Beet Stretch

I listened to the third movement, from the beginning. It started out kind of sinister in a single tone and over the first few minutes that tone became louder and more intense. The pitch seemed to go up as well. There was definitely something eerie about it and it reminded me of something which could be used to build up suspense in a horror movie, before it mellowed out again. The first few minutes consists of this same sound and after a while it begins to become irritating, although it is barely there and technically should be easily ignored. I guess because I wasn’t doing anything other than listening to it, you can’t help but notice. I’m not sure what instrument is actually being played – I’m not that knowledgeable in the world of music, but it began to remind me of a church. Not really of Sunday church, but more like a wedding ceremony. It’s strange, it felt that the music was going from being happy one minute, to sad the next, to creepy the next. The level and pitch are factors in this I guess.

I feel like it is quite an intense piece of music, so when it becomes quieter, it is almost a relief in a way. Also, I am not used to listening to something of this length either which is probably a factor in my judgement. To be honest, I’m starting to feel as though I want to turn it off. It feels never ending! It’s sort of uneventful in a way. I mean, after about 15 minutes I was expecting it to break out into something new and bring in some more instruments and diversity, but it stayed very similar throughout the whole hour. After I listened to an hour, I skipped to random sections of the rest of the movement to see what it sounded like, and it seemed rather similar. I know it sounds like I’m writing this piece of music off, but I feel like I don’t know enough about music to really appreciate it for what it is! It isn’t helping that the construction workers outside my building have started drilling which is extremely loud and is making my room vibrate! Anyway, what I will say is towards the end of the hour I was beginning to feel pretty relaxed which I suppose is a result of the constant flow of sound, which became kind of soothing after a while.