I've noticed that in other non-classical music cases of things working better in context.
For instance, I watched the videos online of the Beatles songs from Across the Universe. They work OK as reminiscences of the film if you've seen it, but just watching the videos doesn't convey how delightfully they work in the context of the whole film.
Harold Bloom once quoted a paragraph of the climax of the Battle of the Pelennor Fields out of context to "prove" that Tolkien is all pompous fustian. Leaving aside the fact that it had to be carefully chosen and not just picked at random as he claimed, it's the climax of a huge narrative arc. Elevated language is appropriate then. Would Bloom quote the last 30 seconds of Beethoven's Fifth to claim that Beethoven is all pompous fustian? Well, some people would. But it sounds like that precisely because of the length and nature of the journey that it's the end of.
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For instance, I watched the videos online of the Beatles songs from Across the Universe. They work OK as reminiscences of the film if you've seen it, but just watching the videos doesn't convey how delightfully they work in the context of the whole film.
Harold Bloom once quoted a paragraph of the climax of the Battle of the Pelennor Fields out of context to "prove" that Tolkien is all pompous fustian. Leaving aside the fact that it had to be carefully chosen and not just picked at random as he claimed, it's the climax of a huge narrative arc. Elevated language is appropriate then. Would Bloom quote the last 30 seconds of Beethoven's Fifth to claim that Beethoven is all pompous fustian? Well, some people would. But it sounds like that precisely because of the length and nature of the journey that it's the end of.