this is actually my favourite beethoven piece that got canceled this weekend, although the piece is so important that it will no doubt be not very long before it appears again. while nothing else survived in the form of a listing for long enough to say much about it, i would have likely centered my weekend around this performance, somehow.

i've tended to avoid commenting too deeply on pieces of this sort, because what's the point? but, this is the one that was dedicated to napoleon, and then had the dedication retracted when he declared himself emperor. and, i love that beethoven did that - almost as much as i love the piece, itself.

all of the textbooks will tell you that this is also beethoven's turning point, from being a classical composer to being beethoven and that's likely a key part of why it's seen by so many, including myself, as being his best work. you kind of get both sides, and you get it fresh, before he kind of settled in this sort of routine.

that is to say that the piece is not just dedicated to a revolutionary in a revolutionary time, but is itself revolutionary, in scope - and therefore fit for the ears and minds of revolutionaries of any time.

if you haven't heard this, you really must.