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Carl Pham's avatar

I'm a philistine, without a speck of artistic talent or taste, but your comment about Cajori and the space between shapes reminds me that for what it's worth I've always thought that what really distinguishes Beethoven from lesser composers is his mastery of silence -- of the space between notes. Each one of those key silences seem wonderfully deliberate, exquisitely hand-carved out of ebony and the midnight sky between stars, and critical to the ear's voluptuous experience. It's the first thing I contemplate when I hear a new recording, particularly of the Fifth: does the conductor hold the orchestra to *exactly* the right time between key notes, especially in the 2nd movement, so that the tension is perfectly right? There is no haste, the silence is fully ripe, but on the other hand you feel if it went on just two more milliseconds a bow would snap, a trumpet explode, an oboist giggle or fart.

Thanks for an interesting essay.

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Reid Pierce's avatar

You are rich ! These mentors, willing or not, knowing or not, are lucky that you carry their stories and discoveries melded with your own ...

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