Yes, yes for the second time, he got to invited by his friend R (three cheers to R!) to see the Robert Spano led Atlanta Symphony Orchestra perform a program of all Beethoven. And the music played was

8th Symphony: not so hot compared to that fundamental of all symphonies, 5th symphony; the final movement was redeeming however.

And the Violin Concerto: the only violin concerto Beethoven wrote, and the soloist who performed was this 18 year old girl genius who blasted Banta out of his chair. At that tender young age, Banta was merely turning into "foongus" from the cream he was supposed to be (because he had just barely survived the IIT-JEE massacre), according to Prof. JNB's (his faculty advisor then) theory of students' moral degradation. But let's get back to Beethoven...

...

Being a J.S. Bach man, I personally feel Beethoven is a bit less "spiritual" than Bach is. I realize this is a bit like saying Bach is a hydrogen bomb while Beethoven is an atom bomb, when in any case, in Rumi's words, you have to bend down and kiss the ground to either’s music. My friend T, who is an architect, keeps telling me that this perception of mine may be because Beethoven's music is very architectural. The final Rondo:Allegro movement in the Violin Concerto tonight finally made me see what T was saying all along. Also, two years ago I got to attend, for free, performances of the entire cycle of 16 Beethoven's String Quartets. And even then I observed that Beethoven's music for me is harder to engage with, yes only as a mere listener, than Bach's.

...

Now go listen to the great Yehudi Menuhin play the entire Violin Concerto:

1. Allegro ma non troppo 2. Larghetto 3. Rondo (Allegro) with its repeating motif, which is still spinning in my head.

Now as I can't find a performance of the 8th symphony, go listen to another great, Karajan, conduct the first two movements, and the final two movements of the ever magnificent 5th, and weep. You can also compare conducting styles by listening to Toscanini conduct the fourth movement. I also recommend Bejamin Zander's superb, but considered very quirky recording of the 5th; this recording is where I first heard all of the 5th in a frenzied week, over and over, three years ago.