Walter Meyer <[log in to unmask]> quotes critic David Hall's assessment of
Beethoven's Triple Concerto:

>   "One of Beethoven's less happy experiments, this Concerto with the
>   exception of its fine slow movement, adds up to a sort of stunt
>   piece which is only moderately interesting as music.

The piece is brilliant.  Great composers are often revered centuries after
their deaths and get statues raised in their honor, but I'm still waiting
for a statue to be erected of a critic, and I'm not holdiing my breath,
either.

I have found every last one of them that I have encountered (regardless
of whether I disagree with them) is full of himself, if not of some other
substance (especially local LA critic Alan Rich).

Norman Schwartz <[log in to unmask]> writes:

>It hasn't been brought up (yet), but how about LvB's own Piano
>transcription, Op. 61a?

Also brilliant, although less so than the original violin version, but
I suppose that is to be expected.  Beethoven's cadenzas for it, which
Beethoven ingeniously incorporates the timpani, make it worthwhile in
themselves.  There are some recordings of the Violin Concerto that use
violin transcriptions of these cadenzas, which, also to be expected, as
they make for a more purely Beethovenian experience, I find infinitely
more satisfying.  The best I have encountered is with Ulf Hoelscher on
the violin w/ the Staatskapelle Dresden conducted by Hans Vonk.  Andre
Previn conducted one w/ Joseph Swenson as the soloist (I'm not sure of the
orchestra, but I think it was during Previn's LA Phil days) that I found to
be a lethargic performance in terms of tempi and overall energy.  I think
Oistrakh did one, too, but I'm not entirely sure.

Nicolas Croze-Orton <[log in to unmask]>

>It is well known though in almost all musical circles, that Beethoven`s
>forte was not in melody creation...

Say WHAT? What musical circles are these? They sound more like musical
zeros.  Rare are the mature (post-Eroica) Beethoven movements that do
not have strong themes, although I will grant you that many of them are
unconventional.  But, then, genius is, in itself, unconventional.  Most
of his earlier works have a strong thematic basis as well.  Is there a
lovelier melody in all of piano literature than the slow movement of the
Pathetique Sonata?

Leigh