For instance - what about Beethovens Moonlight Sonata? (the famous one)Why does everyone think the parallel octaves in the bass sound beautiful?I think so too - I guess I mean - why are they beautiful - and others ugly?
The bass octaves in Beethoven 1st movement are more a matter of registration, and can be thought of as a single unit rather than two voices. This example of parallel 8ves is in different context than that of an SATB example.