# Five essential Beethoven chamber works



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Another thread is discussing Ludwig's orchestral works aside from symphonies. That's pretty straight forward. But what do you think are his five most essential chamber works/sonatas? Maybe a little harder!

Not four, nor six, but five. What say ye?


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## TurnaboutVox (Sep 22, 2013)

Not counting solo piano works?


OK, then:
A bit conventional and very biased towards late-middle period and late periods. No particular order implied.


String Quartet No. 16 in F, Op. 135
String Quartet No. 13 in B flat, Op. 130 + 133
Violin Sonata No. 10 in G, Op. 96
Piano Trio No. 7 in B flat, Op. 97 'Archduke'
Cello Sonata No. 5 in D, Op. 102/2, for the miraculous 'allegro fugato' ending, over Op 102/1.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

I intended to include piano sonatas, if it pleases you!


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## TurnaboutVox (Sep 22, 2013)

Including solo piano works: I'd rather make a separate list of five then! 


Piano Sonata No. 28 in A, Op. 101
Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111
Diabelli variations, Op. 120
6 Bagatelles, Op. 126
Piano Sonata No. 4 in E flat, Op. 7


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## Triplets (Sep 4, 2014)

1) The Early, Middle, and Late String Quartets
2) The Complete Cello Sonatas
3) Septet
4) The Complete Works For Piano Trio (include the arrangements of Symphony #2 and the two versions of the Trio For Clarinet, Piano and Trio
5) The Complete Piano Sonatas
Honorable mention to the Quintet for Piano and Winds


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## TurnaboutVox (Sep 22, 2013)

That's 62 works,I think, Triplets! I didn't think anyone would cheat more egregiously than I did!


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## DiesIraeCX (Jul 21, 2014)

One choice per genre, my list would probably look like this.

Piano Sonata #32
String Quartet #14
Violin Sonata #10
Cello Sonata #4
Piano Trio "Archduke"

With my biases and preferences showing, it'd look like this.

Piano Sonata #30
Piano Sonata #32
String Quartet #14
String Quartet #13 w/Grosse Fuge
String Quartet 15


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

String quartet 14
String quartet 15
String quartet 16
Violin sonata 5
Septet


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## bz3 (Oct 15, 2015)

String Quartet 13 (with Grosse Fuge, though I think his later composed finale holds up equally well as part of the whole if not as an individual piece)
String Quartet 14
Violin Sonata 5
Piano Sonata 32
String Trio in C Minor


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## Bayreuth (Jan 20, 2015)

KenOC said:


> I intended to include piano sonatas, if it pleases you!


As much as I like his Piano Trios and his Cello Sonatas I'm afraid that if the solo music is included here none of his chamber music has the slightest chance against the Apassionata and all her friends the Hammerklavier, the Pathetique et al. 
:lol:


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Obviously, the last 5 string quartets.

Obviously, the last 5 piano sonatas.

Obviously, The specified number should be, say, 2 dozen. Can't get symphonies 5 and 9 into a _convenient_ package of 5; or the Diabellis; or...


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## Guest (Dec 15, 2015)

Holy Mozart! What a challenge! Did I say I always vote for Beethoven? Well then, time I stepped up to the plate, took the bull by the horns (but never the testicles), came off the fence, stood up and be counted [yes, yes, we get all that, for the love of Ganesh, get on with it, man!]. So Ken (Mad Max) OC is asking for the top 5 LvB chamber jobbies, yes? I presume he's asking for an array of instrumental genres so here goes:
1) Almost any of the piano sonatas but to keep MadKen happy let's say the Hammerklavier;
2) Cello sonata N° 4;
3) Razumovsky SQ N° 1;
4) Diabellis;
5) Kreutzer.

That's all folks.


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## Skilmarilion (Apr 6, 2013)

I'll drop the "most" and just go with essential ...

Quartet 10, "Harp"
Quartet 14, C-sharp minor
Quartet 15, A minor
Sonata 21, "Waldstein"
Sonata 23, "Appassionata"
Sonata 31, A-flat major

Woops, that's 6. You'll eliminate one for me, won't you Ken? :tiphat:


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Skilmarilion said:


> Woops, that's 6. You'll eliminate one for me, won't you Ken? :tiphat:


No worries mate, did that, and changed out a couple of others while I was at it. Yer welcome!


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## isorhythm (Jan 2, 2015)

My very personally biased list:

Violin sonata no. 10
Quartet no. 14
Quartet no. 15
Piano sonata no. 28
Piano sonata no. 29


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## Chordalrock (Jan 21, 2014)

Diabelli Variations
Piano sonata 29 'Hammerklavier'
Piano sonata 32 in C minor
Piano sonata 17 in D minor
String quartet in C sharp minor, op 131

This is the true, correct list. Every other list out there by people is a fabrication.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

String Quartet No. 11 in F minor, "Serioso"
Große Fuge in B-flat major
Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, "Pathétique"
Piano Sonata No. 31 in A-flat major (for the fugal finale)
Piano Trio in B-flat major, "Archduke" 

These will do well enough, though I consider most of Beethoven's works essential.


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## Guest (Dec 16, 2015)

Moonlight
Pathetique
Archduke
Kreutzer
Gross Fugue


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Not Chordalrock said:


> Diabelli Variations
> Piano sonata 29 'Hammerklavier'
> Piano sonata 32 in C minor
> String quartet in C sharp minor, op 131
> ...


Good list.

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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

I hope my judgment hasn't been swayed too much by what I've just been listening to, but I'm going to say piano sonatas #1-5. Amazing stuff--especially that #4!!!


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## gardibolt (May 22, 2015)

Paring LvB's salon/chamber output to five works is tough but these are the representative samples that popped to the forefront of my mind first:

Piano Sonata op. 53 'Waldstein'
Quartet op. 18/6
String Trio op.3 [to my mind, the piece that announced to the world, "This Beethoven fellow will change everything you thought you knew about music"]
Piano Trio op.70/1 'Ghost'
Violin Sonata op. 24 'Spring'

Happy Beethoven's Birthday, everyone!


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## Guest (Dec 21, 2015)

I'm really into the Cello Sonatas these days. I was only familiar with the string quartets and the violin sonatas. Now I just can't stop listening to the cello sonatas. Addicted! The CD with Isserlis and Robert Levine and excellent as so is the more recent one with Queyras 

I think next I will explore the piano trios. Any suggestions there?


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

For the piano trios, the Beaux Arts Trio is excellent as are Istomin/Stern/Rose and the Trio Parnassus -- and others! Hard to choose a favorite.


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