So heavenly:
It’s like asking which of your children you love more. Impossible to answer.
I don’t have to choose, thank goodness.
It depends what mood I’m in as to which piece, and I simply couldn’t choose between them
It reminds me of trying to choose between Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly. I do have a favorite, but how nice not to have to choose.
I listen to more Mozart than Beethoven. My favorite Beethoven piece is the 6th Symphony, which, if I get to die in bed with a little advance notice, I’d like to have playing when I go.
My favorite Mozart is harder to pinpoint. I love his operas, especially Magic Flute and Marriage of Figaro. When I’m really down, I’ll play the overture to Figaro over and over again (wearing it out lately). I also love the 40th and 41st Symphonies, the 21st Piano Concerto, and pretty much everything else.
Mozart for me although I like a lot of Beethoven. And Don Giovanni.
While I’m always up for listening to Mozart, I generally need to be in the right mood for specific works from Mr. B. …except for ‘Fur Elise’, I could listen to that any time. Love both of 'em.
I always come back to Bach. Everything he wrote is excellent, but the Brandenburg Concertos are particularly notable.
“Yes, I remember. I had lasagna.”
Between the two, I would choose Beethoven because I have been practicing Beethoven’s piano sonata “Pathetique” for a few months, and there are not many challenging piano pieces by Mozart.
My wife and daughters are excellent piano players, and I have always been interested in piano. Although I have never received any lessons, I have played piano occasionally over the years. A few months ago, at the age of 65, I decided to play more seriously. I have practiced playing a few pieces (including the first movement of Pathetique) everyday since then. The first mvt of Pathetique is clearly above my skill level, but after a few months of practicing, I was at least able to memorize all the notes. Of course, it might take several more months to reach an acceptable performance level (especially the speed), but I am quite happy about being able to memorize the piece at my age.
In a piano forum, I read about a book by the Guardian newspaper editor Alan Rusbridger entitled “Play It Again: An Amateur Against the Impossible,” in which he describes how he decided to learn Chopin’s first Ballade at the age of 57 despite his busy schedule and with limited piano skills. It took him 18 months until he was finally able to perform the piece in front of his friends. My copy of the book arrived yesterday, and I am reading it with with great interest. I hope to start the same Ballade in the near future.
While I like both composers, if I had to choose, Beethoven hands down for his 9th Symphony.
The YouTube piece was nice. Thanks for posting it. Didn’t like classical music much as a child but like most of it now as an adult. My kids have always liked classical music. I don’t have a favorite composer or piece.
Morton Feldman
I enjoy them both but would probably go with Mozart for it’s general cheerfulness and joy. My son really dislikes Mozart and would choose Beethoven hands down.
This may help you decide…enjoy!
Mozart hands down, though the concerto in the OP is not my most favorite. For simple and immediate “cheerfulness and joy”, however, I usually go to Rossini’s overtures and Strauss’ waltzes.
Speaking of classical music, I highly recommend the film “The Orchestra” by Zbignew Rybczynski… the Platonic ideal of a classical music video.
Thanks for the Victor Borge clip–he was so talented!
I grew up listening to Karl Haas’s ‘Adventures in Good Music’ which opened with the second movement of Beethoven’s Pathetique. It’s like meeting an old friend when I hear it now- endorphins.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vGq3-Fi_zQY
Beethoven. 3rd symphony.
Not because it’s necessarily better than any of his other compositions but because I took an introductory music history/theory course in college, and the professor structured half the semester’s lectures around that symphony. It was a really good course, and now the symphony brings back good memories of it.
Beethoven–Seventh Symphony.