Let's Talk about Beethoven

First - go rent Immortal Beloved http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110116/ (my absolute favorite movie!) It's an amazing film with the great Gary Oldman playing Beethoven...

Then go to Target and buy this CD - "Beethoven's Moonlight" http://www.lifescapesmusic.com/shop/product.asp?ItemID=987135&

Now I know there are a ton of Beethoven piano compilations, but this one has a certain continuity throughout that really helps you relax.

And of course the favorites like Moonlight Sonata and Fur Elise are included!

I have a lot of Beethoven music on CD... But this one is my favorite so far...

I like it even more than the "Immortal Beloved" and "More Immortal Beloved" soundtracks from Sony Classical... These are great compilations, but the volume levels change too much from piece to piece.

I have some Beethoven (pronounced Beeth'-uv-en) in my collection. The 5th and 9th Symphonies (of course) and also his Moonlight Sontata. Great stuff! The 5th Symphony is what heavy metal wishes is could be!

Immortal Beloved is a Beethoven movie? I always thought it was a vampire film!



"Lovely, lovely Ludwig Van!"

It's an absolutely fabulous Beethoven movie! It's pretty gut wrenching too!

Wasnt Beethoven that dude in Bill & Ted's Excellant Adventure who got busted at the mall?

heh

Addy wrote:

Wasnt Beethoven that dude in Bill & Ted's Excellant Adventure who got busted at the mall?

heh

Yes, hence my "special" pronunciating of his name!

Ludwig's piano works are good but I personally prefer his symphonies a lot better. Very impassioned style.

And stone deaf towards the end of his career at that!

If I remember correctly, he was completely deaf when he wrote the 9th Symphony and had to have the legs of his piano removed so he could lay with it on the floor in order to feel the vibrations it made.

I've always gone with Bach myself. No other composer had quite the tendency to grab me with classical the way he has. beethoven, mozart, Brahams, etc..etc..are just too happy for me.

Yes, 'Immortal Beloved' was an excellent movie.

@ Popergeist: Mozart...too happy? He invented doom!!

Oh...I mean...

I am more of a Bach guy as well

But Ludwig had the jams too

I wouldn't consider Beethoven happy music by any means. Mozart was definitely the 'happiest" of the big three Classical era composers (Mozart, Haydn & Beethoven)

Mozart gets me wanting to kill myself, literally, after listening to any of his works with the exception of his piece simply titled "Jupiter".

Popergeist wrote:

Mozart gets me wanting to kill myself, literally, after listening to any of his works

Really? Do you think it's because of his genius or because you can't stand him? Have you ever heard "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" or "Mass in C"? Those are good pieces, IMO. EKN actually helped me to NOT want to commit suicide at one point in my life!

Popergeist wrote:

with the exception of his piece simply titled "Jupiter".

That's Symphony No. 40 (or 41) I believe. Good piece that was actually used in the KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park movie.

Mozart is a lot more "popish" than Haydn or Beethoven. Mozart didn't mind having fun with his music. Beethoven was a different story entirely.

I'm huge into Beethoven. I have the box set of all 9 symphonies plus another 3 disc set of sonatas. Probably the most "Volatile Genius" of the classic composers. A very tragic life, his gradual hearing loss was caused by lead poisoning. Imagine you're friggin' Beethoven and you lose your hearing. It doesn't get more ironic than that. That is what fueled his art. He is ,to me, by far the most passionate and emotional of the classical composers.