The Quartetto di Cremona have completed another stage in their adventurous journey through the cosmos of Beethoven's String Quartets, visiting the Quartet in G major from the Op. 18 set and the last of the Op. 59 Quartets. The performance culture and market for the string quartet in the late eighteenth century was markedly different to that of later times: the young Beethoven wrote his Quartets Op. 18 for amateurs. The G major Quartet, the second in the collection, was one such work that could bemastered by talented aristocrats and bourgeois connoisseurs - which is not tosay that its complexities or musical challenges are in any way diminished. With the so-called "Razumovsky" Quartets,the string quartet reached adulthood. And one only needs to compare the technical and intellectual demands of Op. 59 to contemporary works (such as the quartets of the young Franz Schubert) in order to recognise that Beethoven no longer composed for able amateurs, but for highly professional specialists.This becomes particularly obvious in the finale, an extended and extremely virtuosic fugue. The Quartetto di Cremona have combined these two works from Beethoven's early and middle periods for the seventh volume in their Complete Beethoven String Quartets recording series. Both works end with an "earworm" - one in the classical spirit and one in the form of a rapid fugue - finale furioso!
Rubinstein Collection Vol 79 -beethoven: Piano Concerto, Etc
Sony Masterworks
CD
$11.98Oct 10, 2000
Bringing together hundreds of performances commercially recorded over the course of 48 years (from 1928 to 1976), the Arthur Rubinstein Collection is a handsome and smartly executed achievement. Its 81 volumes chronologically chart Rubinstein's studio legacy, with each volume serving up liner notes and photographs that place the recordings in satisfying context. Rubinstein was 88 years old when he recorded Beethoven's last piano concerto. It is a truly wonderful thing to hear the meeting of these two great musical minds in this performance. There is the composer who had, by the time of the "Emperor," thoroughly mastered and transformed the genre of the piano concerto. And there is the pianist who had, by this point in his long and prolific career, mastered and transformed the art playing the piano. Rubinstein's technique is as sure as it ever was, and his sound is unmistakable, especially in the utter refinement with which he ends a phrase. Never, however, does he overpower Beethoven's music with his own musical personality. No, this is a true collaboration between composer and interpreter, one which conductor and Rubinstein protegé Daniel Barenboim fosters with appreciative verve at every turn.
Over the years Ifor James (1931-2004) has played with numerous orchestras and many famous composers have written and dedicated works to him. He was also one of the world’s most successful teachers, having put over 100 people into the profession. On his latest release he plays horn sonatas together with Jennifer Partridge. Especially Beethoven’s horn sonata stands out of the programme, since it’s the only sonata that Beethoven wrote for a wind instrument. Ifor James was known for his incredible agility and secure high range, but also a broad spectrum of tone color. Philip Jones once said of him: “What fascinated me about Ifor was his ability to play all over the instrument with enormous panache and great momentum.” Ifor left a legacy of recordings, many successful students, and a gift for humor and friendship.
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 / Jansons, Bavarian Radio Symphony
BR Klassik
CD
$19.99Jul 07, 2017
Hollow pathos is not his thing. From an artist like Mariss Jansons Friedrich Schiller's Ode: ''An die Freude'' must receive a far deeper significance, which also fully encompasses the doubt and profound hope embodied in this text. And thus, in Jansson's recording of the Ninth Symphony, the choral finale does not degenerate to mere superficial orgy of jubilation, but rather becomes a delicately balanced, wisely developed drama. On October 27, 2007 teh Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks played Beethoven's Ninth in the presence of the Pope in the Vatican. The recording of this memorable concert is now being released by Br-Klassik.
Beethoven: Missa Solemnis / Herreweghe, Collegium Vocale Gent
PHI
CD
$20.99Jan 08, 2013
The Collegium Vocale Gent and Orchestre des Champs-Elysées interpret Beethoven's Missa Solemnis for PHI. This major work of the sacred repertoire, high on the list alongside Bach's Mass in B minor and the Mozart Requiem, is Beethoven's longest work and assuredly the one that demanded the most work. The composer even considered the Mass his finest work. Philippe Herreweghe shares this opinion and judges the Missa Solemnis to be one of the apogees in the history of classical music. With four superb soloists, a refined chorus and orchestra, Philippe Herreweghe invites us to a thoroughly transcendental experience.
Pianist Sophie-Mayuko Vetter presents the world premiere recording of a reconstruction of around 70 pages of sketches for Beethoven’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 6 in D major (fragment) by Nicholas Cook and Hermann Dechant. Another special feature of this release is that the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 0 in E flat major, WoO 4 is heard in period style, performed on a fortepiano made by the London piano manufacturer John Broadwood in 1806. The expressive and harmonically rich vocabulary of the Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat major, Op. 19 clearly demonstrates the young Beethoven’s development as an autonomous Viennese classicist. Sophie-Mayuko Vetter has been praised as an artist of extraordinary expressivity and versatility by press and colleagues alike. Her previous recording on OehmsClassics received an ICMA nomination and was awarded a Supersonic rating by Pizzicato: ‘Deeply felt performances of two Mozart concertos, where Sophie-Mayuko Vetter’s playing can be compared with that of Clara Haskil, Geza Anda or the young Barenboim.’
For the first time in their history, the Wiener Symphoniker will release a complete Beethoven symphonies cycle. The Wiener Symphoniker wrote music history with the first performances of works by Bruckner, Ravel and Schoenberg. And under the baton of such illustrious music directors as Wilhelm Furtwängler, Herbert von Karajan, Carlo Maria Giulini or Georges Prêtre they acquired worldwide fame for their unique Viennese sound. Considering its rich, more than a century long history, it comes as a surprise that the orchestra has never before recorded a full cycle of the nine symphonies by Ludwig van Beethoven which are widely considered to constitute the apex of the symphonic repertoire. This shortcoming is about to be remedied: Starting in autumn 2017, the Wiener Symphoniker will release the full cycle on 5 albums. With a new release of the series to be issued every 6 months, the full cycle will be completed just in time for the 250th anniversary of the birth of Beethoven in 2020. The symphonies were recorded live during a critically acclaimed concert cycle in Spring/Summer 2017 in the Great Hall of the Musikverein Wien. At these concerts, the international press specifically praised Jordan’s approach to combining a traditional Viennese sound with a more contemporary, slimmed down interpretation of the material, original tempi and insights from the historically informed performance practice. Through a close reading of the score and by focusing on the content of the works, Jordan aimed to create – in his words – a “more natural, direct, humanised“ image of the famous composer.
![BEETHOVEN, L. van: Fidelio [Opera] (Flagstad) (1941, 1951)](http://arkivmusic.com/cdn/shop/files/3891857.jpg?v=1786729273&width=400)
