As an undergraduate student, I once had a friend over to my place and we got into a discussion about masters and masterpieces. I made the point that there are very few composers—indeed, almost none—that don't have at least one really terrible piece in their output. My friend said, "Well, not Beethoven." He became quite upset, to say the least, when I dared to challenge this assertion. "Beethoven was the greatest ever!" he exclaimed, defending his hero. Without a word, I got up, went to my record collection, and put on Wellington's Victory. Within five minutes he was telling me that I had made my point and begging me to take the needle off. I, of course, milked it for all it was worth: "No! It's great! It's Beethoven."

This odd work, which Beethoven wrote quite a bit about in his letters (it earned him quite a lot of dosh), is also known as the "Battle Symphony." It has always sounded to me like a bad imitation of Tchaikovsky before there was a Tchaikovsky. Indeed, the re-issue of this particular recording has with it—what else?!—that old, silly warhorse (pun intended), the 1812 Overture. This issue which this month's clip comes from has two battle pieces by Liszt on it. In Beethoven's score, he used two bullseye-like markings to show when the two different groups of cannons would be fired in the piece, one for Wellington and one for Napoleon, of course. That the unusual marking in the score is perhaps the most interesting thing in the piece speaks volumes.

Enjoy "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" and the silliness of the muskets and cannons which follows!