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Geoffrey Smith is a jazz musician, freelance writer and lecturer and presents Jazz Record Requests.
He shares his own Beethoven experience.

"Beethoven's one of those composers who's always just around - somebody everyone knows is great, without actually paying too much attention. So he can get taken for granted, especially if, like mine, your first direct exposure is picking your way through simplifed piano pieces or attacking symphonic excerpts with the school orchestra. But when the real Beethoven experience arrives, it's unforgettable."


"The high-voltage excitement of the closing fugue, driven along by syncopated accents and sweeping to a tumultuous climax, was as exhilarating as anything I'd heard in jazz. And after that, I got serially hooked. "


"One of the famous and familiar pieces in the literature, but I'm always astonished by its breadth and imaginative energy. The first movement is a kind of epic journey all its own, taking you in startling--and sometimes hilarious--directions. "


"A delightful piece, full of melodic charm and an unbuttoned spirit of fun."

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"The emotional  spectrum is much wider in this, combining intense rhythmic vitality (one variation even sounds like boogie-woogie) with visionary lyricism .

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"And those same qualities are present in Beethoven's last composition,. By turns, it manages to convey dramatic turmoil, yearning spirituality and childlike faith--all the things, in short, that make Beethoven such an incomparable  master"ÌýÌý