These have been the bulk of my choice of music lately. I’ve felt a connection to Beethoven’s 7th symphony ever since first hearing it, so I started from that one. The same CD had also the 8th symphony piano version. It was on repeat for about a week.
I think the piano versions gave good insight on the symphonies. I’ve not got any tonica studies under my belt, not really any kind of musical studies at all, so I have to take whatever possibilities there are to broaden my view towards a musical piece. Still I feel the 7th is almost like it was planned to later become playable on piano. ;) The dancing rhythms take more power from the immediate presence of a solo piano. Also it offered me chance to hear many chords and short pieces of melody I’d missed completely from the orchestrated version.
There are some good lectures on classical music at BBC’s Discovering Music – I’ve listened most of the Beethoven ones through, and the one about the 7th symphony several times. I’m slowly starting to feel like I’ve achieved a simple sense of understanding towards this symphony. When that feeling materializes into something tangible, the question remains on how to proceed understanding it on a deeper level.
