Beethoven Piano Sonatas: Favorites and least favorites

Started by Todd, July 18, 2017, 09:22:13 AM

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Parsifal

Quote from: amw on July 18, 2017, 08:03:23 PMthe canon in the march of No. 28 in A, Op. 101 (it's hard to believe someone could write counterpoint this clumsy on purpose but apparently Beethoven spent ages sketching it...)

Trying to remain calm....

Wanderer

#21
Fun! I'll play.

And just to emphasize that there are no actual dislikes here, my tiers are named after Greek mountains taller than 2200 meters. So, in order of height:

Olympus

101
106
109
110
111


Parnassus

13
26
28
53


Taygetus

22
31/2
57
81a


Kyllene

10/3
27/2
90


Erymanthus

2/1
2/2
2/3
7
10/1
10/2
14/1
14/2
27/1
31/1
31/3
49/1
49/2
54
78
79

lisa needs braces

In the last few years I've been "stuck" (as in obsessed with, can't get over etc) the final trilogy.

My fave LvB piano sonatas moments:

Appasionata: coda to first movement.
Opus 101: Fugue in final moment. The Gilels live performance of this on youtube is sublime.
Opus 109: Final variation in 3rd movement -- my fave LvB moment of all time.
Opus 110: The two sections marked Arioso Dolente.

I'm really reluctant to say anything bad about any LvB sonatas cause they could collectively present an embarrassment of riches situation. And honestly I haven't listened attentively enough to dare make such judgments.  8)

Monsieur Croche

They're almost all fine for as many reasons as there are sonatas, but I personally find the Hammerklavier sonata especially odious... just a personal tic, lol.
~ I'm all for personal expression; it just has to express something to me. ~

Marc

Quote from: Monsieur Croche on July 30, 2017, 09:21:25 PM
They're almost all fine for as many reasons as there are sonatas, but I personally find the Hammerklavier sonata especially odious... just a personal tic, lol.

My 'first' Hammerklavier was Barenboim, DG, and I fear that this particular listening experience ruined my opinion about the piece for quite some time.

Now I'm more relaxed about... well, about almost anything, and I can enjoy the piece, as long as the slow movement is treated with LIFE.

aesthetic

I would say that Waldstein is my favourite.

Two highlights of the cycle for me:

No. 29 "Hammerklavier", III. adagio sostenuto
No. 30 in E major, III. Theme and variations

Possibly too much great music elsewhere in the cycle to list here. And also a lot of music in there that needs revisiting!

lisa needs braces

Andras Schiff has declared the final movement of #30 as his favorite LvB sonata movement.

Jo498

op. 109 is my favorite as well, not only the last movement.
This might be heresy but of the last 4 op.111 is the one I favor least nowadays.
Tout le malheur des hommes vient d'une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos, dans une chambre.
- Blaise Pascal

Jo498

Quote from: Jo498 on July 18, 2017, 10:07:47 AM
Top: 106, 109, 110, 111, 101, 81a, 31/2, 10/3

almost Top: 28, 2/3, 31/3, 53, 57, 10/1, 13, 14/2

Middle: 2/1, 2/2, 7, 10/2, 78, 79, 14/1, 27/2, 90

Bottom: op.49,1+2, 22, 26, 27/1, 31/1, 54

some of them are hard to rate for me. I love the variations in op.26 but don't care for the rest. I also like the first movement of op.31/1. I like the first movement of op.14/2 far more than the rest of this piece.

After having listened to some Beethoven in the last few weeks (among other things I listened to the sonatas with Lucchesini not for the first time, but for the first time to the whole box in a short period of time, before that to most of my recording with R. Serkin, Gelber and others), I also came up with the idea of a rough ranking. I had forgotten I had participated in this thread, so I did this without looking it or any similar old rankings up.

For some reason I used 5 tiers, reducing from 6, so in III a lot is packed together.
Not too many changes. Of the bottom 7, op.26 was raised and op.2/1 fell down. Of the top 10 op.10/3 fell into the middle and op.90 and 2/3 were raised up. Although it is not clearly reflected in the ranking, I appreciate op.49/1 more than I did. Obviously both are rather slight works but the g minor is a little gem and the G major rather trite. I think I do like op.26 a bit more than I used to (I was of the opinion that Beethoven should have written a few more variations and published the variations separately and throw the remaining movements away...) I even like op.22 a bit more than I used to but it's still fairly low; the brilliant first movement of op.31/1 cannot save the rest. Op.54 is still the mature Beethoven piece I like the least and don't understand at all.

I: 109, 106, 111, 110, 101

II: 81a, 28, 31/2, 31/3, 90, 2/3

III: 2/2, 10/1-3, 13, 14/1+2, 53, 57, 7, 26, 27/2, 78, 79

IV 22, 31/1, 2/1, 27/1, 49/1

V: 54, 49/2




Tout le malheur des hommes vient d'une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos, dans une chambre.
- Blaise Pascal