Beethoven: Complete Piano Trios, Vol. IV

Advantages: One of Beethoven's finest symphonies.
Disadvantages: None from me, but some will say "classical music is boring".

...THE END OF AN ERA 1812 can be seen as the markerpoint where Beethoven's middle-period came to an end and his late-period was ushered in. Beethoven's middle-period saw the composer at his most creative high with one masterpiece following the other in rapid succession. The beginning of this period can roughly be timed as starting in 1803 with the appearance of the Third Symphony "Eroica" and the "Kreutzer" sonata. These two works signalled Beethoven distinctly leaving the 18th century Classicism of Haydn and Mozart behind him and taking on a completely new and individual voice. This individuality became more and more apparent in the works that followed: the "Waldstein" and "Appassionata" piano sonatas, the "Razumovski" quartets, the Violin Concerto, the three last cello sonatas, the "Archduke" piano trio, Fidelio, the Fifth and Sixth... Read review

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Advantages: A work that changed the way we look at symphonies
Disadvantages: none whatsoever

...-hearted. The Trio is more romantic, written for three horns, giving a warm feel to the music. This is the first instance that Beethoven composes an epilogue for the scherzo, instead of merely reprising the main material. IV. Finale: Allegro molto The Finale is the final innovation of the Eroica. Instead of a simple conclusion in the normal mould of a Classical symphony, Beethoven builds it to become a kind of crowning culmination of massive proportions. The movement begins with flourishing elemental turmoil, like a storm, in A flat major. This serves as a transition to set E flat major firmly as the base tonality of the movement. The movement is built as an extended series of variations in a rather free form, utilizing variation and fugue in its structure. The theme, however, is not a new one. Beethoven decided to turn on the Finale of his ballet... Read review

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Advantages: Two outstanding peices of chamber music for an unusual combination of instruments
Disadvantages: On the surface quite contrasting works, listener must be openminded

...The work of Ligeti has been at the forefront of Western avant-garde since his escape from the oppressive communist regime of Hungary in 1956, and he is widely appreciated as one of the most outstanding contemporary composers. The Trio for Violin, Horn and Piano because it was born out of a three-year period of illness and writer's block after the completion of Le Grand Macabre in which time he laboured over a piano concerto but completed only two short harpsichord pieces (Continuum and Hungarian Rock), yet the result in 1982 was the Trio, one of the finest and most complex pieces written so far. His career up to this point had included such sucesses as his Requiem, Atmosphères and the soundtrack for Stanley Kubrick's film 2001. Tiring of his own cluster-textural techniques and the avant-garde, Ligeti refreshed his compositional... Read review

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