Bernard Chasan responds to me:

>>...  tended to like only bits and pieces of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven,
>>Schubert, Schumann, Verdi, and Brahms.  I simply didn't care for the
>>idiom.  I found it bland and predictable at first.
>
>Well, there are times when bland and predictable are just what is
>needed. When I come home from a hard day's work there is nothing I
>like more than to relax while listening to the Grosse Fugue, or maybe
>the Hammerklavier.

Oh, now you're twitting me.  These aren't bland and predictable pieces,
but the harmonic idiom is -- all that IV-V-I, with the occasional dominant
or subdominant modulation, ho-hum.  You've got to admit that Grieg's
"Anitra's Dance" from Peer Gynt has more going for it in terms of harmonic
surprise, although it's not close in power to the Beethoven.  It amazes
me how Beethoven creates such wonderful music out of such unpromising
materials.

Steve Schwartz