Beethoven

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all of my kids took music lessons so I have to admit Fur Elise is NOT one of my favorites. I am trying to collect Ernst Ansermet recordings as they become available on CD, he was my dad’s favorite (remember when hi fi and stereo were innovations) so that is what we grew up with. I would fall asleep listening to classical music (or Spike Jones if he was in that mood). One of my earliest memories is outdoor Detroit Orchestra concerts at the State Fair Grounds bandshell in the summer.
 
didymus said:
Yes!! I was about to mention it. As with any historical movie, who knows how much is true, but I loved the scene with the premiere of the Ninth!!
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Was that the one where he had gone deaf and couldn’t hear the audience applauding, and one of the singers had to turn him around so he could see the audience? :crying:

Never saw the movie but I read that story - it’s so sad!!!
 
I love classical music, and whilst I love Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is my absolute favourite composer of all time.

I went to Austria in 1993, and did the tour of his house, and went and saw the Vienna Orchestra play.

Truly amazing.

If you have ever studied piano, you appreciate that Beethoven and Mozart were pure geniuses.
 
Beethoven is wonderful! Especially Mondschein-Sonate – so relaxing! I have Wilhelm Kempff’s performance on the Deutsche Grammophon label.

I began to enjoy classical music only when I reached my 40’s. I was looking for something without words to listen to while studying. Around that time a friend had purchased a grand piano, and invited us over for dinner. He played a nocturne by Chopin, and I was sold! I’ve since purchased lots of classical music, and love it!

Just a little background – my musical tastes are very eclectic. For example, I like Creedance Clearwater Revival, Grand Funk, Bob Seger, Huey Lewis, Willie Nelson, George Jones, Statler Brothers, Neil Diamond, Merle Haggard, Alabama, Beethoven, James Galway, Glenn Gould’s performance of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, Chopin, Bach’s Adagios (yes, I’m mixing composers and artists – sorry). The only “rap” music I like (sort of) is MC Hammer’s “Can’t Touch This.”

One of my favorite albums is EMI’s “The Most Relaxing Classical Album in the World…Ever!” I only wish they’d left out the 3 or 4 operatic pieces – the words interfere with reading (even though I don’t understand them).

Also very relaxing is Native American flautist R. Carlos Nakai’s “Mythic Dreamer.”

And I have to admit, my all-time favorite music is Southern Gospel. It’s a result of my Baptist roots. Andy Griffith, Willie Nelson, and at the top of my list – Tennessee Ernie Ford!
 
You will notice as you listen to Beethoven, his style changes as he looses his hearing. It was about the time of the 5th Symphony that he was becoming almost completely deaf. In that particular symphony you hear massive dyanmic changes, Beethoven is beating the sound into your head, because he was wanting to hear it so badly himself. Then tune into the 6th symphony the “Pastoral”, immediately in the first movement the cerebral quality of Beethoven’s music, now that he now longer “hears”, is clear and sublime! If you thought the 5th was “in your face” with the massive dynamic changes, you will be blown away by the contrast of it to the 6th symphony. The opening movement of the 6th is one of my favorite pieces of music.

The piano as we know it today would not exist were it not for Beethoven’s hearing loss. He broke so many pianos trying to hear the tones, they kept having to make them stronger. Since Beethoven’s time, the piano has changed very little.

Beethoven’s piano quintets are lovely!
 
BeeSweet said:
The piano as we know it today would not exist were it not for Beethoven’s hearing loss. He broke so many pianos trying to hear the tones, they kept having to make them stronger. Since Beethoven’s time, the piano has changed very little.
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Very interesting!
 
Chopin is probably my overall favorite. So much emotion in his music and I really love the piano.

My other favorites, in no order, include:
Scriabin
Liszt
Vivaldi
Bach
Beethoven
Mozart
Corelli
Rachmaninov
Palestrina
Satie

and there are others…

Once you open that door to “classical” (meaning what most think it means) there is just so much to explore.
 
Has Anyone read “The Last Master” ( Passion & Anger) by John Suchet?
 
LilyM said:
Was that the one where he had gone deaf and couldn’t hear the audience applauding, and one of the singers had to turn him around so he could see the audience? :crying:

Never saw the movie but I read that story - it’s so sad!!!
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That part of the movie was true. It’s historical fact that at the premier of the 9th he had to be turned around to face the audience to see them applaud! It’s also true that he wrote the letter to the “immortal beloved” but it has never been discovered who she was. They believe it was indeed his sister-in-law, which is how it was portrayed in the film, but there is no absolute proof of this. Gary Oldman was just terrific as Ludwig.
 
Amateur_Soul said:
Chopin is probably my overall favorite. So much emotion in his music and I really love the piano.

My other favorites, in no order, include:
Scriabin
Liszt
Vivaldi
Bach
Beethoven
Mozart
Corelli
Rachmaninov
Palestrina
Satie

and there are others…
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PDQ Bach!! 😃 😃
 
kellie said:
I love classical music, and whilst I love Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is my absolute favourite composer of all time.

I went to Austria in 1993, and did the tour of his house, and went and saw the Vienna Orchestra play.

Truly amazing.

If you have ever studied piano, you appreciate that Beethoven and Mozart were pure geniuses.
Click to expand...
I just finished reading Jane Glover’s “Mozart’s Women”. I LOVED it and highly recommend it if you are also a Mozart freak like me!!! I was fortunate to study at the Mozarteum in Salzburg for a summer in 2005. It was one of the most incredible musical experiences of my life. Salzburg breathes Mozart and his music. I unfortunately didn’t get a chance to visit Vienna.

Mozart was especially a genius for the voice. He truly understood the human instrument. There is nothing like singing one of his works or just listening to it being performed.

Although I love Beethoven’s choral works, I prefer his orchestral and chamber works more. His choral compositions are killers for many singers. I did the Missa Solemnis (I’m a mezzo, so sang the alto line.) Although it was easy for me because I’m a “high”-mezzo with low notes, most of the altos killed themselves because of where Beethoven laid the tessitura. The sopranos complained too. But then again, we have to remember that the instruments during that time period were tuned lower than what have them today, so it may not have been as hard to sing.
 
Beethoven’s 7th Symphony is one of the most perfect pieces in all of music.
 
This thread inspired me to finally replace my cassettes of the complete symphonies and piano concertos with CDs, they arrived today 🙂

Given my tendency to lose/damage things, I think I’ll burn backup copies and put the originals safely away.

Also ordered PDQ Bach’s DVD Houston, We Have a Problem 😃
 
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