James Ellroy

James Ellroy, who wrote "L.A.Confidential", a good film but, to me, an unreadable book, had a most peculiar choice of records on his "Desert Island Discs" this week. He started with Beethoven's 3rd symphony, then chose the Hammerklavier piano sonata by Beethoven, then to Sibelius's Violin Concerto, a couple of symphonies by Bruckner and, at the end, "the greatest music ever written" he said - Beethoven's 9th Symphony, "The Choral". The overall choice seemed to reflect his personality which could be summed up by the word "obsessive". There was a darkness about the works he chose, a sombreness; there was no lightness at all, no Mozart or Percy Grainger or Stravinski at his cheekiest.
One thing he said about Beethoven's 3rd symphony struck me as true: that it was a turning point in classical music. It seemed to mark the end of classical and be the beginning of the romantic. Certainly the symphony is, and must have been then, something new to audiences not least in its length. I was told once that a certain conductor of those days would threaten an orchestra with making them play another 3rd symphony if they didn't keep up to speed, sort of thing. Also I recall someone remarking that the first movement is longer than most of Haydn's symphonies with their 4 movements.
I think there is something salient in the fact that Beethoven dedicated the work to Napoleon, calling it "The Eroica": he wasn't just writing music in the classical tradition but he was thinking thoughts outside of music, romanticising. As Bernard Shaw said about Beethoven: he was the first composer to put himself into his works - or something like that.
It has to added that Beethoven, on hearing of Napoleon's nefarious exploits, crossed out the dedication to that warlike monster, another romantic/moral act.