Beethoven: C/D S+D

what does Op. mean BTW?

also: has anyone watched the movie I mention in the question? any good?

We chose B9 as our recessional because we started dating after singing in a B9 concert in college. Aw.

The movie was really good, the dodgy premise was a good way of telling his life story in flash back. But what made this a winner was the music.

http://miller.senate.gov/ZM%20personal%20pictures/Beethoven%20for%20babies.jpg

they are such cuties.

Piano Sonatas would be the next thing to check out. I'm not that familiar with these myself, but the Appassionata (sp?) and the Hammerklavier are both astonishing. Then check out the late Schubert sonatas which are even more so.

it wd be good to read more on these late str quartets though.

Paul Lewis playin Piano Sonata No. 4 is so insanely good that it's givin me one of those Why Bother With Music Unless It's Beethoven moments

i had this seeing the takacs qt doing their beet cycle recently. listened to op.130 on repeat for days afterwards.

wow I can only imagine how great that must have been, I have them doing the late quartets and it's WHOA BUDDY BEST MUSIC EVER. would nominate Takacs late q's as best long-drive music ever tbh

it was two nights, 3 qts each (the rest in two parts this year), mixing in early, mid and late together.
funny thing is the first night they were really restrained and subtle, and the next they were really feirce and emphatic, really caning it. the finale of op.131 was overwhelming.
i loved that they felt so raw and unadorned and unconcerned with overly interpreting.
though on the second night they seemed more interested in creating a narrative.

opus 131 (amadeus quartet)

Beautiful stuff. I just listened to the Budapest Qrt version which slays me.

I just saw a local symphony perform the 1st and 9th (with full choral arrangement). Magnificent! And to think the local press wrote off the 1st as a Haydn rip-off...

amazon has one of those 85 CD complete works thangs for the ridiclous price of $30. are these things cool? like, are the performances by east bumfuck orchestras?

http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Beethoven/dp/B004HGQXB8/ref=pd_sim_m_1

Is that the Brilliant set? I assume the performances will be a mixed bag, but probably none so terrible that they obscure the music itself. My experience w/ giant box sets like that is that I listen to a couple discs, and then promptly forget about it until I sell the thing.

yeah, that's sort of how i imagine this going for me. but it seems like such a deal! and i have gotten a lot out of the budget 32-disc stravinsky thing.

some good orchestras there (LSO, Staatskapelle Dresden, Wiener Philharmoniker) & Alfred Brendel's great on the Sonatas, but I'm always suspicious of these deals. for sure if you're getting the string quartets, you shouldn't cut any corners - they are some of the most sublime music anywhere.

here's a review: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/musicnightlife/2004396594_cdreviews07.html
In the "ups" category: the string quartets, those revered Beethoven works, performed by the always-excellent Guarneri Quartet; the terrific Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra (led by Kurt Masur) for the symphonies; Henryk Szeryng and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (with Bernard Haitink) in the Violin Concerto; and welcome appearances and collaborations.

On the "downs" side: Pianist Friedrich Gulda does not make my heart beat faster in the choice piano sonatas and concertos (even with the Vienna Philharmonic backing him up in the latter). How anyone could make these fiery, colorful works sound matter-of-fact is a source of amazement (compare them with, say, Seattle's Craig Sheppard and his pulse-pounding traversals of the sonatas). And some of those valuable historic recordings, like the Grumiaux/Haskil violin sonatas, are wonderful artistic statements but old enough that the remastered sound takes some getting used to.

i totally just ordered it, what the hell, i spend $30 on way stupider stuff. it's going to be a beethoven summer.

this complete editions thing just showed up at my door, lol. it's heavy. um, any recommendations on what to play first?

Man I totally would have bought that for $30, but not for the $114 its going for now. Let us know what you think when you've had some time to dig in.

eh this guy sucks.
kidding! planning on cranking the symphonies later today! look out world!

Pricing mistake alert! The fantastic Jean-Efflam Bavouzet's new 3CD of the first 10 piano sonatas is 6.99 at Amazon MP3. And yes, it's great. Bavouzet is one of the short list of living pianists to get truly excited about.

And if you don't know the early Beethoven sonatas, you've got a REALLY good time ahead of you.

http://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-Piano-Sonatas-Vol-1/dp/B007X7VKMK/ref=sr_shvl_album_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1340992195&sr=301-1

imagine going through a bad breakup in 1823 & then beethoven drops moonlight sonata

— lauren (@unrealshrike) February 23, 2021

an x girlfriend ruined my listening to most of beethoven now!