# Slow and Steady



## Avey

Given your unique and particular musical tastes, of course, what are some of *your favorite slow movements in the chamber repertoire*? Adagios, lentos, andantes, etc.

I am not asking for a dozen names that you can rattle off. I want *specific movements*, and why? What do you think makes that particular passage so compelling?


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## Triplets

II of Bethoven's Third Razumovsky Quartet (Op 59/3), with the great plucked bass line. Like many great slowmovements it seems to make time stand still and for whatever reason the music becomes more meaningful, suggesting as if life's mysteries can be explained.
Words are inadequate here; every thought that I have seems hopelessly cliched when I attempt to articulate it. Sometimes it's best to enjoy the music and not try to describe it.


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## Avey

Triplets said:


> Words are inadequate here; every thought that I have seems hopelessly cliched when I attempt to articulate it. Sometimes it's best to enjoy the music and not try to describe it.


Well said. But I still try!


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## KenOC

Triplets said:


> II of Bethoven's Third Razumovsky Quartet (Op 59/3), with the great plucked bass line. Like many great slowmovements it seems to make time stand still and for whatever reason the music becomes more meaningful, suggesting as if life's mysteries can be explained.
> Words are inadequate here; every thought that I have seems hopelessly cliched when I attempt to articulate it. Sometimes it's best to enjoy the music and not try to describe it.


This is one of those movements that *nobody* has ever been able to explain! A good thing, perhaps.


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## ToneDeaf&Senile

Op.59 No.3 movement two is near the top of my list too. Such a marvelous movement! As my predecessors state, words can't do it justice. Not my words at any rate. I take the liberty of linking what I consider a superlative interpretation of it not available commercially...the Jasper Quartet recorded live during the WQRX Beethoven Quartet Marathon. The video encompasses the entire quartet, but I believe I've cued it for the beginning of the slow movement.


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## dgee

One of my all time favourites is the Andante from Schubert's E flat piano trio. So quirky and delightful, so beautiful - great melodies!


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## PetrB

This piece is one work in one continuous long slow movement; duration 80 minutes:
Morton Feldman ~ _Piano and String Quartet_




...because after countless times of listening to it, it still captivates me completely, moves me, at least as much and probably more than it did when I first heard it over 15 years ago.


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## PetrB

_________________________ dupe


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## leroy

I love the Adagio assai in Ravel's piano concerto in G and my favorite one is by Louis Lortie from 1989 on the Chandos label. His playing is clean, clear and beautifully measured throughout but what really sets this version apart for me is the oboe which comes in at 3:43, its hits the most beautiful single note I think I've heard and then smoothly transitions out, lovely.


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## tdc

The Passacaille from Ravel's Piano Trio comes to mind for me, it starts out haunting and austere but _slowly_ and _steadily_ rising to sublime and profound beauty.


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## Avey

tdc said:


> The Passacaille from Ravel's Piano Trio comes to mind for me, it starts out haunting and austere but _slowly_ and _steadily_ rising to sublime and profound beauty.


Ugh, so amazing. Glad you mentioned this work. Well put.


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## brotagonist

I couldn't even begin to tell you. Ask me in ten years  My listening is 99% album-oriented, so I don't often differentiate between pieces and movements, only discs  but the movement playing right this second is heavenly:

Mozart Violin Sonata KV 526 : Andante


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## Avey

brotagonist said:


> I couldn't even begin to tell you ... but the movement playing right this second is heavenly:
> 
> Mozart Violin Sonata KV 526 : Andante


Well, you chose wisely in your first attempt!


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## petter

Beethoven op.132 3rd movement.


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## SeptimalTritone

PetrB said:


> This piece is one work in one continuous long slow movement; duration 80 minutes:
> Morton Feldman ~ _Piano and String Quartet_
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ...because after countless times of listening to it, it still captivates me completely, moves me, at least as much and probably more than it did when I first heard it over 15 years ago.


For sho PetrB.

Violin and String Quartet and For Philip Guston (instrumentation: flute, piano/celesta, and percussion) are 2 hours and 4.5 hours, respectively. But they are so worth the length. They are for me the first music I've heard where words cannot describe their power. Like... even with Beethoven's greatest string quartets and Mahler's greatest symphonies you can use words to describe their beauty and message in human terms. The Heileger Dankesang is a deep prayer, the Grosse Fugue is a thunderous outcry, and the Symphony of a Thousand is the singing of humanity's love and compassion. But Feldman goes beyond words, humans, religions, philosophies, Gods, natural lifeforms, and spirits. For me, he opened up a world I didn't think was even possible. I just can't find words to describe it.


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## hpowders

The second movement andante from the Mendelssohn Piano Trio No. 1. Beguilingly youthful.


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## FerneKlang

So many spring to mind, but my vote goes to the adagio from Beethoven's D major cello sonata (op 102/2). The thing that gets me about this movement is the 'limping' figure in the piano bass line (in the last part of the movement): the effect is heartbreaking. Especially as played by Robert Levin and Steven Isserlis.


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## Fagotterdammerung

My all-time favorite is the _Lent_ from Florent Schmitt's Piano Quintet.

Another that fits the bill of "slow, but steady" is the Barcarolla from Britten's 3rd Cello Suite.


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## Skilmarilion

Somewhat recently I have fallen head over heels for the slow movement of Beethoven's 10th "Harp" quartet. [begins at 9:46 below]

At its heart, it is one his most intimate, serene and lyrical movements, but many times along the way his interruptions with the minor create something quite troublesome, and in moments, he shifts to the minor in that fleeting sort of way that is reminiscent of that very Mozartian sense of tragedy.

A glorious example of this shift is here at 15:36, and I find the passage that follows to be profoundly beautiful.


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## hpowders

The third movement adagio from Mozart's String Quintet in g minor is a profound lament of Mozart for his recently dead father.


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## Bluecrab

PetrB said:


> This piece is one work in one continuous long slow movement; duration 80 minutes:
> Morton Feldman ~ _Piano and String Quartet_


I love that work. It always induces a trancelike state in me. That's the version I have on cd (Kronos Quartet/Aki Takahashi).

Another beautiful lento movement: Bartok SQ 1, movement 1. ♪ = 60 (56-63) certainly qualifies as lento for me. 

If non troppo lento movements also qualify, then Bartok SQ 4, movement 3, surely should merit mention.


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## Avey

Bluecrab said:


> If non troppo lento movements also qualify, then Bartok SQ 4, movement 3, surely should merit mention.


I wrote recently in another thread re a recent performance of Bartok's Fourth. One of my comments fits here: Edward Dusinberre, Takacs Quartet's first violin, described this movement in a way I never heard it. He said this movement acts as a "cleansing" point, whereby the movements that follow have a more optimistic and playful tone than their previous rough and "spectral" counterparts.

With its intoxicating ambiance and flittering lines in the cello and then violin, the movement is definitely a "cleansing" point. Cathartic, I feel.


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## DiesIraeCX

If forced to select three, I'd go with these:

_Heiliger Dankgesang_ from Beethoven's 15th String Quartet, Op. 132
_Cavatina_ from Beethoven's 13th String Quartet, Op. 130
_Adagio_ from Schubert's String Quintet, D. 956

I can't explain the profundity I hear in these movements. So I won't even try.


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## MoonlightSonata

PetrB said:


> This piece is one work in one continuous long slow movement; duration 80 minutes:
> Morton Feldman ~ _Piano and String Quartet_
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ...because after countless times of listening to it, it still captivates me completely, moves me, at least as much and probably more than it did when I first heard it over 15 years ago.


That felt like being immersed in something warm and cold at the same time, like I was drifting into a trance. I can't imagine how amazing it would be to listen going to bed at night.


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## Richannes Wrahms

SeptimalTritone said:


> They are for me the first music I've heard where words cannot describe their power. Like... even with Beethoven's greatest string quartets and Mahler's greatest symphonies you can use words to describe their beauty and message in human terms. The Heileger Dankesang is a deep prayer, the Grosse Fugue is a thunderous outcry, and the Symphony of a Thousand is the singing of humanity's love and compassion. But Feldman goes beyond words, humans, religions, philosophies, Gods, natural lifeforms, and spirits. For me, he opened up a world I didn't think was even possible. I just can't find words to describe it.


What've you been smoking? I disagree. We still don't know why it works what works and everything else is just a supra-musical personal elaboration. Feldman is just another good human composer who followed his ear and was patient enough to develop a gestural language of selected harmonies and irrational rhythms.


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## SeptimalTritone

Richannes Wrahms said:


> What've you been smoking? I disagree. We still don't know why it works what works and everything else is just a supra-musical personal elaboration. Feldman is just another good human composer who followed his ear and was patient enough to develop a gestural language of selected harmonies and irrational rhythms.


GAAH my lack of knowledge of 20th century harmony and technique prevents me from saying much more than extra-musical or personal statements.

I think he achieves a unique approach and plan towards narrative through his gestural language, which is a big deal.


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## Richannes Wrahms

SeptimalTritone said:


> GAAH my lack of knowledge of 20th century harmony and technique prevents me from saying much more than extra-musical or personal statements.
> 
> I think he achieves a unique approach and plan towards narrative through his gestural language, which is a big deal.


That's better. There are plenty of great books on 20th century techniques, non of them will satisfy the urge of the post-CPtonality-student for a 'theory of everything'; you have to familiarise with the tricks of each individual composer. Persichetti's _Twentieth Century Harmony: Creative Aspects and Practice_ has become a classic on its subject.


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## aajj

So many to choose from but lately i go back to Schoenberg's 4th String Quartet. The 3rd movement, Largo, comes across to me as a mood of interior longing, followed by agitation and distress. I don't know what Schoenberg's intentions were but i hear something personal in this movement, not the way i normally hear Schoenberg.


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## aajj

DiesIraeVIX said:


> If forced to select three, I'd go with these:
> 
> _Heiliger Dankgesang_ from Beethoven's 15th String Quartet, Op. 132
> _Cavatina_ from Beethoven's 13th String Quartet, Op. 130
> *Adagio from Schubert's String Quintet, D. 956*
> 
> I can't explain the profundity I hear in these movements. So I won't even try.


Along with Schubert's String Quintet, the slow movements in all of his late String Quartets are among the most soul-searching and gut-wrenching i've ever heard.


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## Avey

Richannes Wrahms said:


> What've you been smoking? I disagree. We still don't know why it works what works and everything else is just a *supra-musical personal elaboration*. Feldman is just another good human composer who followed his ear and was patient enough to develop a gestural language of *selected harmonies and irrational rhythms*.





SeptimalTritone said:


> GAAH my lack of knowledge of 20th century harmony and technique prevents me from saying much more than extra-musical or personal statements.
> I think he achieves a unique approach and plan towards narrative through his gestural language, which is a big deal.





Richannes Wrahms said:


> *That's better.* There are plenty of great books on 20th century techniques, non of them will satisfy the urge of the post-CPtonality-student for a 'theory of everything'; you have to familiarise with the tricks of each individual composer.


_*That's better*_?!

Not even directed at me and I am somewhat offended.

Honestly, I am surprised *Septimal* accepted your response so amicably. I was hoping he was being sarcastic in return. Why was his original characterization of Feldman's works _any_ different than your characterization of Feldman? Because you could break down his music technically? Because you wouldn't put mystical and ethereal labels on the sound, but instead point to objective, technical matters like "selected harmonies and irrational rhythms"?

This _Supra-musical personal elaboration_ you take issue with is what everyone on this forum does. Every sound that releases some chemical in our brain leads us to this place where we can elaborate on our feelings, or how that minor chord made us feel on first, second, or fiftieth listen. We _elaborate_, *subjectively*.

Unless, of course, you are familiar with _harmonization_, or _CPtonality_, or _irrational rhythms_, or other technical matters. In that case, you can elaborate on _intra-musical_ factors for the rest of us. That would be _much better_.


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## Cosmos

The slow movement of Brahms' Piano Quartet 3

Every time I listen to it, I feel like I'm floating in the water on my back, looking up at the sky
It was also my introduction to Brahms!


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## Avey

Cosmos said:


> The slow movement of Brahms' Piano Quartet 3
> 
> It was also my introduction to Brahms!


....well, that may be why then!

No, probably not, because it really is tremendous.


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## MoonlightSonata

OP: It does seem funny that you have started a 'Slow and Steady' thread when your avatar depicts someone running :lol:


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## HaydnBearstheClock

Fresh off of my Youtube page  :






Well, it's not that slow, but it's quite 'steady', hehe.

I like this one as well:


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## Heliogabo

Nobody mention the adagio of Schubert string quintet? Really famous, but still beautiful
I recommend it w/ Rostropovich and Emerson string quartet. That adagio is a dream within a nightmare


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