Beethoven Only

[Harvey]

I got to wondering if there are any orchestras, ensembles, etc., conductors, or musicians/singers who specialize in Beethoven and essentially play only Beethoven's works. If so, do any have recordings on the market?

[Peter]

I doubt it and even if there are I don't see the advantage because I don't think being so restricted would make for a very rounded musician - Beethoven doesn't exist in a bubble and I think is best appreciated in context.

[Harvey]

I am probably getting too extreme in my thinking. Anyways, surely there are musicians, conductors, etc. out there who share our great love for Beethoven's music and likely have some focus on Beethoven among the other works. Those may be worth checking out.

[Peter]

I am probably getting too extreme in my thinking. Anyways, surely there are musicians, conductors, etc. out there who share our great love for Beethoven's music and likely have some focus on Beethoven among the other works. Those may be worth checking out.

Certainly there are performers who place Beethoven at the centre, I mean think of pianists like Schnabel. Brendel, Barenboim, Kempf who have recorded all the Beethoven sonatas whilst plenty of others are reluctant to perform just one! I think focusing on a composer or a period in music is good if it is a centre from which to explore other composers and eras rather than if it becomes a straight jacket devoid of context, that is only a very narrow and limited perspective.

So that's how I think of Beethoven - the centre of my musical universe to which I always return. I did have a thread a while back on Beethoven's lesser known contemporaries and it is very interesting to listen to them to get a fuller picture of the environment Beethoven was living in. This isn't the thread I'm thinking of but it's the only one I can find! http://www.gyrix.com/forums/showthre...contemporaries

[AeolianHarp]

Certainly there are performers who place Beethoven at the centre, I mean think of pianists like Schnabel. Brendel, Barenboim, Kempf who have recorded all the Beethoven sonatas whilst plenty of others are reluctant to perform just one! I think focusing on a composer or a period in music is good if it is a centre from which to explore other composers and eras rather than if it becomes a straight jacket devoid of context, that is only a very narrow and limited perspective.

So that's how I think of Beethoven - the centre of my musical universe to which I always return. I did have a thread a while back on Beethoven's lesser known contemporaries and it is very interesting to listen to them to get a fuller picture of the environment Beethoven was living in. This isn't the thread I'm thinking of but it's the only one I can find! http://www.gyrix.com/forums/showthre...contemporaries

I see what you mean Peter- I like classical music, some Baroque is ok, love the Romantic era like Chopin....but LvB soars above them for me- his music has an indefinable quality to it that answers something within me, in a way the other composers don't. Not to say the others are not brilliant, of course...just that I find Ludwig more so.
I haven't hard much of his contemporaries- that would be an interesting discovery.

[AeolianHarp]

Hey Harvey and Rocco! My Romain Rolland book just arrived this afternoon! Blimey that was fast! Only ordered it on Wed night..

[Peter]

I haven't hard much of his contemporaries- that would be an interesting discovery.

I still can't find the thread I'm thinking of but this one has some suggestions though the links will no longer work - you'll have to check them out on youtube!
http://www.gyrix.com/forums/showthre...ight=forgotten

[AeolianHarp]

I still can't find the thread I'm thinking of but this one has some suggestions though the links will no longer work - you'll have to check them out on youtube!
http://www.gyrix.com/forums/showthre...ight=forgotten

No worries Peter- I have plenty of books on our dear Maestro-I'm sure that they mention other composers around in his lifetime. Clementi for one. I actually heard some Clementi played on Emily Bronte's piano a few years ago!

http://www.bronte.org.uk/search

[Harvey]

I have the Barry Cooper compendium (not with me right now though) and it has a section regarding those who influenced Beethoven. Besides the obvious Mozart and Haydn, there is Luigi Cherubini. Bach must have also been quite an influence too.

[AeolianHarp]

I have the Barry Cooper compendium (not with me right now though) and it has a section regarding those who influenced Beethoven. Besides the obvious Mozart and Haydn, there is Luigi Cherubini. Bach must have also been quite an influence too.

Yes, Ludwig met Luigi Cherubini in 1805:


Beethoven met the composer Luigi Cherubini on the latter's journey to Vienna in 1805. Cherubini, a longtime resident of Paris, was invited to mount a production of his opera Die Tage der Gefahr (or Der Wasserträger) after the success of his 1791 opera Lodoïska, which was staged by Emanuel Schikaneder on 23 March 1803 at the Theater an der Wien. Cherubini's time in Vienna was generally unhappy, but he did have the opportunity to meet Beethoven. Cherubini was in attendance for the first performances of Beethoven's opera Fidelio, to which he reacted sneeringly. He also described Beethoven's piano style as "rough", and more famously the man himself as "an unlicked bear cub". It is remarkable, therefore, that Beethoven, normally so quick to take offense, named Cherubini as the greatest contemporary composer.

Beethoven and his contemporaries, From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beethov...uigi_Cherubini

[Harvey]

Remarkable indeed!
When I learned of the Beethoven - Cherubini connection I picked up a copy of Cherubini's Missa Solemnis in D minor. It is a very nice mass.

[Peter]

Available on cd is a very interesting pairing of Beethoven's violin Concerto and one by the man he wrote it for - Franz Clement. Clement's concerto (also in D) was written slightly before Beethoven's.

[Harvey]

Just looked it up on Amazon. The Clement violin concerto is very nice.