Barenboim speaks sense!

[AeolianHarp]

Beethoven’s music is too often seen as exclusively dramatic, expressive of titanic struggle. In this respect, the Eroica and the Fifth symphonies represent only one side of his work; one must also appreciate, for example, his Pastoral Symphony. His music is both introverted and extroverted and it again and again juxtaposes these qualities. The one human trait that is not present in his music is superficiality. Nor can it be characterised as shy or cute. On the contrary, even when it is intimate, as in the Fourth Piano Concerto and the Pastoral Symphony, it has an element of grandeur. And when it is grand, it also remains intensely personal, the obvious example being the Ninth Symphony.

Absolutely!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/m...Beethoven.html

[AeolianHarp]

Oh and this:

The introduction to the Fourth Symphony) as if order were an imperative of human existence. For him, order does not result from forgetting or ignoring the disorders that plague our existence; order is a necessary development, an improvement that may lead to the Greek ideal of catharsis. It is not by chance that the Funeral March is not the last movement of the Eroica Symphony, but the second, so that suffering does not have the last word. One could paraphrase much of the work of Beethoven by saying that suffering is inevitable, but the courage to fight it renders life worth living.

Yes! Yes!!

[Peter]

Yes this is in contrast to a lot of Romantic music where despair does triumph - for example, Tchaikovsky's 'Pathetique'. Beethoven however is always positive and he overcomes his trials - hope for us all indeed!