I agree with Virtanen who wrote, "Maybe there is so many 'ways to listen music'
that a hared object doesn't mean at all that we are 'listening the same music'?
Maybe our personal or cultural background (or the state of the mind) is more
important 'factor' to decide what we 'hear' than 'the piece of music we actually are
hearing (in physical sense)?"
Beethoven was considered in the Soviet Union as a revolutionary composer and was
widely used for communist propaganda. It is difficult for me (and not only for me) to
listen to some of his music without a feeling of almost disgust. For US xmca-ers, if
you want to experience something like that with Beethoven's music, I recommend
Russian (actually Georgian) movie "Repentance" /"Pokayanie"/ available in Blockbuster.
Eugene Matusov
UC Santa Cruz