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