Least favourite Beethoven works

[Michael]

I cannot question personal preference (a work or other "not speaking to you") Gerd and Peter, but I do believe they show great mastery, unlike the "Triple"!
Cellists and pianists will never see eye to eye (or even hear "ear to ear"), methinks.

Philip, I think Beethoven bent over backwards (horrible image!) to represent the cello in the Triple Concerto. Most composers would have opened the soloists' section with the violin but not our boy. I think the reason why the Triple never achieved great popularity is because it's such a bloody nuisance to perform - you need three soloists! (Incidentally, and totally beside the point, I have a recording of this work which is conducted by an ex-Prime Minister of England. Can you guess who it is?)
To return to the main subject of this thread - I am finding it very difficult to find a piece I dislike, but I am hopelessly prejudiced and will look for merit in even the slightest piece written by that cantankerous German. I'll think it over and may come up with something.
Alright, I am going to be frank. (I prefer the name to Michael.) This is going to shock you all - and may entail expulsion from this forum - but, apart from the quartet and the two Prisoners' choruses, I could do fine without the first act of "Fidelio". The second act is one of the wonders of this world. There. I've said it. With bowed head, I await the avalanche of abuse ....................................

[Ed C]

Just got back from a trip to Vienna and fighting an Austrian cold, but I tried to find my most detested Beethoven work and the closest thing I could come up with is 7 Ländler in D-Dur, WoO.11 - tho as I'm listening right now it's starting to grow on me....

[Chris]

Alright, I am going to be frank. (I prefer the name to Michael.) This is going to shock you all - and may entail expulsion from this forum - but, apart from the quartet and the two Prisoners' choruses, I could do fine without the first act of "Fidelio". The second act is one of the wonders of this world. There. I've said it. With bowed head, I await the avalanche of abuse ....................................

Really? I actually like the first act quite a bit better, and wouldn't want to do without any of those numbers!

[Quijote]

(a) [...] Incidentally, and totally beside the point, I have a recording of this work which is conducted by an ex-Prime Minister of England. Can you guess who it is? [...]

(b) [...] There. I've said it. With bowed head, I await the avalanche of abuse... [...]

Michael ! Long time no read. Anyway, I continue :
(a) Nah, not Gladstone, surely? The (Conservative) one before Thatcher? Edward the Heathen?
(b) Yah booh! Hiss! Blows raspberries. Hoot! [Will this do?]. Fidelio : not really on my radar, to be honest. I'll join you Michael as we tumble together in falling blocks of ice and snow.

[Sorrano]

Fidelio is certainly not my favorite opera. There are great moments within, but for myself, I still need to work with it some more.

[Michael]

Michael ! Long time no read. Anyway, I continue :
(a) Nah, not Gladstone, surely? The (Conservative) one before Thatcher? Edward the Heathen?
.

Yes, Edward the Heathen has conducted the Triple Concerto.

[Quijote]

Yes, Edward the Heathen has conducted the Triple Concerto.

And the soloists were Harold Wilson (piano and pipe), Tony Benn (violin and pipe) and Georges Pompidou ('cello and "Gitane" ciggie). Right?

[Peter]

And the soloists were Harold Wilson (piano and pipe), Tony Benn (violin and pipe) and Georges Pompidou ('cello and "Gitane" ciggie). Right?

I have a recording of Helmut Schmidt (The German Chancellor some time after Hitler) as one of the soloists in Bach's concerto for 4 pianos (harpsichords). Back to the thread and I have another work to add, the incomplete Violin concerto in C - why do we bother to resurrect these things that rightly had no interest for the composer?

[Michael]

And the soloists were Harold Wilson (piano and pipe), Tony Benn (violin and pipe) and Georges Pompidou ('cello and "Gitane" ciggie). Right?

Nah. Trio Zingara and the English Chamber Orchestra. I prefer your imaginary line-up.

[Michael]

Can I go back bit to my "Fidelio" posting? I may have been a bit harsh about Act One but the problem lies with me and not Ludwig van Whats-his-Name. I have a serious problem with opera and especially Singspiel (which, strictly speaking, is the category to which "Fidelio" should belong). I absolutely hate recitative but at least it produces musical continuity, but the sudden lapses into dialogue - as in "Fidelio" - produce a jarring effect upon me. My favourite recording of that opera is the Furtwangler recording of the mid fifties, which due to the limitations of vinyl, was recorded without dialogue, thus producing two hours of magic. I think "Fidelio" was performed at the Proms a few years ago in what was described as a "semi-staged" performance, something akin to an oratorio. Strangely, I can relate to that method of performing.
I absolutely love Rodgers and Hammerstein and Gilbert and Sullivan (dialogue and all!) so I don't have a problem with the human voice. But I prefer the Missa Solemnis, the Mass in C, Christ on the Mount of Olives,the two cantatas on the death of Joseph and elevation of the other guy, and even the god-damned "Glorious Moment" to a "staged" Fidelio. Except for Act Two!
I crave your pardon, my Lords, and will now continue listening to the .....STRING QUARTETS. Aaaaaaah ..................................

[Michael]

And (with much regret but total honesty), the last movement of the Ninth. It simply strikes me as "over-laboured". Sure, there are great moments, great passages ... In the final analysis it just doesn't "work" for me. Am I alone in this sentiment?

A great many musicologists would agree with you, Philip. But I don't. And yet I do.
The Ninth Symphony is a delicate work, for all its monumentalism. (That's a word you don't hear every day - probably because it doesn't exist.)

I am now going into pretentious mode: The Ninth Symphony is not a piece of music that you put on while you are peeling potatoes, or dissecting frogs. It is a work that should properly be heard only once a year - and then, if you are lucky, it will reveal itself to you. In my 64 years (the first 22 being Beethovenless) I think this behemoth has only penetrated my dull brain about five times. I love it every time I hear it - but only about half a dozen times times have I got inside it. And that means embracing the last movement as the only positive response to that scary opening.

Oooh! I've come over all funny! I must lie down for a while ...............

[EternaLisa]

Least favorite or most favorite alike; I can only truly answer this question after having heard all of his works Not too likely that I will-but then, I don't know about that either Although I am giving this query some thought though based on what I have experienced thusfar

E

[EternaLisa]

And that means embracing the last movement as the only positive response to that scary opening.

Scarily inspirational in that the attention responds quite well to it, is my experience

E

[Michael]

Least favorite or most favorite alike; I can only truly answer this question after having heard all of his works Not too likely that I will-but then, I don't know about that either Although I am giving this query some thought though based on what I have experienced thusfar

E

I wouldn't give my reply too much thought. (Too much wine, yes.)

[Rutradelusasa]

Out of the top of my head, some of his smaller piano pieces really don't click with me, namely the Fantasia G minor/B major, there are others, but this one is always skipped when I go through a book of 'other piano pieces' by him.