Any Beethoven fans?

herr_oberst · 06-03-2010, 06:19 PM

For some reason, when this came through the ipod rotation yesterday, it just hit me hard, and I bet I've played to it 20 times since.

Piano Sonata No.14 in C Sharp Minor, Op.27 No.2

In fact, I had to pull out the vinyl last night (Wilhelm Kempff) and really give it a good hard listen.

In fact, I immediately went to Netflix and ordered up A Clockwork Orange.

Powerful stuff, music.

{As an aside, Portland has had dreary weather all May. I'm pretty sure there is a correlation.}

Crowbob · 06-03-2010, 06:34 PM

Beethoven = Genius.

herr_oberst · 06-03-2010, 06:50 PM

BlueSkyJaunte · 06-03-2010, 06:58 PM

I'm a No. 13 (Pathetique) fan myself. I like it so much I even taught myself to play a little of it. Very little. The vast majority of it is WAY beyond my skill level.

Zeke · 06-03-2010, 07:06 PM

Beautiful as always. Ludwig was a genius in his time. Today there are dozens that could do the same, but they don't. Something about exploring the limits and all that jazz. Shoot, singers could still be on the streets singing doowop and I'd go listen.

But no, "exploring" brought us rap.

HHI944 · 06-03-2010, 07:13 PM

Beautiful. Beethoven was simply genius.

I've been listening to Dvorak lately.

LeRoux Strydom · 06-04-2010, 05:41 AM

If you like old Ludwig Van, and are ready to step up to someone even more moody and dramatic, try some Brahms music. I higly recommend his 4th symphony.

s_morrison57 · 06-04-2010, 05:50 AM

Q: What's brown and sits on a piano stool
A: Beethoven's last movement

Jim Richards · 06-04-2010, 05:53 AM

don't leave it on my lawn.

Beethoven rocks.

m21sniper · 06-04-2010, 08:49 AM

I'm a fan.

imcarthur · imcarthur's Garage

Truly a musical genius. His Concerto for Violin & Orchestra in D Major is one of my favorite pieces of music. And the majesty of the 9th Symphony is unequaled.

Ian

Kraftwerk · 06-05-2010, 06:41 AM

My record collection includes a few slabs of the Ludwig van.
That kinda music is more than special.

I like the moonlight sonata by Horowitz and theSonata no. 12 "Funeral March"
by Wanda Landowska-- It is actually a pretty happy tune!
My piano playing friends scoff at Wanda but I like her playing.

JCF · 06-06-2010, 02:05 PM

Beethoven, like Picasso, Shakespeare, Newton, Einstein IS the perfect heroic, western Artist.
They explain the entire range of human existence - often in just one piece of work.
Listen to B's late string quartets and late piano works - and The Missa...
Ne plus ultra.

JCF · 06-06-2010, 02:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by m21sniper

I'm a fan.

Holy Shoot - we agree on some point on an artistic level ????

pwd72s · 06-06-2010, 02:22 PM

John, This may shock you...I have some of this guy's stuff on my Ipod...performed by the London philharmonic.

Chuck Berry made better driving music, tho...

JCF · 06-06-2010, 03:12 PM

Not shocked at all really.
Beethoven has so many doors of entry, no matter what mood or state of mind you're in there is a Beethoven moment that covers it and brings you deeper in to it.
With Snipe it is surprising to me because he pretends to be above, or is it below the common range of the human comedy - above the fray - in complete control.
And Beethoven is all about that struggle against doubt, nature, fate.

imcarthur · imcarthur's Garage

Imho . . .

Bach showed us precision & the beauty of variations. Handel & Haydn refined & explored this genre & set the stage for . . . Mozart . . . who burst through with his brilliance (not a note out of place) & proved that orchestral music (or chamber. opera etc) could be fun as well as heart-rending. Beethoven added guttural passion to the mix. After that, with some notable exceptions, classical music has been on a downhill spiral . . .

Ian

JCF · 06-06-2010, 03:45 PM

Great story, if maybe a bit apocryphal - I only remember the essence of it;

The Admiral of the battle group that was surprised and had the sheets kicked out of it in the darkness at Guadalcanal, after beating off the last of the Jap raiders and after the fires were extinguished and the bloody decks were cleared, found an Lp in the wreckage of his command post (or whatever you call it on a ship) and had it played over a loudspeaker - Beethoven's String Quartet No. 14 in C Sharp Minor, Op. 131, by The Budapest String Quartet.
He went on to describe how he felt listening to those unearthly sounds [it is still a very complex and somewhat hard to listen to at times combination of the bizarre and the heartrendingly beautiful - even in this day and age] contrasted with the horrible silence of the darkness with it's spots of fire and the occasional cry.

I remember that because after reading it I went out and found a copy - was playing it just a few days ago.

JCF · 06-06-2010, 03:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by imcarthur

Imho . . .

Bach showed us precision & the beauty of variations. Handel & Haydn refined & explored this genre & set the stage for . . . Mozart . . . who burst through with his brilliance (not a note out of place) & proved that orchestral music (or chamber. opera etc) could be fun as well as heart-rending. Beethoven added guttural passion to the mix. After that, with some notable exceptions, classical music has been on a downhill spiral . . .

Ian

Bach was the great scientist of music - his music has the sublime beauty of 1+1=2
And I agree, Handel and Haydn brought it to earth.
Mozart played with it like a cat with a mouse.
Beethoven ate it up and then threw it up all over the floor.
After that they pretty much slipped and slid all over it.

pwd72s · 06-06-2010, 06:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JCF

Bach was the great scientist of music - his music has the sublime beauty of 1+1=2
And I agree, Handel and Haydn brought it to earth.
Mozart played with it like a cat with a mouse.
Beethoven ate it up and then threw it up all over the floor.
After that they pretty much slipped and slid all over it.

Kind of like Rock n' roll going downhill after Buddy Holley died, eh?