Beethoven X: The AI Project

When Beethoven died in 1827, he left fragments for a 10th Symphony, and now technology has attempted to extract art from artificial intelligence. By feeding it with the sketches and copious examples of finished Beethoven compositions, AI has created a putative solution to two movements: a scherzo and trio, and a tondo, complete with organ (there are echoes of the opening of the Fifth Symphony and the “Adagio Cantabile” of the Pathétique Sonata). Juxtaposed with the Eighth Symphony, the AI music certainly sounds like Beethoven, but the question remains: Would Beethoven himself have been even more radical? An intriguing project.