Symphony No.7; 2nd Movement — Beethoven

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbNGklNz8Yk

There is an odd allure in the combination of sound and vision. Each alone can be dangerously lacking. Film, especially silent film, has the tendency to bore, even with stunning visuals. Similarly, our brains are designed to filter background noise. Music without context is forgettable.

I first heard this Beethoven as the soundtrack for a movie called The Fall. It had incredible visuals, real international cinematography of ruins and palaces and jungles. So Beethoven became inextricably tied to these Rudyard Kipling-esque escapades.

It's possible that the music alone, to the uninitiated, won't invoke the same sense of grandeur. But I hope it does.