Jörg Ulrich Krah & Bernhard Parz: Beethoven — Katzer — Contrasts

MUSIC
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2020
2:00 PM

Austrian Cultural Form New York Stream
YouTube

Free
https://www.acfny.org/event/beethoven-katzer-contrasts/

If there's one composer this List can get behind, it's Hanns Eisler. He's got everything we like around here: demotic usages employed for "high" ends, Commie politics, the works. Georg Katzer — a composer with whose work I am otherwise completely unfamiliar — was Eisler's last student. So this would be worth a listen even if they weren't also playing Beethoven Cello Sonatas. (If I may fulminate for a moment, I'm in for canon-busting as much as if not more than anyone else in the world — but all this stuff you read now about how Beethoven wasn't actually that great is just bullshit.)

MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Make yourself some Glühwein: boil 1 cup of water with 1/2 cup of sugar, until the sugar is dissolved. Reduce heat, and add 2 cinnamon sticks, 3 cloves, and an orange peel. Reduce heat again, to a simmer, and add a bottle of red wine (Zweigelt is good; St. Laurent is REALLY good if you're feeling extravagent). Simmer for at least 30 minutes (but the more the better). Strain into mugs. Garnish each with another cinnamon stick and an orange wheel.