Yes, Beethoven would probably smash his sampler to pieces in a very dramatic fashion. But he would appreciate the technology and would merely have gotten carried away in a momentary fit of passion that he would later regret.
I am still thinking about all the unplayed pieces of music in the great composers' lifetimes. How terrible it is (to take only one example) that Schubert's C Major symphony (The Great) sat in a drawer and was not even played once until many years after his death. To write such a piece of music, with complete mastery of compositional technique and the utmost artistry, and never once hear it played - that is a crime committed by society! Of course it is true that he as well as Beethoven could hear the music internally, but that is not the same thing as having the sounds coming at you from outside, assaulting you physically with their beauty. It is a magnificent experience even if you know exactly what the final orchestration should sound like.
And that is exactly why the best sampled sounds, the recordings that attempt above all to capture exactly what the instrument does - without anything added or anything taken away - are so wonderful. Because one can actually hear these purely musical ideas that previously were only imagined - immediately. After all, hearing only one perfectly played note is rare for an orchestral player. And this library gives you 1.5 million? Astounding. As Bach said about playing the organ, "All you have to do is put all the notes in order." But now one has not only notes but the most delicate and refined articulations, variations and connections of notes. it is an awesome challenge, but one that is tremendously exciting.
I am still thinking about all the unplayed pieces of music in the great composers' lifetimes. How terrible it is (to take only one example) that Schubert's C Major symphony (The Great) sat in a drawer and was not even played once until many years after his death. To write such a piece of music, with complete mastery of compositional technique and the utmost artistry, and never once hear it played - that is a crime committed by society! Of course it is true that he as well as Beethoven could hear the music internally, but that is not the same thing as having the sounds coming at you from outside, assaulting you physically with their beauty. It is a magnificent experience even if you know exactly what the final orchestration should sound like.
And that is exactly why the best sampled sounds, the recordings that attempt above all to capture exactly what the instrument does - without anything added or anything taken away - are so wonderful. Because one can actually hear these purely musical ideas that previously were only imagined - immediately. After all, hearing only one perfectly played note is rare for an orchestral player. And this library gives you 1.5 million? Astounding. As Bach said about playing the organ, "All you have to do is put all the notes in order." But now one has not only notes but the most delicate and refined articulations, variations and connections of notes. it is an awesome challenge, but one that is tremendously exciting.
