Thread: Going to pick up some Beethoven...

Any recommendations? I'm broke so the only Beethoven I own is/are (English grammar is confusing...) two quartets and the Fifth and Seventh Symphonies. I get as much as I can off the radio but I'm finally going to have some money so I want to increase what I own.

This doesn't help much since it's Beethoven but I'm looking for something really narrative. Ideally something a little stormier, a lot of happy symphonic stuff gets on my nerves for some reason.

I know you can't really go wrong with Beethoven but since I'm broke, I want to make sure it's something that I'll be able to listen to nonstop until I scrape together the spare funds.

On that note, given that I won't be able to afford to upgrade, should I get two mediocre recordings -quantity- or one good one -quality-?

My mom and sister have decided to try and drop a few pounds, and they're hippies, so I've had to pick between food and music for a while. Just found a dollar store that sells food without mold, so now my priorities are straight again and I can get music.

I haven't heard anything new in so long that I think I can put up with organic walnut butter on sprout bread and a thermos full of soymilk if it means I can feed my mind.

Late quartets...really melancholic chamber stuff.

When going though a rough financial patch, don't forget the resources of your local library. It gives you the option of auditioning works that you may wish to consider buying later. Two words of caution.... first, don't listen to the work too much, especially if you check out an "ultra-budget" offering. Our natural tendency is to prefer the sounds attendant on our first hearings, and it can stunt one's appreciation of a work if we exit the gate with a preference for the "Radio Orchestra of Lower Slabovia" performance. Secondly (and this goes hand in hand with the first) trust your instincts!

Fortunately, there is less correlation between a the price of a recording and its quality than ever before. A careful shopper can find overpriced renditions and budget gems with regularity. Furthermore (living where you live), you can trim costs even more via the "new/used CD shop" scene. You might even actually stumble upon one of the few places in America that employs sales clerks with passable knowledge of Classical Music!

Here's something you and your mother can agree on. Ask her to sing the end of Jefferson Airplane's White Rabbit for you. It ends with the chorus "Feed your head... feed your head."

Big digression... "Azathoth"= ---- Lovecraft fan?!

Originally Posted by Frasier

Klemperer's often slower renditions are often far deeper reaching, like in the 4th, 6th, and more so the 9th. Sometimes they're annoying - like the way he dawdles through the scherzo of the 5th...you're half expecting it to come to a standstill at every rallentando. For the 5th, I'd go for Karajan.

As for choral/operatic, I err toward Klemperer.

But it's horses for courses, as they say.

I haven't heard any, but based on reviews, I think Walter would qualify for "slow" Beethoven. His 4 and 6 with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra.

Late and middle quartets (if you don't have time, take only 'Quartetto Serioso' and the last one)
Symphonies no. 3, 4 & 9
Oboe trio & Violin Sonatas no. 6 (they are not stormy, but good and melancholy)

For excellent but cheap symphonie cycle I insist Herbert Blomstedt with the Dresden Staatskapel, I can't get enough of recommending that one.

I found a copy of the Third earlier, and the quartets I have are #2 and #3, labelled 'Razumovsky.' I guess I have some good taste :P

Big digression... "Azathoth"= ---- Lovecraft fan?!

Yep, and proud of it.

Symphonies nos 2 and 3
All of his piano trios.