Product Description

The author selects Beethoven's 20 most crucial works, tells you why he has selected them and why they are fundamental to our knowledge and understanding of the composer. He guides the reader through Beethoven's life, looking afresh at his status and exploding the myths. He also points the reader to the best recordings ever made of these crucial works.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2101641 in Books
• Published on: 2003-08-08
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 152 pages

Customer Reviews

A good survey of Beethoven
Conrad Wilson has put together a series of brief introductions to major composers and their works. Already published books include Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, with more volumes on the way. These are put out by Eerdmans, one of the great scholarly publishing houses. This is a good series both for the music lover and for those starting out in learning about music; the books assume no particular technical training or knowledge about music, but do not 'dumb down' the material for the reader. Wilson will use the occasional musical term, but this is kept to a minimum.

The concept of the text is fairly simple - composers such as Mozart, Schubert and Beethoven produced hundreds if not thousands of pieces; how does the average music listener start to learn about these? Wilson uses the 'top twenty' device - the 'top ten' would be too limiting, particularly for prolific composers, and any more most likely ends up being less of a selective process. However, this is not a true 'top twenty' in terms of hierarchical ranking, but rather a representative twenty works from the range of the composer highlighted.

In the Beethoven text, Wilson includes the following twenty:

- Piano Trio in C minor, Op. 1, No. 3
- String Quartet in F major, Op. 18, No. 1
- Sonata in C sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 2 ('Moonlight')
- Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 36
- Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, Op. 55 ('Eroica')
- Piano Sonata in F minor, Op. 57 ('Appassionata')
- Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58
- String Quartet in F major, Op. 59, No. 1 ('Rzaumovsky')
- Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61
- Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67
- Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68 ('Pastoral')
- Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat major, Op. 73 ('Emperor')
- Piano Trio in B flat major, Op. 97 ('Archduke')
- Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92
- Fidelio, Op. 72
- An die ferne Geliebte, Op. 98
- Piano Sonata in C minor, Op. 111
- Missa Solemnis in D major, Op. 123
- Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125
- String Quartet in B flat major, Op. 130; and Grosse Fuge, Op. 133.

Each of the essays included is in the terms of programme notes, the kind of piece one might find in a concert or opera programme booklet at a performance. Wilson intersperses brief, one-page pieces on Beethoven with three to four-page pieces on the works themselves; while things are arranged chronologically, this isn't really meant to be taken as a definitive biographical treatment, but rather biographical sketch to place the music in context with Beethoven's overall life.

One might quibble with some of the selections - certainly no one could fail to include the Symphony No. 9 or the Violin Concerto in D major, but there might be other pieces to be included (I would vote for the 'Pathetique' sonata). But, this is a minor point.

Wilson provides suggestions for particular recordings/performances of the pieces, and provides a glossary of terms at the end of the text. Wilson is a good writer, and keeps the reader engaged. This is a very good series for those who want a quick, ready reference or a brief survey of a composer's life.

A good survey of Beethoven
Conrad Wilson has put together a series of brief introductions to major composers and their works. Already published books include Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, with more volumes on the way. These are put out by Eerdmans, one of the great scholarly publishing houses. This is a good series both for the music lover and for those starting out in learning about music; the books assume no particular technical training or knowledge about music, but do not 'dumb down' the material for the reader. Wilson will use the occasional musical term, but this is kept to a minimum.

The concept of the text is fairly simple - composers such as Mozart, Schubert and Beethoven produced hundreds if not thousands of pieces; how does the average music listener start to learn about these? Wilson uses the 'top twenty' device - the 'top ten' would be too limiting, particularly for prolific composers, and any more most likely ends up being less of a selective process. However, this is not a true 'top twenty' in terms of hierarchical ranking, but rather a representative twenty works from the range of the composer highlighted.

In the Beethoven text, Wilson includes the following twenty:

- Piano Trio in C minor, Op. 1, No. 3
- String Quartet in F major, Op. 18, No. 1
- Sonata in C sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 2 ('Moonlight')
- Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 36
- Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, Op. 55 ('Eroica')
- Piano Sonata in F minor, Op. 57 ('Appassionata')
- Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58
- String Quartet in F major, Op. 59, No. 1 ('Rzaumovsky')
- Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61
- Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67
- Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68 ('Pastoral')
- Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat major, Op. 73 ('Emperor')
- Piano Trio in B flat major, Op. 97 ('Archduke')
- Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92
- Fidelio, Op. 72
- An die ferne Geliebte, Op. 98
- Piano Sonata in C minor, Op. 111
- Missa Solemnis in D major, Op. 123
- Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125
- String Quartet in B flat major, Op. 130; and Grosse Fuge, Op. 133.

Each of the essays included is in the terms of programme notes, the kind of piece one might find in a concert or opera programme booklet at a performance. Wilson intersperses brief, one-page pieces on Beethoven with three to four-page pieces on the works themselves; while things are arranged chronologically, this isn't really meant to be taken as a definitive biographical treatment, but rather biographical sketch to place the music in context with Beethoven's overall life.

One might quibble with some of the selections - certainly no one could fail to include the Symphony No. 9 or the Violin Concerto in D major, but there might be other pieces to be included (I would vote for the 'Pathetique' sonata). But, this is a minor point.

Wilson provides suggestions for particular recordings/performances of the pieces, and provides a glossary of terms at the end of the text. Wilson is a good writer, and keeps the reader engaged. This is a very good series for those who want a quick, ready reference or a brief survey of a composer's life.

Mini essays on 20 crucial LvB works
This slim volume is a collection of mini essays, each 5-6 pages long, on 20 works by Beethoven that the author feels are crucial. As the author points out, these may not be the composer's greatest or most popular works, but represent, in the author's opinion, turning points of Beethoven's musical development as a composer. The 20 selected works here are actually more representative of Beethoven's compositional evolution than the 20 in the similar book for Mozart.

Each note begins with some general information and is written in that unique British style which at first seems a bit aloof to an American reader such as myself, but I quickly took a liking of it. What makes this a 4-star instead of a 5-star book is there's just too little "meat" in the music analysis department. For some works, there's almost no musical analysis. Oh well, the author does disparage the "old-fashioned" program notes that include musical notations, but even to a non-professional like myself, musical notes can be magic, if used in the right context and used judiciously (and sparingly). Whatever musical analysis Mr. Wilson does include, is at best perfunctory. Everything is good about LvB's music, so he says, but then he says the same about every other composer he includes in these "Notes on XXX" series.

He does a better job critiquing recordings of the works. For each work he recommend 1-3 recordings he likes, and occasionally tells you to avoid certain recordings. Very refreshing, for no American writer would give you such candor. On the other hand, the recordings he does recommend are overwhelmingly British, and overwhelmingly from performers associated with the Edinburgh Festival, with which the author himself was affiliated for 16 years. So no-BS, but not unbiased, either. One more problem is the recordings are difficult to find this side of the Atlantic; not even the mighty Amazon.com carries many of the recommendations.

All in all, a freshing if all-too-brief look at 20 of LvB's representative works. I'm still waiting for someone to write detailed analyses of all of LvB's major works, along the line of that fine book on his string quartets which I've reviewed previously.