Which work `did it` for you?

[glindhot]

My first recollection of Beethoven is the Pastoral Symphony movement in Disney's 'Fantasia' which I heard when, as a birthday present, I was taken to see the movie on 15 January 1943.

My Beethoven catalyst work was the Violin Concerto. When I was coming out of my "popular classics' Warsaw Concerto - Coronation Scot - phase, my ears were not attuned to Beethoven.

I was told that Beethoven's Violin Concerto was the best of all violin concertos so I made up my mind to get stuck into it and I played it repeatedly. A bit here sounded ok and a bit there, too. Gradually the bits joined up until it became one long glorious song.

The first non-universally famous work to `grab` me was 6 Variations on 'Nel cor piu non mi sento' from Paisiello's 'La molinara', for piano in G major, WoO 70.

The background story to its composition is delightful (I can't recall the source I read umpteen years ago so I may not have it exact). Beethoven went to the opera 'La molinara' and while there a lady told him that she had lost a piano setting of the opera's best aria 'Nel cor piu non mi sento'. That very night, Beethoven wrote his 6 variations on the aria and presented it to the lady the next morning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0699bczcS0

[AeolianHarp]

My first recollection of Beethoven is the Pastoral Symphony movement in Disney's 'Fantasia' which I heard when, as a birthday present, I was taken to see the movie on 15 January 1943.

You know i have had a feeling for awhile now that I heard his Pastorale as a child, but noone in my family listened to classical..maybe it was this Disney I saw on TV...and that's whre the vague memory of hearing it in childhood comes from.

My Beethoven catalyst work was the Violin Concerto. When I was coming out of my "popular classics' Warsaw Concerto - Coronation Scot - phase, my ears were not attuned to Beethoven.

I was told that Beethoven's Violin Concerto was the best of all violin concertos so I made up my mind to get stuck into it and I played it repeatedly. A bit here sounded ok and a bit there, too. Gradually the bits joined up until it became one long glorious song.

I was listening to this yesterday..it's divine!

The first non-universally famous work to `grab` me was 6 Variations on 'Nel cor piu non mi sento' from Paisiello's 'La molinara', for piano in G major, WoO 70.

The background story to its composition is delightful (I can't recall the source I read umpteen years ago so I may not have it exact). Beethoven went to the opera 'La molinara' and while there a lady told him that she had lost a piano setting of the opera's best aria 'Nel cor piu non mi sento'. That very night, Beethoven wrote his 6 variations on the aria and presented it to the lady the next morning.

Awww how sweet of him!

[Albert Gans]

To me it was, has been, is and always will be the 5th. I think that the transition between movement 3 & 4, while just a repetition for 15 bars or so, then exploding into this majestic theme of the last movement, it is so quintessential Beethoven, I never can just hear it and not stop what I am doing. And believe me, I've heard it many, many times and have many versions of it.

Once I got to know his music better, I think it was the Piano Sonatas that did it for me, as well. I may have some preferred one's (the Arietta of his last Sonata has recently struck a chord even more than it already had), but there are very few of those that do not meet the sublime standard this man has set for himself. Moreover, I believe that in the Sonatas, one can hear best how he evolved from his early days to the 'last period'.

[AeolianHarp]

Yes the sonatas are like a journey in a way. I just love them all; they all have something special.

[PDG]

To make it more interesting, how about nominating the 1st non-universally famous work to `grab` you? For me, it was an old, dusty, neglected LP of the Original Piano Variations, op.34. I found this piece to be so marvellously novel, with its shift of key for each successive variation, and so brilliantly tuneful, that even now I prefer it to the Diabelli set.

If I may quote myself from precisely 4,778 days ago -

There were other great works on that neglected LP. The unused allegretto of the C minor Op.10 sonata, the 6 Ecossaises WoO.83, the two Rondos, Op.51, the original theme and 32 variations in C minor. All underrated gems...

[Michael]

If I may quote myself from precisely 4,778 days ago -

...

Good Heavens, PDG! I thought you had gone the way of John Cleese's parrot!

[Sorrano]

Good Heavens, PDG! I thought you had gone the way of John Cleese's parrot!

But it's not dead!

[Michael]

But it's not dead!

I know a dead parrot when I see one!

[Sorrano]

I know a dead parrot when I see one!

It's just sleeping.

[PDG]

Or pining for the fjords.

[PDG]

Good Heavens, PDG! I thought you had gone the way of John Cleese's parrot!

You should know me by now, Michael - I tend to hibernate for about 11 months a year...

I hope all is well with you.

[Michael]

You should know me by now, Michael - I tend to hibernate for about 11 months a year...

I hope all is well with you.

Likewise.