Paavo Järvi: Beethoven 'leaves everybody behind'

[AeolianHarp]

http://www.dw.de/paavo-j%C3%A4rvi-be...ind/a-17188569

[Harvey]

Nice article. I do find German music much to my liking. I especially enjoy sung German. It happens also that both my name and my mother's maiden name are very German. If only I knew the language, but my family was a couple generations removed from the original German and Austrian immigrants and so did not carry on the language or traditions.

[AeolianHarp]

Nice article. I do find German music much to my liking. I especially enjoy sung German. It happens also that both my name and my mother's maiden name are very German. If only I knew the language, but my family was a couple generations removed from the original German and Austrian immigrants and so did not carry on the language or traditions.

German ancestry eh! I might have it a bit of it my Celtic blood also as my father said his mother could speak German and recieved letters from Germany.
I like the German language too- it is expressive.

I might be biased but I find Celtic and German music the most passionate and stirring!

[Harvey]

From what my mother told me, I am supposed to have some English blood too. Hmmm, not only her maiden name, but her mother was a Rossman which suggests possibly a German Jewish component.

I am really enjoying my recent purchase of Handel's Messiah sung in German (conducted by Karl Richter). Beautiful! And of course the Fidelio Opera, the Ninth, the Choral Fantasy, Egmont, the Glorious Moment. I especially like the 1978 Bernstein Fidelio with (from what I can tell) all the main singers being German speaking as their first language. I am not sure the Soprano (Gundula Janowitz) even knows another language (ah, by the way, she is on my German language Messiah and is one of my favorite sopranos).

[AeolianHarp]

Happy listening Harvey and nice to share our ancestry.

[Harvey]

I have a geneology study done on my mother's side, and should peek into it sometime. There was one done on my dad's side but sadly it was lost. I only know on his side that my family name started in this country when 4 brothers came over from Austria in the 1860s. But again this is a music discussion forum so I better stay on topic.

Here is something that is far from scientific, but at a recent used booksale I browsed the CDs (they had maybe 1000 CDs in all) and recall seeing a couple dozen or so Mozart CDs and only a few Beethoven CDs. I drew the very unscientific conclusion that it was a sign of the much higher popularity of Beethoven that they had so few left (my assumption that there were more at first). But it could as well be that there was a case of Mozart CDs that some store closed and off loaded to the book sale people. So it really means nothing, but all said and done, I think Mozart is very good but I don't find myself attracted to his music as I am to Beethoven's.

Since there is only so much time and so much great music I stick with Beethoven and Handel's Messiah. Occasionally delving into other works such as Brahms German Requiem. A masterpiece such as any of Beethoven's symphonies is worth repeated listening until one can play it back in their head and then still more listening. That is what is so wonderful, when you can never tire of a work.

[AeolianHarp]

I like Mozart too. Got a few of his CDs- all from charity shops! I have yet to hear them all properly.