Ludwig van Beethoven's best 2 minutes

Late last year, to get the #Beethoven250 celebrations started, Deutsche Grammophon released Ludwig van Beethoven: the new Complete Edition, comprising 118 CDs, 3 Blu-ray audio discs and 2 DVDs, as well as 16 digital albums. The total duration? One-hundred-and-seventy-five hours — or 1,050 minutes — of music.

Much of that is considered great. His symphonies, string quartets, piano sonatas, violin sonatas, his Missa Solemnis and his opera, Fidelio, all belong in classical music's pantheon. But in all of that music, are there two short minutes that prove better than any others his undeniable, hair-raising, soul-satisfying genius?

As the classical music community pauses to mark the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth, we decided to put that question to some of Canada's top classical musicians who've spent a lot of time with LVB. They are:

• James Ehnes, who released the final volume in his and Andrew Armstrong's complete set of Beethoven's sonatas for violin and piano on Dec. 11.
• Angela Hewitt, whose final volume in her complete set of Beethoven's piano sonatas on Hyperion Records is expected in 2021.
• Jan Lisiecki, who has released Beethoven's complete piano concertos on Deutsche Grammophon as well as an album of Lieder by Beethoven with baritone Matthias Goerne.
• Charles Richard Hamelin and Andrew Wan, who are two-thirds of their way through the complete set of Beethoven sonatas for violin and piano on Analekta Records.
• Roman Borys, cellist of the Gryphon Trio, which has recorded several volumes of Beethoven's chamber music for Analekta Records.
• Amahl Arulanandam, cellist of VC2, which released Beethoven's Cellists in 2018.

Scroll down to see how they responded.

What are Beethoven's best two minutes, according to you? Let us know on Twitter @CBCclassical.

Piano Concerto No. 5, Op. 73, 2nd movement

"How can one listen to the beginning of the slow movement of the fifth piano concerto and not absolutely melt? There's a quality of inevitability in this music — like it has always existed, and everything about it, from the melody to the orchestration to the key, is absolutely as it has to be, in every detail. It seems incredible, and somewhat sad, that there was a time when this music didn't exist, as it taps into something so fundamentally human." — James Ehnes

Piano Sonata No. 32, Op. 111, 2nd movement

"Having just completed my recordings of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas, I must say that playing the last page of his last sonata, Op. 111, takes you into a world in which all has been said. There is no more hurry; one has all the time in the world. You're not going anywhere. Time is still. There is no more suffering — just peace and rest. He achieves this with a difficult but masterly passage with trills high up in the keyboard played by the outer fingers of the right hand, and underneath a constantly undulating figure accompanying the theme of the Adagio — three very different things divided between two hands. The key of C major is perfect for expressing this state of grace. Beethoven suffered so much, yet at the end of his life was able to express thankfulness for the gift of life in the most open and tender way." — Angela Hewitt

The passage in question begins at 15:20 in this recording by Anton Kuerti:

Piano Concerto No. 4, Op. 58, 1st movement

"In the moments that begin his fourth piano concerto, Beethoven proves his audacity and genius. The first thing the audience hears is the piano softly presenting the theme — a moment that can be spellbinding — followed by the orchestra playing it in the chromatic mediant key, giving it an ethereal colour. In those few bars, there is a tremendous responsibility, as a few seconds set the stage for this masterwork." — Jan Lisiecki

Piano Sonata No. 30, Op. 109, 3rd movement

"One of my favourite moments in all of music is at the very end of the last movement (Theme and variations) of Beethoven's Piano Sonata in E major, Op. 109. After going through increasingly intense and complex variations, Beethoven closes the sonata with an exact reiteration of the main theme which is now given a completely new, truly revelatory perspective. Perhaps a nod to Bach and his Goldbergs?" — Charles Richard-Hamelin

Listen at 10:50 in this recording by Maria João Pires:

Sonata No. 10 for Violin and Piano, Op. 96, 4th movement

"In the adagio variation of the last movement of his final sonata for piano and violin, Op. 96, Beethoven abruptly shifts the treatment of the theme from boisterous, rollicking and often seemingly naïve into one of the most poignant moments in the entire violin sonata literature. What helps him achieve this sense of wonder are a multitude of 'Beethovenisms' (subito dynamics, fantastic and unexpected modulations, improvisatory tangents, etc.) that only he could pull off with such logical ease. What I love best is that he brings us out from this enchanting section into the world of E-flat major, a nod toward the sublime slow movement of this work, before jolting everything back to where we feel it always belonged: G major." — Andrew Wan

Listen at 3:25 in this recording by James Ehnes and Andrew Armstrong:

Piano Trio No. 7, 2nd movement

"The opening of the slow movement of the Archduke Trio comes to mind. One of the less obvious things that makes it so special is the sense of awe and beauty that the juxtaposition of the second and third movements creates. The second movement ends with a burst of energy in B-flat major and then the silence between movements is disrupted as he shifts to D major and creates a sense of remarkable serenity. I believe that the harmonic shift and melodic nature of the slow movement combine in a way that allows the listener to experience the depth of the appreciation and friendship that Beethoven felt for Archduke Rudolph." — Roman Borys

Compare the end of the second movement to the beginning of the third in this recording by Gryphon Trio:

Sonata No. 5 for Piano and Cello, Op. 102, 2nd movement

"The opening of the slow movement of Beethoven's fifth sonata for piano and cello in D major exemplifies what I love most about Beethoven: his distinctly human side. The movement starts with a warm yet subdued theme made up of small melodic fragments, seemingly in a major key, that create a sense of hope in the listener. This theme cadences in minor and we find ourselves immersed in a much more moribund theme filled with loss and darkness.

"We weave our way through this theme, slowly growing in intensity and feeling increasingly distraught, but in true Beethoven fashion we're graced with a glimmer of hope as he arrives back at D Major in one of the most beautiful, vulnerable and human moments in his music." — Amahl Arulanandam