The Project

For about ten years on and off, I have kept a rather strict listening regimen in which I look at a new piece, with a score and recording if at all possible each morning. Originally, my goal was to acquaint myself with the major works of the Western tradition. But eventually, I began to get more comprehensive with particular composer that interested me. In time, I found that the easiest and most interesting approach was to listen to everything a particular composer wrote in the order in which it was written. In doing this, I'd be assured of looking at everything and able to gauge, on some level, a sense of the overall development of a composer's voice. In exploring the work of several composers in this manner, I've found it a helpful antidote to the overperiodization of a composer's style and a sure way to see beyond simple stereotypes of development. At the same time, on some level, it makes me a contemporary, if an omniscient contemporary, of the composer himself; at times, I put myself in the role of an imaginary teacher to that composer.

After having done this for several composers, (Schütz, Schumann, Berlioz, much of Stravinsky), I realized that I would benefit more from this activity if I kept notes about what I heard. In the case of Beethoven, I thought it might be interesting to create a blog specifically for the project.

As a route for the journey, I decided to use the most catholic of catalogues of Beethoven's work, the monumental Biamonti catalog,whose 849 numbers categorize practically every scrap of musical notation left by the composer. Thus, the project is large.

I don’t claim that these notes are authoritative, or even that they are even interesting (I have my good moments and bad moments and some pieces provoke a better reaction), but perhaps someone out there might be interested.

A note on layout. The title is the work in question with the year assigned by Biamonti - starred works are recommended; what follows is a correspondence of the Biamonti numbers with other catalogues, my comments, and links to scores and archival materials as appropriate.