Beethoven

It is a church without preaching, and without prayer. At its Sunday morning services there is something spiritual, all right, but it doesn't have to do with Allah, or Buddha, or God. Instead, it comes from music, from passionate renditions of works composed by Brahms and Bach and, of course, Beethoven -- for whom the church is named. Each week the Church of Beethoven's musical performances draw a committed group of art-loving locals. The service, which also features poetry, visual art and other types of music, is at home in Albuquerque, a city known for its eccentricities (its nickname: Albu-quirky)

NEW DELHI - When Gavin Martin and his family moved here from southern India in the early '70s, the country's capital city offered the gifted young pianist exactly one option for continuing his music education: the Delhi School of Music. It was the only place in town - perhaps in the whole of northern India - that taught Western classical music with any degree of competence. Even so, life wasn't easy for the serious student born in a country where the sitar is king. "Growing up in India playing the piano was kind of like [being]

All bets on Beethoven at the Bowl were off Saturday. Conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, who explained last season that he had forsworn the Bonn master as well as Brahms and others, pocketed his ducats and led the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a Beethoven program. The amplification system managed to bring thin, scratchy, muddled sound to newly dismal depths. The damp night air wreaked havoc on the strings, causing extraordinary intonation problems.

So what would Beethoven drive? I'm not sure that putting anyone that headstrong behind the wheel would be a great idea. He'd likely scream at his publisher on his cellphone while driving, impatiently tailgate, cut people off. He'd speed for sure and never, ever signal. But Orange County is car country and Thursday night at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, Joshua Bell handed over the keys of his new Porsche to the composer for a high-octane spin of his "Coriolan" Overture, Violin Concerto and Fourth Symphony.

I WAS stunned by the review of "Beethoven, as I Knew Him" ["Oh, Fur Elise's Sake," by David Ng, Aug. 27]. Did this reviewer see the same show that brought hundreds of audience members to their feet in a standing ovation? Comparing this virtuosic performance to a Vegas lounge act was gratuitous and inappropriate. Hershey Felder has an outstanding talent. I've also seen his Gershwin show as well as a segment from his performance as Chopin. In each, he metamorphoses completely into the character(s)

The Chamber Music/LA Festival on Thursday evening again deposited some gifted individuals onto the stage of the Japan America Theatre with orders to make ensemble music. The program, three consecutive opus numbers by Beethoven--95 (String Quartet in F minor), 96 (Sonata in G for violin and piano), 97 (the "Archduke" Trio)--provided unexpected contrast and balance.

In the current artistic recession, when a lot of small theater is small indeed, "The Beethovens," the boisterous, sprawling new play that swirls around the lives of Ludwig van and his kin, comes off as a huge dare at a small house like the Gene Dynarski Theatre. Like the composer himself, both director J.

I went to Irvine Meadows (Amphitheatre) to hear the best of Beethoven, but three times Beethoven was drowned out by screeching, low-flying jets that completely circled the amphitheater before landing at El Toro. I plead with the politicians who were there and others to use their influence with the military to change those jet flights, at least those after 8:30 p.m. And please get them to decrease our noise pollution by ending the buddy system of flying where two or more aircraft fly closely together.

The Germanic giants represent the cornerstone of the symphonic repertory. Every great conductor wants to leave his mark on the symphonies of Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms et al. Or so we used to think. Andre Previn, current music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, cultivates other affinities and other priorities.

Every national culture has its weird obsessions, and it seems as if Japan's oddball closet is more crowded than most -- Pokemon, Elvis Presley and Hello Kitty are just a few of the country's most famous fixations. But perhaps most peculiar of all is the Japanese passion for Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, especially the "Ode to Joy" passage of the fourth and final movement. An amateur pastime in Japan for more than 50 years, Beethoven's Ninth is often performed around the holiday season in venues around the country, occasioning the coming together of hundreds, sometimes thousands, of choristers of all ages and levels of vocal training.

Ever since my mom gave me the complete works of Ludwig van Beethoven - the best birthday present I ever got - I'd wanted to make a pilgrimage to Bonn, the composer's birthplace, to soak up the atmosphere and look for clues to his genius. Forty years later, I finally showed up. Bonn, in northwestern Germany, is way off the beaten tourist track, but I'm glad I made the effort. I spent four days in May absorbing Beethoven's legacy, the city's friendly ambience, Rhine River vistas and liberal quantities of Riesling wine and kolsch, as the local beer is called.

Decades as an actor in theater, TV and movies have taught Zach Grenier that nothing lasts forever. So the 57-year-old actor is enjoying ? for now ? his triple-threat status . Grenier is reprising his performance as Beethoven in Moisés Kaufman's "33 Variations" at the Ahmanson Theatre (previous runs were at La Jolla Playhouse and on Broadway). He's also appearing in CBS' "The Good Wife" as attorney David Lee, the family law guru at Alicia Florrick's ( Julianna Margulies) firm, and this week began filming director Clint Eastwood's upcoming "J. Edgar.

Pianist Glenn Gould popularized Bach's "Goldberg" Variations with his landmark 1955 recording. Might Moisés Kaufman's Tony-nominated play "33 Variations" ? running this month at the Ahmanson Theatre and starring Jane Fonda ? create a new host of fans for another ingenious set of piano variations? Beethoven's "Diabelli" Variations forms the core of Kaufman's drama. Adding to the music appreciation spirit of "33 Variations," Fonda plays a musicologist, supplying rare glamour to a scholarly profession that normally eludes public attention.

Violinist Tim Fain, 34, grew up in Santa Monica at a time, he said, when "the cultural scene [in L.A.] was nothing like it is today. " The violinist now lives in New York with his wife but he's back in town this month for a series of recitals. Fain ? who has a cameo role in "Black Swan" as the violin soloist opposite Natalie Portman ? took time off from practicing to discuss musicians who have influenced him over the years. Philip Glass , composer: "He's a curious mix of a child and a sage.

The L.A. Philharmonic's charismatic and emotive Gustavo Dudamel leads the orchestra through Leonard Bernstein's First Symphony, "Jeremiah," an account of the prophet Jeremiah and the Book of Lamentations. The work's three movements will be sung by in Hebrew by mezzo Kelley O'Connor. The night includes a performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 and John Adams' "Slonimsky's Earbox. " Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 South Grand Ave., L.A. 8 p.m. through Sat. Sun. 2 p.m. $57-$180. http://www.

The crowd at the Los Angeles Philharmonic's "Heroic Beethoven" program Tuesday night at the Hollywood Bowl can be forgiven for thinking the heroic meant them, enduring an arctic chill to hear the Third Piano Concerto and Third Symphony. Crazy as this must seem to New Yorkers who, this month, are fanning themselves silly at sweltering outdoor concerts held in record heat, our orchestra has been praying for a heat wave. Beethoven usually draws more than Tuesday's 6,236. I'm willing to do my part, lighting incense for Ra, Surya, Shamash, Sol Invictus or any other solar deity on duty this week if that will help encourage audiences come Thursday, when the program repeats.

Pam Leighton has a bone to pick with Beethoven. No, not Ludwig van. Beethoven the Saint Bernard--that ham of a hound who claims top billing in the current motion picture of the same name and climbs all over the furnishings of the movie family's suburban home. Leighton, a 35-year-old Palmdale resident, has owned and bred Saint Bernards--affectionately known as Saints among their owners--since she was practically a pup herself. And she'll be doggoned if either of her two Saints, Commanchero and Callie, would dare swipe a drumstick from the dinner table, shake water across the bedroom or wipe muddy paws all over her new suit, as Beethoven does in the film.

Summer seems to have reached its tipping point. The grass is dead. Everything smells like pool towels. I have the energy of a too plump panda. The only entertainment lately is watching the little guy's misguided efforts to sweeten his mother's mood. Last week, he called her "my darling." This week, it was "snookums." Honestly, if he lives to see first grade in the fall, it'll be a minor miracle.

Felix Wurman, a cellist who founded the Church of Beethoven performance series in Albuquerque, has died of complications from cancer, a sister said. He was 51. Wurman, who had been undergoing treatment for bladder cancer, died late Saturday night at a hospice facility in Hillsborough, N.C. Wurman was a cellist with the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra when, two years ago, he recruited other musicians from the symphony to play Sunday morning concerts in an abandoned gas station off Route 66. The Times profiled the weekly concert series, which Wurman called the Church of Beethoven, on Sunday.

It is a church without preaching, and without prayer. At its Sunday morning services there is something spiritual, all right, but it doesn't have to do with Allah, or Buddha, or God. Instead, it comes from music, from passionate renditions of works composed by Brahms and Bach and, of course, Beethoven -- for whom the church is named. Each week the Church of Beethoven's musical performances draw a committed group of art-loving locals. The service, which also features poetry, visual art and other types of music, is at home in Albuquerque, a city known for its eccentricities (its nickname: Albu-quirky)