# Favourite Beethoven Late Quartet Mouvements



## schuberkovich (Apr 7, 2013)

The late quartets are some of the greatest music ever written. Most recently I have been listening a lot to the op.130, and the _cavatina _movement has become one of my favourite movements of all time.

Choose up to three of your favourite movements. Sorry - I couldn't include every movement in the poll, but I tried to choose a selection of the best.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

This 'movement' thing reminds me of those 'sampler' CDs that the record companies used to issue to drum up trade. I don't voluntarily listen to music that way. Even the Grosse Fugue suffers as a stand-alone.

_The Grumpy Geezer_


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## schuberkovich (Apr 7, 2013)

Ukko said:


> This 'movement' thing reminds me of those 'sampler' CDs that the record companies used to issue to drum up trade. I don't voluntarily listen to music that way. Even the Grosse Fugue suffers as a stand-alone.
> 
> _The Grumpy Geezer_


I understand where you're coming from, but the point of the poll wasn't to treat the separate movements as disconnected "samples" - I was just curious to see which movements in particular stood out for people while listening to the quartets as a whole.


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## Winterreisender (Jul 13, 2013)

I voted for Op. 131 #7. This is Beethoven at his rollicking best.

Also voted for Große Fuge for being a very radical and forward-thinking piece. 

I must admit that I also like the "replacement" finale to Op. 130, and hence give my third vote to "other." It is a bit lighter in character, but I enjoy that it has something of a Turkish flavour and is very danceable!


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## GGluek (Dec 11, 2011)

have to include Opus 135 scherzo as my "other."


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

schuberkovich said:


> I understand where you're coming from, but the point of the poll wasn't to treat the separate movements as disconnected "samples" - I was just curious to see which movements in particular stood out for people while listening to the quartets as a whole.


Ah so. From that viewpoint, movements that linger in the mind, I can make a selection. That Grosse Fugue, and the Big Thankyou.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

The opening of Opus 131 is amazing - it's not a fugue; it's a ricercare, depicting serenity in pain which ends in transcendence.

Opus 132, No 3 is, to my ears, the most authentic depiction in music of touching the Deity in prayer.

The Grosse Fugue - the way the quartet is exploding at the seams; the rhythmic overlap of 3s over 2s; the two themes treated antagonistically in three sections.


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## schuberkovich (Apr 7, 2013)

I went for:
op.130 cavatina - the power of the "Beklemmt" section, with the syncopation and cross rhythms is...difficult to describe.

op.132 III - the "feeling new strength" sections after pure prayer sections get me every time.

op.135 V - the greatest climax I've ever heard, with the presto section with the cello and violin playing in octaves, which leads into that radiant A major ending.

Those were my three, but I felt really bad leaving off the op.131 first movement and the GF. I also love the "little" movements in the quartets as well though - I think the op.131 second and third movements are perfect.


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

schuberkovich said:


> but I tried to choose a selection of the best.


You don't like the scherzos much do you? Also the finale of op127 is surely great, I probably enjoy it more than the finale to op135 or op132.


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## ProudSquire (Nov 30, 2011)

Op.127 - II. Adagio, ma non troppo e molto cantablile is perhaps my favorite movement of the late quartets. So I voted for it and two others.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

TheProudSquire said:


> Op.127 - II. Adagio, ma non troppo e molto cantablile is perhaps my favorite movement of the late quartets. So I voted for it and two others.


The older Beethoven was an absolute wizard with theme and variations! Well, sonata form too. And fugues, and scherzos... :lol:


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

Ukko said:


> Ah so. From that viewpoint, movements that linger in the mind, I can make a selection. That Grosse Fugue, and the Big Thankyou.


Well, the Great Fugue lingers in my mind as I listen to the other great fugue at the start of op.131, making it a sort of two-fer. So I voted for:

op.131 - I. Adagio, man non troppo e molto espressivo

*p.s.* I like these polls where it's hard to go wrong, by the way.

*pps* Uh oh, according to Manxfeeder, I managed it, however:

"The opening of Opus 131 is amazing - it's not a fugue; it's a ricercare, depicting serenity in pain which ends in transcendence."

:lol:


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## tovaris (Aug 28, 2012)

I went for op. 132. III., Grosse fuge, and the fourth mvt. of the 131 - just wandered why this has not got a quote yet!


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## Muddy (Feb 5, 2012)

The greatest music ever written, in my opinion. I voted for the Cavatina from 130 (the greatest release of suffering in music) , the hymn of thanksgiving from 132 (the greatest prayer in music) , and the Lento from 135 (acceptance of mortality). Obviously the descriptions are my own. These are the works that no composer, ever, has matched.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

A limit of 15 in these polls -- so we miss out on 127/4, 130/3 (a great horsedrawn tour of Vienna!), and 135/1, Beethoven's belated tribute to Haydn. Oh well... But kudos on omitting 132/2!


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I'm being predictable and choosing the Grosse Fuge, the Op. 131-1, and the Op. 132-1.


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## schuberkovich (Apr 7, 2013)

KenOC said:


> A limit of 15 in these polls -- so we miss out on 127/4, 130/3 (a great horsedrawn tour of Vienna!), and 135/1, Beethoven's belated tribute to Haydn. Oh well... But kudos on omitting 132/2!


op. 132/2, even though it is very repetitive, has one of the most breathtaking passages out of all the quartets:
at 14:00


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

schuberkovich said:


> op. 132/2, even though it is very repetitive, has one of the most breathtaking passages out of all the quartets:


Agree that the musette-style trio is very enjoyable, but I'm not sure it's worth the tedium of getting there. And then you have to trudge back again!


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

KenOC said:


> Agree that the musette-style trio is very enjoyable, but I'm not sure it's worth the tedium of getting there. And then you have to trudge back again!


A good performance makes this movement a soothing, expressive and even entrancing contrast to the first movement. I definitely wouldn't consider it a weak point of the quartet.


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## schuberkovich (Apr 7, 2013)

Speaking of the op.132, does anyone else find the 4th movement grating and mundane after the pure beauty of the 3rd movement?


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

schuberkovich said:


> Speaking of the op.132, does anyone else find the 4th movement grating and mundane after the pure beauty of the 3rd movement?


Not I. The thanks goes on plenty long enough; the finale lets us move on.


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

I think the idea of the 4th movement is to bring the listener back down to earth with it's very matter of fact style. And it's only short anyway, the drama soon comes back again.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

schuberkovich said:


> Speaking of the op.132, does anyone else find the 4th movement grating and mundane after the pure beauty of the 3rd movement?


I think something is needed in there, but maybe not what Beethoven used. He had a similar situation after the slow movement of the Hammerklavier and found a much better solution there IMO. There's only one "March King" and it ain't Beethoven!


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

KenOC said:


> I think something is needed in there, but maybe not what Beethoven used. He had a similar situation after the slow movement of the Hammerklavier and found a much better solution there IMO. There's only one "March King" and it ain't Beethoven!


Sousa wasn't born yet; who could he check with?


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

I really don't think it's meant to be a full march, it's just a snippet to take the quartet in a different direction.


As for other marches at the time...Beethoven wrote a Turkish march that has some popularity. Mozart wrote several fine marches.


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## chrisco97 (May 22, 2013)

I love all of them but particular favourites are 127/1, Grosse Fuge, 132/3 and 135/2.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Got to be op.132 - III. Molto adagio (Heiliger Dankgesang)


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## Avey (Mar 5, 2013)

I'm odd, that I prefer OP. 127 over Op. 131/2/5. I took the _Cavatina_, the _Grosse Fugue_, and _Allegro_(finale) of Op. 127.


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## Novelette (Dec 12, 2012)

I'll take the lot of them!


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## LancsMan (Oct 28, 2013)

Well I voted for Op. 131 Movement 1 and 4 and the slow movement of Op 135 (my introduction to the late Beethoven string quartets).

My least favourite quartet is the Op. 132 which seems rather subdued and has an almost weary air. In the third movement I find I love the 'Lydian mode' sections rather more than the feeling new strength sections. 

I think Op. 131 is the greatest - more particularly up to the end of the variations.

Whilst not the greatest, Op. 135 may be perfect.

I feel rather fearful making these judgements - it's almost like blasphemy!


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## schuberkovich (Apr 7, 2013)

LancsMan said:


> My least favourite quartet is the Op. 132 which *seems rather subdued and has an almost weary air*. In the third movement I find I love the 'Lydian mode' sections rather more than the feeling new strength sections.


I'd have to disagree. The presto in the final movement leading up to the A major section is one of the most exhilarating moments in all music:

(the bit which builds up from 4:50 to the end)


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

Avey said:


> I'm odd, that I prefer OP. 127 over Op. 131/2/5.


Not that strange, some others think the same including me. I haven't voted in this as I don't think the poll is of any consequence, and why should anyone care what I'd vote for anyway. People can like whatever they want, and they aren't really that interested in what others like apart from how it relates to what they like. And we all know the most fashionable one these days is Op131, but that doesn't necessarily mean it has to be thought the 'best'.


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