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Originally Posted by
Manton 
String Quartet Op. 127, 130, 131, 132, & 135.
For a long time op. 135 (F Maj) was my favorite string quartet, simply because I loved the insanity of the scherzo and the gorgeousness of the slow movement (the first few bars following the return of the parallel major might be the absolute prettiest music he ever penned.) I was a holdout on op. 131 (c# min) because it took me a long time (like, years) to "get" the central variations movement, but it's assumed the role of my favorite quartet. The archetectonic design (three "tentpole" movements with two shorter, more lyrical movements and two more that are essentially interludes) makes it the
shortest-seeming long piece of music there is. Op 132 (a min) might be my new second favorite. I love the way it dances between austere abstraction and operaticism (recitatives and overtures) and hyper-expresssiveness. Even the explicit programmaticism of the Heiliger Dankgessang aside, is it possible to hear the section over the A drone in the second movement and not be reminded of some gauzy childhood memory?
I actually don't own any of Beethoven's late piano sonatas on CD. What performances are good?
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*Please keep all comments about the overexposed "Ode to Joy" to an absolute minimum, unless you have something original to say.
My absolute favorite piece of music ever, overexposed or otherwise. The assurance of being pulled back to variations of that populist little hummable melody gives Beethoven license to explore the further avant-garde reaches between variations. Unlike something by Mozart, it's not music where you can't change one note without ruining it (I would probably excise the entire fugue in the string section), but it has a slapdash brilliance that captures the text perfectly. Absolutely the most bizarre and inscrutable and transcendant symphonic warhorse there is.
