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Monday, December 10, 2012

'Polymath' Rosen Passes Away

The great pianist and author (best known for "The Classical Style") Charles Rosen has passed away at age 85.  His writings and lectures on Beethoven's piano sonatas influenced my own appreciation.  Here's a Rosen clip:

1 comment:

Laurence Glavin said...

These days,people toss around the word "amazing" all too thoughtlessly. But one of the most truly AMAZING concerts I ever attended was presented by Dr. Rosen at Sanders Theater a hall on the campus of Harvard University. (Another concert venue at Harvard is Paine Hall, and guess whose name takes center place on the Proscenium of the stage a la Boston's Symphony Hall? Beethoven of course. Unlike at Symphony Hall, Beethoven shares the proscenium with others but these names are spaced so LvB is dead center!) The concert was in conjunction with some of his lectures there, and the program consisted of BOTH the "Hammerklavier Piano" Sonata (BTW, since "hammerklavier" means "piano", therefore it's Beethoven's "Piano Piano" Sonata)AND the "Diabelli Variations" all one one program. If there's such a thing as too much transcendent music to take in at one sitting, then that concert may have been it!. (OK, that's also true of ANY performance of the "Missa Solemnis").