Word: beethovens
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...laws into the speech of hi. life, a "passionate protest ... on behalf of that small Protestant band which had so often proved itself the chivalry of Ireland." He was beginning to write, meanwhile, those "endeavors in cold passion" (the "Tower" period) which Hone compares with the third period of Beethoven...
Every reviewer has his pet theories which he will defend against all comers to the bitter and unreasonable end, especially if they are lost causes. Haggin, for instance, in his zeal for the cause of Toscanini, wrote recently in the "Nation" that he found Koussevitsky's Beethoven and Brahms "impossible to listen to." For the most part, he is a very acute critic, perhaps the most acute, but he has an uncanny nose for the unpopular attitude. When Toscanini was at the height of his glory and powers back in '36, Haggin thought he was a pedantic Italian opera hack...
...becoming "unpatriotic" not to like the Shostakovitch Seventh. The result of all this hurrah-boys publicity about the mere periphery and mechanics of music itself, which, unlike football, can't be made a universal pastime without cheapening it beyond recognition. It takes as much practice in listening to understand Beethoven as it does practice in reading to enjoy Shakespeare. It is also foolish to attach some sort of moral valuation to one kind of music, as so many people do, as if you would get an aisle seat in Heaven for listening to "good" music, and roast in Hades...
Incidentally, for the more classical-minded, the Philadelphia Orchestra, under Ormandy is playing Beethoven's Eighth and Ninth Symphonies Friday afternoon, 2:30, on WNAC...
...Beethoven: Concerto No. 4 for Piano and Orchestra (Chicago Symphony, Frederick Stock conducting, with Artur Schnabel; Victor; 8 sides). Famed Beethoven Specialist Schnabel gives one of Beethoven's greatest concertos a thorough workout. As a teammate, the late Frederick Stock is somewhat heavy-footed. Result: though distinguished, it still leaves the prize to Schnabel's older Victor recording with the London Philharmonic, or to Pianist Walter Gieseking and the Saxon State Orchestra (Columbia...