Advantages: A new way to hear Beethoven
Disadvantages: Surpassed by some later period cycles

...INTRODUCTION Beethoven's nine symphonies cover one of the major cornerstones of symphonic literature along with the likes of Haydn, Brahms and Sibelius. Beethoven was born in turbulent times when the common people's dissatisfaction toward the ruling monarchs in Europe was reaching new heights which finally culminated in the French Revolution in 1789. Against this came Beethoven, who was born into a family of musicians in Bonn in 1770. His father wanted to coin in on the child prodigy market created by Mozart whose father had exploited his genius in a similar way. But Beethoven was no Mozart. He wasn't born a child progidy and his performing skills were nowhere near as natural as they were with Mozart. Still he made rapid progress as a piano virtuoso and an amateur composer. He was even supposed to take some lessons with Mozart in Wien... Read review

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Advantages: Great passion, beautiful melodies, unrestrained romanticism
Disadvantages: The finale doesn't quite convince in it's purpose

...HAPPINESS, OR TRAGEDY? After the doom-laden confessional that was the Fourth Symphony, Tchaikovsky was finally getting more in peace with himself. His fame began to spread and by 1885 he was already considered a national hero. This time saw the maturation of Tchaikovsky's style from the more blatantly folk-song oriented works and the more youthfully turbulent ideas to a more mainstream and calmer drift. Following the Fourth Symphony came the Violin Concerto, the Second Piano Concerto, the colourful overtures Capriccio Italien (composed during his bright stay at Italy) and 1812 (with the famous cannon-fire finale), the subtle String Serenade, the elegiac Piano Trio, a couple of small operas, and the large scale Manfred Symphony, amid some smaller scale works, all predominately genial in character. In 1888, after getting over his fear... Read review

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Advantages: The contrasting architecture. Music. Relaxing Parks.
Disadvantages: Parking fees. Rush Hour.

...~~A is for Architecture~~ When Chicago was all but destroyed by fire in 1871, there arose from the ashes one of the most famous skyscapes in the US if not the world. Chicago was home to the first ever skyscraper, a steel-framed ten story building, the Home Insurance Building built in 1885 and demolished in 1931 to make way for even taller cloud busters (as they were known way back when). Ten storeys, although no doubt impressive then, are mere small fry compared to today's skyscrapers - the Sears Tower standing at 108 storeys and The Trump Tower (currently under construction) is planned as 150 storeys high. Travel up to the giddy heights of the Sears Tower ($12.95 Adults and $9.50 children) or the Hancock Observatory (15$ adults, 9$ children) to look down upon the city for a overarching and breathtaking view of the architectural... Read review

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Advantages: Read review
Disadvantages: Nothing

...As I child I always wanted to travel to Chicago, the fact that I had family living their, which I hadn't seen in over 10 years made it even easier to go their. Having only two weeks in Chicago, I made the most of it, viewing all the big tourist attractions, whilst also seeing the smaller more unseen sides of the Windy City, such as the local museums, libraries, jazz bars, the attractions, which aren't usually advertised in the holiday brochures. This review will only cover my experiences of Chicago, I will try to explain as much as I can, but hopefully this will give readers an informative and different perspective of Chicago. Brief History: Chicago has quite an exciting history, founded in 1833. Chicago is the largest City in Illinois and has the third highest population in the U.S. Chicago's history runs deep throughout the U... Read review

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Advantages: Colourful and always exciting
Disadvantages: absolutely none

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