VEGANGELICA

I've been thinking tonight about Beethoven and how I feel about his music because I had the chance to play his 2nd Symphony for the first time this week and have mixed feelings about it.

I've decided that playing Beethoven's 2nd Symphony is very enjoyable, especially the 4th movement, because it has a lot of activity to keep a violinist busy. No time to think about anything else other than the music during that piece! You have to pay attention to catch all the notes, and certain brief passages are very lovely, which makes playing the movement engrossing.

However, when I listen to the piece (when I'm not playing it), I find myself getting bored. While I am intrigued that Beethoven was realizing the torture of his increasing deafness right around the time he wrote this sunny-sounding symphony in 1802, the music doesn't inspire me. I'd never want to sit through listening to others play the 4th movement, but I enjoy being part of the orchestra making the music.

This is one reason I'm not an ideal orchestra member. I like playing in the orchestra, but I don't really care about performances because if *I* were in the audience, I'd be daydreaming like mad during most of this piece to find something more interesting for me to think about:



I also tried listening to Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 21 in C major, since rondo likes it, but I find I don't care for it at all. Actually, I first wrote that I hate it. It sounds so tedious to me, so dry, so overdone, so directionless. All those little notes flitting about. Funny, how people's tastes can differ so much.

So, I don't think Beethoven would be on my list of 5 favorite composers, if I had such a list. I also don't like most Bach music because it seems too mechanical and emotionless to me. I'm in a "classical cynical" mood right now, I think!

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