# Concerto or sonata...?



## juliante (Jun 7, 2013)

Time for another pointless face off: if you could only have one body of work for rest of your life, would it be Beethoven's piano sonatos or Mozart's piano concertos? Me, despite being endlessly thrilled by the concertos, I would have to go for the sonatas-because they are soul food.


----------



## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

This is an interesting question actually, and I have no immediate favourite, since one would also have to choose between the colours of orchestral music versus the monologues, and expressive and stylistic variety, of the sonatas ... 
I might-might go for the richness of the concertos, which have complexities and darkness as well, as one gets to know them.


----------



## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

As much as I love the Beethoven sonatas, I am going with the Mozart piano concertos.
Never get tired of them :tiphat:


----------



## helenora (Sep 13, 2015)

> I might-might go for the richness of the concertos, which have complexities and darkness as well, as one gets to know them. As much as I love the Beethoven sonatas, I am going with the Mozart piano concertos


it's as if I'm reading my own thoughts  may be it's because at this time of my life I'm much more into an orchestral music


----------



## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

I prefer concertos to sonatas in that the concerto offers so much more musical possibility than does the sonata. Having access to both orchestra and soloist allows the composer to have the two protagonists play in series, or in parallel, or either alone for relatively extended periods of time. They can be allies or antagonists; there are just so many more opportunities that are open. So I'll take concertos to my particular desert island, whether Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Bartok......


----------



## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Tough call, but if pushed I'd opt for the Beethoven sonatas. Probably...


----------



## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I'd opt for Beethoven over Mozart even if it was played on a banjo, but the 32 sonatas do offer a far richer musical experience for me than concertos, even Beethoven's concertos.


----------



## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

Generally I would prefer sonatas to concertos anyway. But this particular match-up isn't much of a contest for me: the Beethoven sonatas easily win over the Mozart concertos.


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Mozart over Beethoven for me.


----------



## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

Not even close. Like Nerrifid, I prefer sonatas over concertos. But I also prefer Beethoven over Mozart and I think Beethoven's piano sonatas are the pinnacle of his achievement.


----------



## Dim7 (Apr 24, 2009)

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> Mozart over Beethoven


Pictures ?


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Dim7 said:


> Pictures ?


That would be Mozart ON Beethoven. And I think Mozart would have kept the pictures.


----------



## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

A most interesting question. I think for sheer variety in compositional moods, influences, development, and color I would pick the Mozart piano concertos over the Beethoven piano sonatas (though a great set of sonatas nonetheless).


----------



## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> Mozart over Beethoven for me.





Dim7 said:


> Pictures ?


That would be Mussorgsky.


----------



## MoonlightSonata (Mar 29, 2014)

Beethoven's sonatas are completely unparalleled, in my opinion - unless Bach's keyboard works count as a similar set.


----------



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Noted elsewhere: Beethoven's Piano Sonatas (complete) by Stewart Goodyear, 320K CBR MP3s. $10.49 versus $50+ on Amazon. These have excellent reviews (see the Amazon listing) and sound well worth hearing. I'm downloading them now.

https://us.7digital.com/search?q=stewart goodyear&src=live-search


----------



## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

KenOC said:


> Noted elsewhere: Beethoven's Piano Sonatas (complete) by Stewart Goodyear, 320K CBR MP3s. $10.49 versus $50+ on Amazon. These have excellent reviews (see the Amazon listing) and sound well worth hearing. I'm downloading them now.
> 
> https://us.7digital.com/search?q=stewart goodyear&src=live-search


Fantastic, had been wanting these for a long time, but cheap offers didn´t show up.

In Europe, the price is € 8.99, sign-up-procedures quick, and download very easy.

MP3 file download amounts to 1.34 GB.


----------



## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Concertos over sonatas in general, Mozart over Beethoven in general, so an easy choice.


----------



## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Mozart's piano concertos i like to hear orchestras.


----------



## DiesIraeCX (Jul 21, 2014)

Speaking only for myself, naturally, the only works that would give Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas a run for their money are his own 16 string quartets. Both represent the pinnacles of their respective genres.


----------



## OperaChic (Aug 26, 2015)

For me both are pinnacles of their respective genres but there is something other-worldly about the late piano sonatas like so much of Beethoven's late music that gives him the edge for me here.


----------



## OldFashionedGirl (Jul 21, 2013)

I choose Mozart piano concertos.


----------



## Balthazar (Aug 30, 2014)

Beethoven's piano sonatas. 

They contain multitudes.


----------

