No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92: II. Allegretto

Alexi was but a youngster when we attended a crazy Millennium party, at which guests were invited to give a very brief presentation of their nomination for the greatest human achievement of the past thousand years. Mine was "Beethoven," and I played a snippet of this. I'm happy to report that Alexi, whose knowledge and appreciation of classical music would very soon eclipse my own, now recommends the same piece to readers of the New York Times: 5 Minutes That Will Make You Love Symphonies.

Moonlight

I own an Android phone, but I use it mostly for texts, emails, and reading the Times, so I can't say I would ever think of it in the same way I would think of, say, a Beethoven piano sonata. Regardless, this commercial is very cool. It's not just that they bothered to rebuild a piano with all the strings tuned to middle C, which is nifty. It's also that the rhythmic drive of Beethoven's masterpiece is compelling and exciting even when played in monotone. Of course your mind's ear is filling in the arpeggios...