One marvels at the brilliance of Beethoven as time marches on—nuances and subtleties cropping up to the ear almost as if from nowhere, and not the result of studied listening and a maturing of the mind.

For some, Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries” is best remembered as the soundtrack to the Air Cavalry assault sequence in Francis Ford Coppola’s film, Apocalypse Now. For opera aficionados, it is the beginning of Act III of Die Walkure