 |  | Famous Beethoven slow movements |  |
The real Beethoven would probably be irritated with compilation CD's like this that "cherry picks" a variety of slow movements from various works he composed. But, the average listener today will see it as a great way to get to know his music and enjoy an hour of more serene music - less Beethoven's more intense movements. The variery here is broad: solo piano, violin + piano, string quartet and full orchestra symphonies and concertos. The dreamy solo-piano pieces are some of Beethoven's most beloved and alluring slow movements that vaulted him to fame. While these and the chamber music tend to be more "relaxing," the latter orchestral pieces especially contain shifts in tempo, dynamic range and emotion that some might not find so relaxing. After all, this is Beethoven with a full orchestra and not Bach or the Baroque.
But, all is not lost if you are looking for a collection of serene, lyrical music composed by the great Beethoven. There actually is a CD that features some of Beethoven's most endearing and melodic adagios and largos: "Beethoven for Book Lovers" (Philips label). This CD is mostly comprised of the nicest slow movements from Beethoven's ten violin sonatas (violin + piano) played by the legendary David Oistrakh - a violinist with one of the most gentle and beautiful tone ever recorded. Fortunately for those wanting uninterupted peacefulness, there are only a couple of those typical "Beethoven outbursts" in this CD (very brief though). But, overall, the flow and tone of the entire CD is truly relaxing, enchanting and not distracting. All of these works reveal the gentle side of Beethoven and his surprizing ability (for such a fiery composer) to write music of such poinant and tenderhearted emotional appeal. Also, the "Chopin for Relaxation" is one of the better ones in this series and features some of Chopin's slower, more serene solo-piano music and the ever-so lovely middle movements from his two legendary piano concertos.
January 15, 2006The ad above shows 2 discs with the same track names... this item has only 1 disc with 11 tracks (names as shown above).
March 16, 2005 | | I Know Music, and This is Not the Best (by Beethoven Lover) | |
Ok, I'll admit, this is a pretty good album, but it lacks the feeling of Beethoven. Its songs don't sound like Beethoven is playing, and its not too relaxing. It deserves three stars because of this lack of the great Beethoven himself. Sure, the songs are pretty, but I'd buy a different album if I was you.
February 21, 2005| | | Not the Best By beethoven Lover | |
not completely a delight...shows little Beethoven in it all, deserves only about two or three stars.
February 20, 2005I have quite a few of the albums from the "Relaxation" series I have to say that this is not my favorite of the bunch. Although Beethoven is one of my favorite composers I do not think the tracks chosen for a relaxation CD quite hit the mark. As a reviewer said previously, I found quite a few of the tracks too lively and roboust for relaxation. And at times I found myself distracted from my reading or studying while playing this CD as I do with the others.
My recommendation: unless you are a huge Beethoven fan try Adagio for Relaxation instead.
August 3, 2004More reviews at Amazon.com ...
