Works for solo piano and string quartet performed by Paavali Jumppanen, piano, and the Orion String Quartet.Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 24 in F-sharp Major, Op. 78Beethoven: String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 131It’s always interesting to find out which of his own works a composer particularly loved (or loathed). Today, we’ll listen to two favorites of the great Beethoven, beginning with the sunny Piano Sonata No. 24 in F-sharp Major. A piece of rather diminutive proportions—just two movements, a total of about 10 minutes—this sonata was nonetheless one of the composer’s personal favorites, according to noted Beethoven biographer Maynard Solomon. The next work is altogether different: Beethoven’s seven-movement String Quartet in C-sharp minor. By all accounts a magnum opus, this was one of the composer’s last large-scale works, and though he demurred somewhat when asked to pick a favorite from among his 16 string quartets—saying each had its own merits—he later implied that this was in fact the top contender.