I’ve always been super critical of Beethoven, particularly his symphonies. He gets way too much credit for writing pieces that aren’t even that good. His slow movements are almost always boring and have no business being that long. He also writes worse melodies than some of his contemporaries, such as Mozart or Schubert who wrote some amazing slow music. I understand his place in history, but he definitely doesn’t deserve all the praise he gets.

1. Symphony No. 5 in C Minor

   One of the most iconic pieces of classical music, obviously the GOAT. It’s truly crazy how much music he wrote just from a simple motive. The last movement takes the cake for me, it is just so heroic the whole way through. Also one of Beethoven’s better slow second movements, which usually he is pretty terrible at. The variations are still too long though, and by the third variation I’m just waiting for the movement to end.

2. Symphony No. 9 in D Minor

   Another classic, of course everyone knows the theme from the last movement. Pretty crazy that he wrote this while fully deaf too. The best moment for me though is the very beginning of the piece, in the first movement with the orchestra tuning sound before the big statement of the theme. Nothing epic like that had ever been written before, and really set the stage for the future of “epic” orchestral music, like Mahler or contemporary film scores. The second movement presto is also good.

3. Symphony No. 4 in B$\flat$ Major

   I love the energetic first theme from this one. The second movement isn’t too bad, especially because it’s only 9-10 minutes long and not terribly drawn out like the others. The third movement has super fun rhythms that threw me for a loop when I played this piece, and the last movement’s molto perpetuo style string parts are fun.

4. Symphony No. 8 in F Major

   This is maybe one of the most underrated Beethoven symphonies. It’s always forgotten about in favor of 7 and 9. The best part about it is how short it is. I think the first is probably the weakest movement, but the rest of the movements are pretty good. I really like the second movement, it sounds a lot like a Tchaikovsky ballet or something. The last movement is just high energy the whole way through.

5. Symphony No. 1 in C Major

   This one is a really nice late classical style piece. I like the second movement too, it’s one of his better melodies. The third and fourth movements are where this piece really shines though. They are both fast paced, fun, bouncy pieces.

6. Symphony No. 6 in F Major

   I really like the starting theme in the first movement, it is definitely one of Beethoven’s better melodies. I also love the key changes that happen in the development of the first movement. Pretty horrendous slow movement, but the third and fifth movements are good.

7. Symphony No. 2 in D Major

   This is the symphony I know the least. I’ve only listened to it a couple times, but this is the symphony when Beethoven decided he was going to write long, drawn out slow movements for the rest of his life. The third movement has a fun bouncy rhythm, and isn’t too long to be boring. The last movement sounds like it would be really fun to play as a violinist.

8. Symphony No. 3 in E$\flat$ Major

   I was the concertmaster in college when I played this piece, but that doesn’t help it’s status. First, the only part I like about this entire piece is the section in the development of the first movement with the super crunchy half-step chord, right before the new surprise theme is introduced. Other than that, the entire piece is pretty boring. There are no other cool melodies or harmonies in the first movement, and usually I just skip to the part I like. The second movement is one of Beethoven’s worst, with an extremely boring melody that essentially just repeats over and over for 15 minutes. It wasn’t fun to play or to listen to, just overall not a good time. The third movement scherzo is just generic and very forgettable. The last movement is also an uninspiring theme and variations that repeats too many times.

9. Symphony No. 7 in A Major

   I’ve had the misfortune of playing this piece 3 times. I seriously do not understand why this is one of his more famous symphonies, most of the time whenever I try to listen to it I can’t get past the introduction to the first movement because it is just so boring. The first theme melody is also seriously terrible, and the development is so predictable and uninteresting. I do actually like the second movement, except for the B section which has no business being there. Why does it repeat so many times? The third movement again has a terrible B section. The fast part is fine, but Beethoven seriously has no idea how to write slow music. The last movement repeats too much as well. I’m noticing a pattern.