Last night, AEJ and I were discussing the human need for unabashedly joyful music, whereas it’s common for composers — myself included — to sometimes not trust the urge to just write something joyous, and instead overthink a piece to make it seem more intellectually rooted.  (I’ve sort of given up on that “intellectually rooted” consideration because I’m a bit of a simpleton.)

As AEJ pointed out, “You’ll note that Beethoven’s greatest hit was not called ‘Ode to How Smart I Am.’ ”

Amen to that.