kundera's composition teacher on beethoven, parallels with lyrical passages in ulysses

To show his solidarity to a jewish composer who was forced to wear the yellow star, Kundera's father hired him to give his son lessons in composition. One day, the composer said to the young Kundera: "There are many surprisingly weak passages in Beethoven. But it is these weak passages that make the strong passages stand out. It's like a lawn without which we could not appreciate the beautiful tree growing in the middle."

Are the "low" styles of Ulysses a great big set-up for short, lyrical passages, patiently setting the passages up to blow us away? That's certainly the effect these lyrical paragraphs have on me.

I'm reminded of a live performance by pianist Rudolf Firkusny: He played almost an entire piece in hushed, barely audible tones to set up a banging, loud, brief finale. The parts of the piece were subordinated to the effect of the piece as a whole. It worked.