The contradance and the minuet were courtly dances that were already old hat during the early stages of Beethoven's compositional career; the result of the changes underway was the thornier and more sensual waltz. It is a mark of the man's genius (there's no other word that works as economically) that he managed to put a personal stamp even on these unpromising forms. The works on this album date mostly from the 1790s, when Beethoven first arrived in Vienna from Bonn as an uncouth but obviously talented young artist. With Haydn's help he managed to scare up a few commissions for dance pieces, these among them (the so-called Mödlinger Tänze or Mödlingen Dances, ascribed to Beethoven on the say-so of his amanuensis Schindler, may or may not be part of this group). For evidence that Beethoven placed some considerable value on these creations, listen no further than the seventh of the 12 Contradances, WoO 14 -- it is the theme of no less than the finale of the Symphony No. 3 in E flat, Op. 55 ("Eroica"). Many of the other dances include rhythmic surprises, obsessive explorations of small stretches of harmonic terrain, or rough, abrupt humor. They are, in short, very Beethovenian, and the CD shelf of the true Beethoven lover is incomplete without them. L'Orfeo Barockorchester under Michi Gaigg shares a certain stiffness with other Baroque groups that venture forward into Viennese Classicism but doesn't interfere with the enjoyment that these little dances offer.
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