beethoven

[harris27]

does anyone agree with  me when i say that his Moonlight sonata no.14 in c#  minor is the best piece of piano music ever!, i agree that the first part is overplayed but its the second part that grips me. and beethoven is the greatest composer? if not whats your best peice and composer?

[thalbergmad]

There are a few that i prefer:

Xenakis - Mists
Finnissy - Piano Concerto No 7
Barrett - Tract
Schumann - Anything

Thal

[frigo]

I think I agree. But sometimes, after hearing Chopin, or Schumman, Rachmaninov, Liszt, Beethoven's compositions seem a little "too classical", and romantism and impressionism seem the most beautifull and capable movements ever. Nevertheless, it is to me one of the great pieces ever written 

[webern78]

I prefer the Opus 111 myself.

[mcgillcomposer]

I definitely agree that he is the best composer who ever lived, but I wouldn't put the C# minor sonata atop any 'best of' list.

[pies]

a

[indutrial]

My fav song is probably hungry rhapsody 2... very rare none off my friends heard off it.  My favoarates composers proablbay are Chopin, List, Beethovn, Bibaldi, Mosart, and Rachmananov.  Why arent their any   more great composers likes these today?  What ahppend to classical music>? 

Didn't someone just mention something about how these posts are blindingly unfunny. This is the Pianostreet equivalent of somebody running around a party doing the WHAAASSSSSUUUUPPP!!! gimmick and never noticing that nobody's laughing.

[gjkoster]

Back to topic then...

It's always hard to compare different composers of different eras and say that one is 'better' than the other. But to me, Beethovens contribution to pianomusic is monumental. His sonates always seems to express some sort of complete idea of life if you know what I mean. I have read quite a bit about him and it struck me Beethoven has had a pretty hard life in many respects. And a strong sense of responsibility and emotion. I feel Beethoven has poured all that experience into his music and composed great works that communicate the reality he lived in. I don't mean to say that he meant to do this, as if that was his goal as such, but I think that is the case with his music. He probably could not do it any other way, being the person he was. I think that is why his music still appeals to a lot of people and remains without getting boring. I think it was Barenboim who said that Beethoven always stays contemporary. I think that is it, his music never strikes me as classical in the sense that it is not modern, or old. To me his music is sort of timeless, hard to describe.

As for the moonlight sonate, it is a great sonate as a whole but overplayed - especially the first part of course - and I think Beethoven is so much more than only this great sonate. The pathetique is another famous one and I think I prefer that one over the moonlight when it comes to his early sonates.

[indutrial]

I think that is it, his music never strikes me as classical in the sense that it is not modern, or old. To me his music is sort of timeless, hard to describe.

The "hard to describe" element is usually the rub for any timeless quality that an artist radiates. This is about the same way that I think of composers like Debussy, Bartok, or Faure, composers whose work simply isn't given justice by any amount of words or critical adulation. I certainly notice a lot more of that going on with composers from recent decades, who prove harder and harder to pin down in musical discourse.

[pies]

a

[indutrial]

2bqh i've been saying this for a while but still post stuff like that. 

So I take it you've given up hope.