Volume 47, Number 18 · November 16, 2000
Beethoven's Musical Characters
By Alfred Brendel
Each sonata by Beethoven has its own particular character. But is this really anything more than a platitude? Should we still be clinging to such concepts as 'character' and 'atmosphere'? Aren't the musical cognoscenti interested primarily in understanding 'structure,' leaving something as vague as 'poetic associations' to amateurs? And haven't the poststructuralists long since exposed 'character' as a mere illusion?
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