Classical Music for Aficionados

Vienna, 5 December 1808

I was invited to another most agreeable dinner by means of a very friendly note from Beethoven, who had not been able to reach me in person.  It was given by his hostess, Countess Erdody.  I was so deeply touched there, that my pleasure was nearly ruined.  Imagine a very pretty, small, delicate woman of twenty five who had been married at the age of fifteen, had contracted an incurable illness at the time of her first confinement, and in the ten years since then, has not been able to remain out of bed for more than two or three months...The only pleasure for her is music, and she plays even Beethoven's music quite well, hobbling from one fortepiano to the other, on her very swollen feet...and then we got the very temperamental Beethoven to the fortepiano as well.  He improvised for a good hour from the depth of his artistic feelings, ranging from the highest heights to the deepest depths of the celestial art, with mastery and versatility, so that ten times at least tears came to my eyes."  --  Johann Friedrich Reichardt (German critic and composer)

From the notes of the Archduke and Ghost Trios CD.

Cheers

Ludwig van Beethoven

STRING QUARTETS OP. 18/6 & OP. 130/133

Artemis Quartet
Natalia Prischepenko(violin), Grego Sigi(violin ll), Friedemann Weigle(viola), Eckart Runge(cello)
Virgin Classics  2010

String Quartet No. 6 in B flat major

Allegro con brio
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ9jQOGVI6o

Adagio,ma non troppo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jg-NAHQ_vYs

Scherzo (Allegro)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kQV3aVV2FM

La Malinconia (Adagio) - Allegretto quasi..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeX2alpjuYg

Allegretto quasi allegro
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xi35pfd1DFw

Cheers

Ludwig van Beethoven

THE SYMPHONIES / 5 OVERTURES

Wiener Philharmoniker
Karl Böhm
DG 1971

Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op.68,  "Pastoral"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ-wiRQ7pHc&t=941s

My first exposure to Beethoven's symphonies was thru the Sixth.  Played it so much I got burnt out on it.   Have not played it in years.   Still wonderful.

Cheers

Ludwig van Beethoven

TRIPLE CONCERTO FOR VIOLIN, CELLO, & PIANO IN C, OP.56

David Oistrakh(violin), Mstislav Rostropovich(cello), Sviatoslav Richter(piano)
Berliner Philharmoniker
Hebert von Karajan
EMI Great Recordings of The Century     1970 / 1997

Triple Concerto for Violin, Cello & Piano in C Op. 56

Notes: "Four months after taping the "Triple" in Berlin, it was to be repeated in Moscow.  But having supported Solzhenitsyn in the Russian press, Rostropovich was 'replaced', and (much to official dismay) Oistrakh and Richter refused to perform with any other cellist.  Finally, the authorities were forced to relent: "Those who witnessed the concert," wrote Rostropovich, "remember it to this day, for it was an occasion when music won over oppression."

Allegro
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVqbzl-SKLw

Largo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVJ3dcBJSjk

Rondo alla polacca
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O98HHUxw1Hk

Cheers

Johannes Brahms

DOUBLE CONCERTO FOR VIOLIN & CELLO IN A MINOR, OP.102

David Oistrakh(violin), Mstislav Rostropovich(cello)
The Cleveland Orchestra
George Szell
EMI Great Recordings of The Century     1970 / 1998

Notes: "A feared martinet, ruthless authoritarian, brilliant chamber musician and incomparable orchestra-builder, Szell once wrote to Oistrakh, confiding that "there is no musician today that I respect more than you; nobody with whom I feel more "at home" when I play and with whom I feel so strongly that we are heart and soul."

Wow!

Double Concerto for Violin & Cello in A minor Op. 102
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Et1zSwsXubE

Cheers