice
bongloadz4satan 1 month ago
I used to not appreciate great works like this one, but then I took an arrow in the knee.
SkeezeyJ 1 month ago
Hopefully there would be a video of the underrated Schbert a minor d.784 sonata one day :)
Vesivian 1 month ago
0:45 Wasn't Beethoven already dead in 1862?
blackspider0 1 month ago
@blackspider0 It's a typo (you must not be able to see annotations in the video); s/b 1826.
smalin 1 month ago
This is incredible.
foodiste 1 month ago
poor ignorant people, Beethoven is just the best composer.. JUST HEAR IT!... are you DEAF?.. poor assholes, animals
raticida123456 1 month ago
the animated score is great, this is such an amazing piece
jwspitz35 1 month ago
This incredibly potent work stirs up a profound existential anxiety in me as I listen to it. It's something otherworldly.
FatUglyNoLifeNerd 1 month ago
Brilliantly Mad! I thoroughly enjoyed this. The visualization is really helpful for understanding whats going on...
ganz32 1 month ago
This is a rare Masterpiece...
BassicStorm 1 month ago
I feel like this piece imposes a powerful cognitive dissonance on me. Esthetics be damned in the face of sheer brilliance; though one has to wonder, if the mechanical beauty of it is appreciated in part because of it's composer and in spite of his obvious handicap at the time...I wonder how it sounded to Beethoven.
dookiecheez 1 month ago
@dookiecheez Do you like any spicy foods? If so, what would you say to a child who said, about a dish you found delicious, "this food imposes a powerful sensory dissonance on me"? With music, as with food, we are not born with the understanding and experience required to appreciate everything the world has to offer. If you find aspects of this piece unpleasant, don't worry; with time, you'll find yourself agreeing with Stravinsky.
smalin 1 month ago
@smalin
What an unusual thing to say. You're mixing up different kinds of sensory information for one. Capsicum stimulates nerves telling them something is on fire, rather than taste buds. Like carbonation and vision non taste bud stimulation effects our enjoyment of food. But there isn't a cognitive dissonance in play here, spiciness is not a flavor, though it is associated with certain flavors. Now if you appreciated artificial sweeteners but hated the bitter after taste...
dookiecheez 1 month ago
@dookiecheez In the analogy I'm making, the aural analogue of spicy food is dissonance, which is one of the factors involved in a naive listener's inability to appreciate this movement.
smalin 1 month ago
@smalin
Where is the dissonance in eating spicy food?
dookiecheez 1 month ago
@dookiecheez Dissonance in music and spiciness in food are both types sensory experience that can be perceived as unpleasant (and are often perceived that way by people without experience with them) but can also be perceived as pleasant, satisfying, and desirable by people who have learned to appreciate them.
smalin 1 month ago
@smalin
When I use the word dissonance I don't mean musical dissonance, though that is partially what is causing it. Intellectually I appreciate the piece, esthetically not. I don't see how that is analogous to spicy food.
dookiecheez 1 month ago
@dookiecheez As I've said: many people find this piece esthetically unpleasant, but then over time learn how to hear it, and come to love it (both intellectually and esthetically). I hope this happens for you, and I hope you will admit the possibility that it could happen (and that your current perception of it is limited by your musical experience).
smalin 1 month ago
@smalin
Do you even understand what cognitive dissonance is? Acquiring a taste for something that isn't esthetically pleasant does not make it esthetically pleasant, it also doesn't mean one then has a less limited perception. Nobody actually enjoys the pain associated with capsicum for example. If you get them to merely consume it, even if they love spicy food they don't go 'OH that's delicious to me now'. It's associative not assimilative.
dookiecheez 1 month ago
@dookiecheez I actually enjoy the pain associated with capsicum. I know what cognitive dissonance is. In the appropriate context, I find musical dissonance pleasant (and would find its absence in that context unpleasant). It has to do with expectation. If you are expecting food to be spicy and it's not, you might say "yuck, this is so bland." If you don't understand the dissonance in music, it is unpleasant, but if you do understand it, you enjoy it.
smalin 1 month ago
@smalin
No peppers, no spices, just extracted capsicum. You would consume that and enjoy doing so? I'm calling bs on that.
dookiecheez 1 month ago
@dookiecheez No, not pure capsaicin. And I don't enjoy listening to pure, unadulterated dissonance (noise) either.
smalin 1 month ago
@smalin
Exactly. So the point is that our capacity to appreciate something that on it's own isn't intrinsically esthetically pleasing, is associative not assimilative. I never said I don't like this piece, or listening to it, in fact I liked and favorited it. However on a purely esthetic basis, in particular it's heavy use of dissonance, is not pleasurable. In a similar but different light I can appreciate a crudely 'drawn' painting that is not visually appealing.
dookiecheez 1 month ago
@dookiecheez
But that doesn't then make the painting visually appealing, or esthetically pleasing.
dookiecheez 1 month ago
@dookiecheez In that case, I don't know what you mean by "esthetically pleasing" or "on a purely esthetic basis" or "not pleasurable." For me, dissonance, in the right context is pleasurable, and I find it esthetically pleasing --- that is, more esthetically pleasing than consonance would be, in the same context. What is the difference between "I liked it" and "I found it esthetically pleasing"? Are you saying something other that "dissonance is dissonant"?
smalin 1 month ago
@smalin
I think to a degree aesthetics are subjective, but there are certainly commonalities due to common biology. In terms of music there is clearly a well defined type or kind of noise we find as humans find esthetically pleasing or enjoyable, and while the common initial response appears to favor a the notion that there is a common issue with the esthetics of this piece, linked again to our common biology as I said there is an associative quality, perhaps mechanical beauty.
dookiecheez 1 month ago
@dookiecheez
One that explains why I enjoy the piece not despite it's esthetic shortcomings, but in a certain way because of them. Analogously I have enjoyed films and television programs that depart from stylish cinematography. It's not that John Carpenter's the Thing is visually esthetically superior to it's remake, even in respect to the special effects, that make it a superior film in purely esthetic terms. There is some associative joy I find with 'real' special effects.
dookiecheez 1 month ago
I had goosebumps for 15 minutes. This is so progressive. I guess I was right when I said that classical music has the most progressive characteristics of all.
DiFFicult0CURE 1 month ago
This piece is so sad...
TheJackHarkness 1 month ago
So, do the circle highlights indicate volume or how long the note is going to be sustained?
TheImpressed 1 month ago
@TheImpressed The latter.
smalin 1 month ago
I never noticed until now, but the first quote you have that comes up is a quotation of Beethoven, but it's dated 1862.
OriginalBasaliskos 1 month ago
@OriginalBasaliskos Yes, that's a typo; it should be 1826. I fixed it with an annotation, but you've probably turned those off.
smalin 1 month ago
Amazing. As far as pure reckless imagination in composition goes, I think Beethoven was far ahead of his time.
And as to people who don't see the structure and delicate rhythms... you all need to watch the original Fantasia. Get some sort of crazy visual, close your eyes and listen to the story... Such a visual composer!!!! *SIGH*
hilarycopp 1 month ago
Lol I must be strange this is my first time hearing it and I love it
Jelyjiggler 1 month ago
It seems like Orange and Red are "related" somehow and Green and Blue are "related".
america0wns 1 month ago
@america0wns You are right :) Check out the Wiki definition of Fugue and that will tell you how right you are.
hilarycopp 1 month ago
I think you guys are overreacting. It's perfectly coherent.
xjtyu 1 month ago
This is not good music. (Before you go on a rampage commenting about how its all how you interpret it let me explain.) Music is Music, and this, though very different and good in parts, as a whole is best described as messy, in my opinion. I understand he intended it to be ugly, but why? is my question, you have a piece which i can hear being great, and notes are put out of place it seems. Why Beethoven? What was your reason for making an ugly piece?
TheMagicBolt 1 month ago
@TheMagic If he put the "misplaced notes" where you think they should be this piece would have fallen into obscurity. Beethoven's music is beautiful precisely because of it's inconsistencies, which reflect the paradoxes in the world around us. It marks a turning point where music stopped evoking only the sublime, and started addressing reality as it is, as fractured and disturbing, but also beautiful. Read Adorno's "Why is the new art so hard to understand?" for more on this stuff.
themusicroob 1 month ago
@themusicroob Many of his other pieces are very very famous and very well written. Music is a way to go away from reality, just look at a musical note, how amazing it is to hear a "perfect: noise on different scales, that's what music is, this a drifting from that. I love Beethoven when he combines emotions and music, but this is more emotion than music.
TheMagicBolt 1 month ago
@TheMagicBolt Many people think, on first hearing, that this is ugly, just noise, random, etc., but later, with further experience, come to hear it as beautiful, expressive, highly organized, profoundly moving, etc. As far as I know, nobody has gone the other direction (starting out liking it but then deciding later that it is ugly). Also, musicians tend to like this piece on first hearing more than non-musicians. How do you account for these things?
smalin 1 month ago
@smalin Musicians of today, or of then? I hear parts that are good in here, i understand it, but i don't understand parts where their is a cluster of strings with no harmony or sense in them. for example 2:15-2:25 i understand the music, but it could of been made more "clear." In other words, if Mozart heard it, he would probably have his own version, more symmetrical and more together than this. Though beethoven, im sure intended it to be this way, which is beyond me as to why.
TheMagicBolt 1 month ago
@TheMagicBolt Musicians both now and then. There's harmony throughout this but many things make it hard for a beginning listener to perceive: speed of notes, speed of harmonic change, suspensions and other contrapuntal devices, melodic leaps, etc. Lots of Beethoven's music (including pieces you like) was considered unpleasantly discordant at the time he wrote it. He uses a more complex harmonic language than Mozart's, and it takes more experience to understand and appreciate it.
smalin 1 month ago
@smalin His other pieces were revolutionary for its time yes, but it still made sense, even to alot of people during that time. This, is not like his other pieces this has notes that jump around while others overlap it and follow a pattern.At around 2:27 or so, it seems like three different pieces thrown in together, i see very little harmony there.
TheMagicBolt 1 month ago
@TheMagicBolt Then and now, some people understand Beethoven's music and some don't. Nowadays, we've had more experience listening to it (and things like it), and more people understand it, but some of it (especially this piece) still eludes some people. At around 2:27, I hear the dominant (D major) harmony (seventh with a flat ninth, if you include the E-flat) going to the tonic (G minor). Maybe you don't hear that, but in that case, the problem is with you, not with Beethoven.
smalin 1 month ago
@smalin I understand it. It just sounds off a bit. Im not saying something is wrong with beethoven, other than him being deaf, which didnt seem to effect him. But this seems like a rough draft that should have some corrections. Its probably just me, i prefer a more symmetrial pure sound. I think that this piece could be one of my favorites if just a couple of modifications were made. But im sure he intended it to be his way. Could you explain the "yellow" part at 3:27 - 3:34.
TheMagicBolt 1 month ago
@TheMagicBolt Starting with the first long note at 3:25, the second violin (yellow) has the beginning of main theme: F, F, F#, E-flat, D (same shape as at the start of the piece). After the first five notes, though, it leaves the theme and participates (along with the 'cello, blue) in a short harmonic sequence (C7 --> F7 --> B-flat7 --> E-flat ...). And at 3:37, it's back to the main counter-theme (the one that starts first at 0:54).
smalin 1 month ago
@smalin hmm. makes more sense now. I would like to hear this played with different instruments. It seems like the high pitch strings could make it sound odd for me.
TheMagicBolt 1 month ago
@TheMagicBolt There's a version for piano duet, and I think there's even one for solo piano. I don't know whether it would make it any clearer to hear it on piano, though (since it would be harder to follow the individual voices). It might help you get more familiar with the harmonies (and that might transfer back to the string quartet version). But repeated listening, regardless of what instruments, will help it make more sense.
smalin 1 month ago
Well said, Stravinsky.
jdebruynviolin 1 month ago
I'm not confused !!!!!!!!! I see images in my mind running !
I undestand part of this music.
ThiagoSkyMe 2 months ago
@ThiagoSkyMe no you do not. What you hear is what you try hard to hear, you hear a line of good compositions, surrounded by a chaos of jumbled up shapes and notes. I hear it too, but i dont understand why it is surrounded by such an incomprehensible mess.
TheMagicBolt 1 month ago
@TheMagicBolt its not a mess if you really look at it. It makes perfect hearing for me I have no issues with it and if you can follow Shostakovitch then you can follow this much easier too. just look the the quartets.
onyxreddragon 1 month ago
@onyxreddragon I understand but their is noise and their is music, music if a noise in harmony with rhythm and melody, this, though still music, is creeping close to just noise, where as others like Mozart had every piece, or close to it, being as close to perfect music as possible. Not all of beethoven's work were like that, just this one for some reason, i dont know why he chose to purposely make it "ugly." I shouldnt have to search for what it sounds like in my opinion.
TheMagicBolt 1 month ago
@TheMagicBolt This even even remotely close to noise, nor is it ugly.
xjtyu 1 month ago
@xjtyu many people during his time also thought it was ugly. I love almost all of Beethoven's pieces, this one is an exception.I understand he was going in a new direction, but it wasn't a good one in my opinion.
TheMagicBolt 1 month ago
@TheMagicBolt The rhythm is mostly static, the melodies and subjects are distinguishable, the instruments are played properly. I'm shocked, to say the least. I can't even tell what parts most of you can't comprehend and are referring to. I just don't get how someone can call this ugly, let alone noise. My first time hearing this was like my first time hearing a Chopin nocturne - beautiful.
xjtyu 1 month ago
If i am correct beethoven composed this shortly after his nephew commited suicide.
MrTrophyguide 2 months ago
Up to 4:45 I really do think Beethoven is crazy. This is the oddest work of genius ever!
JimmyWhiffler 2 months ago
@JimmyWhiffler and what do you say about 8:27 to 8:44 ???? it's fucking nuts xDDD
AmadeusWolfgangus 1 month ago
Absolutely love the visual presentation... such a novel way to experience this music!
StevenBee2 2 months ago
it almost feels like if you take one instrument out, it would sound like it makes more sense.
TheMagicBolt 2 months ago
@TheMagicBolt But the beauty is that it doesn't make sense, but it does! Doesn't it? :D
ssw166 2 months ago
The fugue doesn't complete the quartet at all, but who cares? It's a perfect piece by itself. Beethoven > Bach!
TheLitReview 2 months ago
This is the first time that "I See the Music", Great Man,,, Awesome video.
kdmxl007 2 months ago
really good!
cdowhmo 2 months ago
Clever animation! I used to sing from plainsong music which looks a little similar, and I now work with the Logic Pro sequencer, which has similar visual representations of music; this is an authentic reflection of the complexities of this opus.
Don't you just love Beethoven?! I've rediscovered him after a long excursion (had enough of him for Grade 8 piano - I'm now over my resentment!).
Thank you, Ludwig. I SAID THANK YOU LUDWIG!!! Oh, never mind.
soundbones 2 months ago
I have no idea what the hell is going on for the first 6 or so minutes, but after that it seemed to lock in... what the hell is going on with the first bit?
MortiCarthago 2 months ago
@MortiCarthago It's very demanding in the first part, but if you keep listening to it, after a while, it will make as much sense as the rest.
smalin 2 months ago
I fucking love this music!
123456mth123456 2 months ago
This piece is very similar to a painting by Jackson Pollock. His splatter paintings weren't something to look at they were something to see and marvel at Likewise this piece is something to hear and marvel at. Its not meant to be understood in a traditional way. This piece is pure art.
sehnsto 2 months ago
Please, PLEASE do Ravel's String Quartet!!!
jedenbeen 2 months ago
Masterfully written, though hard to follow. It's natural for us: we like simplicity. We don't like complexity (though I do.)
MaestroEvans1 2 months ago
I am don't know anything about music...but I read the word "fugue" somewhere and decided to look it up. I'm having trouble focusing on (and remembering) individual instrumental parts because so much is going on throughout this performance. (EAR CONFUSION!! lol) The subject melody and similar response parts were much easier to recognize in his "simple fugue". To you musicians, i'm sorry i can't make more sense...I'm WAY outta my league here.
jaksspring97 2 months ago
@jaksspring97 Yes, this is not a fugue for beginners.
smalin 2 months ago
@jaksspring97
Simple word for it, a fugue is multiple melody lines running together, they can be hard to follow and even harder to enjoy for many people. Don't feel bad about it. There is a reason people shied away from Baroque music.
JesseDevlin 2 months ago
@JesseDevlin Its not baroque, js :P
TheSpaceofOne 2 months ago
Thank you....nice job
TheJno86 2 months ago
To see a video of the Opus 134 Piano Four hand version,just put Beethoven Op 134 in the search box.I had a link but stupid YouTube won't let me post it(even though it's one of it's own!)
MrSwifts31 2 months ago
If you are interested there is a recording of this work (in Beethoven's piano arrangement for four hands) on Naxos,on a disc entitled "Beethoven and his Teachers"
It is played on a Johann Nepomuk Trondlin piano,made in Lepzig in 1830;but which has a genuine "Vienna" sound, from the Frederick Historic Piano Collection in Ashburnham,Mass.USA.
It is quite different to the usual version,but equally as valid,and as Naxos discs retail at bargain prices the above set is really worth listening to.
MrSwifts31 2 months ago
To me this is your best animated score ever. You really penetrate the complexity of this piece through the graphs. Thank you Sir!
minasgekos 2 months ago
here is a cool trick in the very complicated part put your fingers in your ears not too much but just enough to muffel the sound a bit.
USmarine0813 2 months ago
I never knew Beethoven composed something like this. It sounds ahead of its time, and from the comments throughout the video it seems like it was.
I love it.
Ifcabod 2 months ago
@Ifcabod
You are certainly right about it being ahead of it's time it was only really from the mid 20thC that it was at all appreciated.
Before that even emminent critics dismissed it,and said because Beethoven composed it when he was deaf that it was abhorrent.
MrSwifts31 2 months ago
This whole thing is fascinating and inspiring, especially the program which has rendered sound into form. As the fugue progresses, i can’t help but see an approximated depiction of a molecule of DNA (others may see this as well if one views the lines as the “rungs” and the circles as the chain of nucleotides which make up the DNA “ladder”).
Anyways, to me it’s like this deep metaphor for some unity or connection between music and the constituents of living things
2dark2bDzired 2 months ago
Breathtaking piece, an end-of-life work, Beethoven`s Kunst der Fuge. Thanks for sharing!
Greetings from São Paulo, Brazil
jmthal 2 months ago
I love it!! <3
you can often listen to it in some disney movies, don't you?
:D
vanee094 2 months ago
2:39 *plonk*
luzon83 2 months ago
If you watch the video half way through and then scroll down to the comments they will appear to move to the right :)
Zircemerald 2 months ago
which program you've use to make this movie?
mislukteguppie 3 months ago
@mislukteguppie Something I wrote.
smalin 3 months ago
@smalin I'm not confused !!!!!!!!! I see images in my mind running !
I undestand part of this music.
ThiagoSkyMe 2 months ago
To me this work is exquisite and one of my favourite examples of ugly-beautiful. I really don't go for anything too dissonant and almost nothing that is a- or polytonal, but maybe studying that kind of thing for so long makes this sweet in comparison, since it still has a structure it can push against - assuming you believe harmony is integral to beauty. This recording makes it a bit more approachable too, maybe. Thank you Smalin! I love your uploads.
orphyborphy 3 months ago
I love this song so much
littlekirby6 3 months ago
This piece expresses my confusion perfectly.
appa609 3 months ago
VERY GOOD
MediumNothinFull 3 months ago
Nice muzik!
MissRiki1987 3 months ago
They need a Rock Band for Beethoven's music.
beriukay 3 months ago
Although I am not one of those crazed classical fanatics, I definitely love this piece for being so discorded and random. Yet again it doesn't seem like it is, like a journey is in the piece almost. Very lovely.
Virgils 3 months ago
You encourage us to listen to this pair of fugues, Bach's and Beethoven's in sequence... odd but compelling. I am still at a place where the latter is still breaking into and taking a more profound shape in my mind, but after a work I was saddened, but perhaps not enormously surprised, to find referred to by references on Wikipedia as 'simple' or 'primitive'... appealing to the simpler melodic tastes. Compelling choice, and I still can't even imagine why humanity loves music at all.
LordSazz 3 months ago
@keillordc What emotions does it stir in you, at what points (eg., where on the timeline in this recording)? I am listening to it again, and find it not as irritating as the first time - but that doesn't mean much. It still doesn't stir anything in me except irritation and impatience for it to be over. I don't find any of it memorable. This may be the recording. I agree with SirSebastianWang that this could be played much more aggressively.
amishcyborg 3 months ago
@amishcyborg The emotions it stirs in me are surprise, shock and discomfort to name a few, but these feelings are so intense. There are parts that used to make me want to grind my teeth in discomfort the first few times I heard it. Maybe it's just a matter of taste, but the fact that a piece of music could overwhelm me in such a way was awesome to me. It wasn't even ju