THURSDAY, May 28, 2020
There are a few second of something introductory, then a pause. That later becomes part of the theme one section of the expo, which would be better name “first key section”, because that’s what an expo does. It introduces a theme or themes in the offifical key, then when it moves to a new key, that the second theme section.
Then something else happens, and you get stuck on a C chord that goes on forever, and finally goes up a scale. So far there has been nothing except F and C, the chords. That little fragment: G A Bb B C repeats something like 11 times in a row, before it starts to climb. To 0:40
Official 1st theme or section. Starts with oboe and is all F and C. To 1:07
This is a transition, still F, then to Dm, then to F/C, then G/B to 1:23
He goes from G/B to G, then right to C, and he’s into the 2nd theme section. You know because it’s in C major. Is there a theme? One of the things I’ve heard about Beethoven is how often he writes really great melodies. This is really all arpeggios, and it’s all C and G. To 1:54
I know what this is, don’t know what to call it. It’s just something else, and it’s in C. It’s all C, F and G chords. Music can not be more basic.Then a C chord goes on forever. It’s all orchestration. On piano this would be insanely boring. even with a string quartet, it would not work. It’s like a sound effect, and I don’t think the world ever heard anything remotely like it before. Vivaldi may have come close.
Then the whole thing repeats. In many old recordings the skipped the repeat. It’s hard to know where the expo starts and ends without the repeat. That little intro is also part of the expo because it is repeated. To 5:28
So far 5.5 minutes of F, C and G with one brief Dm chord. That should be the music of a moron. It should be music for idiots, written by an idiot. But it’s genius. I don’t know why. He ended in C, now C7, the second 7 chord. Before he used G7. To 5:47
Now he’s going to Bb. He sounds like he’s going to do another thing where he repeats 10 times, but suddenly he mophs to D. That is a doulbe morph.To 6:00
D chord, and it goes on and on. It’s like going from happy and content to joyous.to 6:28
It’s like he’s at the recap, but there is a twist. It’s the wrong key. His key is F, but he’s in G, and a big G chord. Then he almost morphs again, this time from G to E. G to Eb would be a true morph. To get to E he moves G to G#, keeps the B, D moves to E: G B D, G# B E. He swells on that new E chord. Remember, his key is F. He has to get back there. He’s 1/2 step low. It doesn’t sound low, because the music keeps rising. This whole thing went fromC to F to Bb, circle of 5ths, but then Bb to D to G to E. 7:24
From E to A. He could have morphed from A right back to F. But he doesn’t want to seem too predictable, so now he moves to D. Now to D7, the Gm. This is his second minor chord in the whole piece. He’s almost home. To get back Gm, D7, G, C and F. This is back to circle of 5ths: E A D G C F. He was in E, and he’s moved up 1/2 step, but you have no idea because circle of 5ths takes over the brain and removes all feeling of key until your destination.7:56
He’s back in F, so it sounds like recap, but it’s really development or something like it, and it’s just interesting. Because it’s all F and C again, no minor, it’s static, and it’s easy to lose track. 8:53
1st theme again, but very different, big and triumphant, and he gets into it with 2 against 3. F and C, then here comes that Dm chord again, but he has to do something different because he wants to end up in F. So Dm to F/C to G/B, then C7/Bb, to a regular C7, and he’s home. 9:33
Everything should now be F, Bb and C. 11:02
One more move to Bb, but then right back to C7 to F. Some nice 2 against 3 rhythms. Then end.
The whole thing is like a bad joke for all normal people, because there is nothing here that is amazing, by itself.
I’ve heard this since I was a child. My ear was in movable do and diatonic. I didn’t recognize individual notes, so I’d not know if it was in C or F at any point. I only recognized basic major and minor chords. I could follow and remember the music, because the structure stayed within my limitations. I never knew that until now. The amazing thing is how he keeps it fresh and interesting, and that is the pure genius. Anyone can be interesting by getting complicated and fancy (or do we confuse ‘interesting’ with ‘confused by too much going on, so it must be good’?). What you have pointed out is truly interesting.