Feeling aristocratic? This collection of chamber works by Beethoven is sure to delight without offending, promoting only the most dignified sense of gentility. Written by Beethoven in his late twenties, at the time when his career as a composer was beginning to take off, these three chamber works are persistently proper.

The Septet in E-flat major, for example, combines all manner of gentility, from the peaceful jaunt through the countryside of the first movement [ Septet in E flat major, Op. 20 : I. Adagio -... ] to the genial waltz of the Adagio [ Septet in E flat major, Op. 20 : II. Adagio cantabile ].

Following in Mozart's footsteps, Beethoven early in his career endeavored to make his living as a freelance composer, depending neither on the court nor the church for his livelihood, but upon commissions from individual aristocrats. In these works we hear not the avant-garde, emotionally conflicted Beethoven of the Fifth Symphony, but the short-lived phase of the composer's life during which he was young, hopeful, and eager to please.

Beethoven's desire to appeal to the nobility of his day is exemplified in the stately solemnity of the Adagio maestoso [ Quintet in E flat major : II. Adagio maestoso ] movement of the Quintet in E-flat major. The absence of strings in the Quintet results in unadulterated warmth and mellowness of sound. The recording concludes with the Sextet in E-flat major, which, much like the Septet, brings to mind the orderly, untroubled life of the manor.

Listen in for Beethoven playing nice.

Recommended Tracks:
Septet in E flat major, Op. 20 : I. Adagio -...
Quintet in E flat major : II. Adagio maestoso