S2.E12. A couple of earbusters with Dubois Organ Toccata and Berwald 3rd Symphony, ending with calm in Beethoven's Adagio from the 9th Symphony

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Welcome back to Perfect Pitch with Nick Healy Hutchinson and his fresh approach to the world of classical music. Whether you're an expert or a beginner, old or young, Perfect Pitch has something for everyone.

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The romantic period in classical music began in around 1830, and some of its most famous practitioners were the likes of Brahms, Tchaikovsky, and Verdi, all of them wanting to produce larger scale work. The period ended in 1900, but there were still plenty of composers who wanted to hold on to the conservative format and resist anything which might be considered to be a little bit too modern. It was a constant battle. In Paris, for example, the celebrated conservative school was well and truly entrenched in the past. And when the organist Theodore Dubois took over its running in 1896, he was quite determined to keep it that way. The music of Moreto. You can forget him too. Not even Wagner got a look in it. In the end, there was a minor revolt. And Dubois was replaced by Gabriel Fore with a clear brief to move things on. Most of Dubois's large output has now disappeared, but his Descartes for organ is a really joyous piece. And I've always thought it's a good candidate to sit alongside the usual coming down the aisle repertoire. It's played here by Olivier Panin on the organ of Saint Clotilde in Paris. But what a fabulous sound. If indeed any Swedish composers are not a good thing. Music was never going to provide him with a livelihood if he didn't get on with the people that mattered in his promotion. Even if Vienna, still the cultural center of Europe, was a good deal more enthusiastic about his work. Not even the endorsement of Franz Liszt could secure him any sympathetic hearing at home. Amongst his output were four symphonies, none of which were played in his lifetime, and it wasn't until nearly 40 years after his death in 1868 that his third symphony, the so-called Saint-Gulière, got its first performance in Stockholm. Its continuing neglect is undeserved. This is an exciting sound with an original rhythm from the very beginning. And over the years, I've definitely caught myself saying, This is my favorite, to whichever I happen to be listening to. Music is obviously a matter of personal taste. So it may come as a bit of a surprise when I say that I have one exception to this rule, and that is nice to many the greatest of all of them, and certainly the most revolutionary in having acquired service in the final movement for the first time. But it's just not my music of choice except when it comes to the slow third movement. It's easy when thinking of Beethoven to sort of typecast it in some kind of angry box, the result of which is often tumultuous and passionate music. And so it can be equally easy to forget that in the midst of all the turmoil and frustrations, which do characterize a lot of his music, the gender passages are so much more than fitting or a means to progress to the next outburst. Some of his slow movements go straight to the soul. And in the middle of all the noise of the ninth symphony, this one is low eight of car. Of all his symphonies, it's the longest of his slow movements, and the variety of time which conductors take varies hugely. But it has a beautiful way of unraveling. And the dialogue between different sections of the strings, as well as with a woodwind, is filled with an almost aching sensitivity. When Beethoven conducted the first performance in 1824, he couldn't even hear the filari. We're told that he continued to wave his arms after the piece had finished, and that one of the solos had a turn in to face the adulation of the audience. Just imagine writing all that music down, orchestral parts of soloists and choir without actually hearing a single note. It defies any understanding. Don't let anyone so much as a speaker as it wraps you in fifteen minutes of exquisite comfort.

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That's it for this week. Nick will be back again soon. If you like what you hear, but you can't get it.