The latest innovative release from The Orchestra Now and their founder-conductor Leon Botstein evokes the age-old practice of transcribing music from one set of instruments or voices to another. Transcription as Translation brings together two symphonic transcriptions by two major 20th-century conductors who were eager to perform from the podium some of their favourite non-orchestral works and present them to a wider audience. Turn of the 20th century Austrian composer and conductor Felix Weingartner had an illustrious international career that included the directorship of the Vienna Philharmonic and regular guest conducting of the Boston Symphony. He was at the vanguard of the era of acoustic recording and was the first conductor to make commercial recordings of all nine Beethoven symphonies. Weingartner's Beethoven credentials informed his orchestral transcription of Beethoven's "Hammerklavier" Piano Sonata. The name of Hungarian-born conductor George Szell remains synonymous with the Cleveland Orchestra, where he was Music Director from 1946 - 1970, to this day. He had previously worked for many years in Prague where he developed a special affinity for Czech music which is attested to his orchestration of Smetana's String Quartet No. 1 ("From My Life").

It is surely proof of great dedication that an American-born Swedish conductor would, in the mid-1970s, go behind the Iron Curtain in order to take up a post as principal conductor of an orchestra. Both the conductor and orchestra have fond memories of Herbert Blomstedt's Dresden years, from 1975 to 1985. The recordings of all of Beethoven's symphonies conducted by Blomstedt are proof of an intensive and artistically outstanding collaboration.

APR's landmark issue on three CDs of Nicolas Medtner's complete solo recordings, which included fifteen 78-rpm sides of previously thought lost Columbia recordings from 1931 and an unpublished HMV recording of his Violin Sonata No 1, are here reissued as a set. Medtner was a magnificent pianist, and these are definitive performances of many of his most important compositions. We can also hear him in Beethoven's Appassionata Sonata, the only music other than his own, he was to record. For this issue we have added a track - his recording of the Russian Round Dance for two pianos where he is joined by Benno Moiseiwitsch - and made some further refinements to the sound quality of the transfers.

Internationally acclaimed concert organist Zuzana Ferjencikova, who is currently working on a complete recording of Jean Guillou's organ works for AEOLUS, can be heard on her new album "Legendes" with her own transcriptions of works by Beethoven, Mozart, Schumann, and Liszt. The centerpieces are Beethoven's Grande Sonate Pathetique and Liszt's second legend of St. Francis, as well as Ferjencikova's fascinating arrangement of the aria "Tristis est anima mea" from his oratorio "Christus." The Seifert instrument used for the recording is at the heart of the numerous musical activities of "Orgelwelten Ratingen" and, thanks to it's tonal diversity, is extremely versatile. The new SACD (stereo and 5.1 multichannel surround) reproduces the sound of the instrument, distributed in several locations in the room, in all it's multidimensionality with remarkable plasticity. Die international gefragte Konzertorganistin Zuzana Ferjencikova, die bei AEOLUS an einer Gesamtaufnahme der Orgelwerke von Jean Guillou arbeitet, ist auf ihrem neuen Album "Legendes" mit ihren eignenen Transkriptionen von Werken Beethovens, Mozarts, Schumanns und Liszts zu horen. I'm Zentrum stehen dabei vor Beethovens Grande Sonate Pathetique und Liszts zweite Franziskuslegende sowie Ferjencikovas faszinierende Bearbeitung der Arie "Tristis est anima mea" aus dessen Oratorium "Christus". Das fur die Aufnahme verwendete Instrument der Firma Seifert steht i'm Zentrum der zahlreichen musikalischen Aktivitaten der "Orgelwelten Ratingen" und ist Dank seiner Klangfarbenvielfalt extrem vielseitig einsetzbar. Die neue SACD (Stereo und 5.1 Multichannel Surround) gibt den Klang des an mehreren Orten i'm Raum verteilten Instrumentes in seiner Mehrdimensionalitat au�erst plastisch wieder.

Beethoven's works for violoncello and piano are among the first of this genre. Where previously the piano dominated or merely accompanied, now two equal partners appear, complimenting each other in brilliance and virtuosity. The three cello sonatas, which come from different creative periods of Beethoven, allow insights into the development of the celebrated composer. Ludwig Hoelscher and Jorg Demus, two of the most famous and influential musicians of the last century, dedicated themselves to this multifaceted work in 1972. The resulting recordings express the two master instrumentalists' in-depth study of these works, while offering an intimate experience of chamber music performance. The recordings included in these CDs stood the test of time. The original records, released in 1974, are highly prized by connoisseurs and collectors. These recordings have been lovingly remastered and are now, for the first time, available in digital form. The remaster enables a crystal-clear listening experience of the masterful interpretations without losing their historic character.

This debut album presents a vivid reinterpretation of Ravel's Miroirs, illuminating the work's resonances within the wider piano repertoire by placing it in conversation with lesser-known miniatures from around the world. From luminous and atmospheric bell textures to incisive dance rhythms, we are guided through a narrative exploring the themes of nature, spirituality, memory, and self-discovery. A compelling artistic statement from a distinctive new voice in classical piano.

A unique recital on record of complementary bagatelles and sonatas from two distinct periods in Beethoven's life, in a new recording by a modern master pianist. Wolfram Schmitt-Leonardy is 'a storyteller', remarked Jeremy Nicholas in his Gramophone review of the Chopin sonatas on Piano Classics. He went on to praise 'nigh-on ideal' playing in the Second Sonata: 'unforced, rhythmically buoyant [and] texturally translucent'. The German pianist now illuminates four works of Beethoven with the same qualities. The Sonata Op.31 No.3 and Bagatelles Op.33 both date from what would prove to be a transitional point in Beethoven's career, around the year 1802, as he was stretching his wings and his capabilities. They achieve striking and often sudden contrasts of expression within both expansive sonata-form structures and the miniature sketch-form of the bagatelle, which Beethoven effectively invented from scratch with this set. 'Schmitt-Leonardy's superb technical and musical command holds unflagging interest' through the variation sets of Brahms, according to Jed Distler in another Gramophone review. Such command is a prerequisite for addressing the late masterpieces of Beethoven, so often recorded, and to which Wolfram Schmitt-Leonardy brings his own, individual musical intelligence. Twenty years elapsed between those earlier pieces and the Sonata Op.110, during which time Beethoven's thinking inevitably underwent a sea-change. By this point he was striving ever more keenly to achieve the expression of transcendence in music, and the Sonata's ineffable opening phrase seems to distil that search into an unforgettable gesture. The Sonata is also marked by the composer's intensifying preoccupation with Baroque-era counterpoint, which gives the most haunting life to the finale's semi-autobiographical narrative of vitality lost and regained. The Bagatelles Op.126 are trifles in name only, contemporary with the Ninth Symphony, sharing the Olympian humour of it's Scherzo and the span of the Diabelli Variations. Each one captures a mood as intense as it is fleeting. They are perhaps comparable in this way with the sonatas of Scarlatti, such as those played by Schmitt-Leonardy on another Piano Classics album: 'one the most intelligently programmed and distinctively played Scarlatti collections to cross my reviewer's desk in years.' (Gramophone)

This unique box set explores the deep bond between Ludwig van Beethoven's music and literature-from Schiller and Goethe's poetic inspiration to Beethoven's theatrical scores like The Ruins of Athens, Egmont, and Fidelio. New text versions and insightful interpretations breathe fresh life into rarely heard works, highlighting Beethoven's belief in music as a moral force. A powerful journey through music shaped by words, and words inspired by music.

Vienna, Vienna, just you, and you alone Because Vienna was the capital of music, at least in the 18th century, many pieces were not only premi�red there but were also immediately musically adapted there too. There are a variety of ways of engaging fruitfully with the musical works of others, to a greater or lesser extent. One option might be an arrangement, i.e., the adaptation of a composition for a different combination of instruments than originally intended. Entire operas could be arranged for piano, for example, and so find their way into aristocratic salons or bourgeois living rooms. The 19th century also saw the development of the paraphrase, a freely embellished arrangement of popular themes from operas, often in the form of a concert fantasia written for the piano. These also included the variation, or, to be more precise, the series of variations, which took a well-known melody as a model and altering it to a greater degree in each variation, whereby the tempo and key can also change.

Tomasz Ritter, winner of the Bruges Festival Competition 2024, here follows the traditional overview of Beethoven's musical language and devotes his recital to three sonatas drawn from the three creative periods: op. 2/1 (1795), op. 31/3 (1802) and op. 109 (1820). Ritter has also chosen three instruments that are close to those Beethoven played and reflect the evolution of piano construction: two Viennese instruments copied from originals by Anton Walter and Nanette Streicher, and an original Broadwood piano that is almost identical to the one the famous English piano maker gave the composer.

Born of a friendship formed at London's Royal College of Music over 10 years ago and boasting a discography of seven recordings, the Busch Trio takes it's name from the legendary Adolf Busch, whose G.B. Guadagnini violin Mathieu van Bellen has the honour of playing. Van Bellen and the Epstein brothers Omri on piano and Ori on cello now launch their ambitious project of recording the complete Beethoven piano trios. The first instalment contains the Op. 1 trios (Nos. 1 and 3), the first compositions by the young Beethoven who had left his native Bonn to study with Haydn in Vienna in 1792. Although Beethoven did not write a concerto for a wind instrument, he did compose a great deal of chamber music for them, including the Trio in B flat for piano, clarinet and cello (1798), although designing it so that the clarinet part could also be performed on the violin. The playful theme of the variations in the finale earned the trio it's nickname, "Gassenhauer"; (street or folk song).

The Amelio Trio, which won the German Music Competition in 2024 and is currently taking the world's stages by storm, has been chosen as one of the ECHO Rising Stars of the season 2026/27. In collaboration with Deutschlandfunk, the German Music Council, and GENUIN, the young piano trio now presents a seamlessly crafted album: The trios by Charles Ives, Ludwig van Beethoven, Ursula Mamlok, and Johannes Brahms flow into one another, forming a musical bridge that spans centuries and continents. Birke Bertelsmeier's "vertrautes angezogensein" (familiar attire), composed especially for this album, recapitulates all the previous works and brings the journey full circle - chamber music at it's highest level!

A bundled release will have some risks and side effects compared to successive releases of a series of works. Here one can proceed cautiously from album to album, preparing oneself for what is to come and comparing the new material with alternative recordings. In contrast, the 'complete package' demands exclusive listening, which may result in astonishing discoveries and entirely new insights - as Lena Neudauer and Paul Rivinius demonstrate here with their Beethoven violin sonatas. How much Schubert and Schumann are not hidden in these works? Where does the "Rage over a lost penny" come into play? Is swing really a child of the 20th century? Why does a precise, light accent balance out every rough one? After more than four hours of music, the duo has painted a conclusive portrait. Those who wish may make comparisons

Joseph Swensen conducts Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with an inner fire that grips all those who have attended one of his concerts; for him it is Beethoven's ultimate achievement, a celebration of humanity -not the romantic hero, but the truly ordinary individual, musically represented by the chorus. Beethoven begins his epic symphony in the darkness of primordial chaos. The first and second movements are visions of the universe before humanity. The third movement is a celestial dream. The beginning of the finale is our awakening. Beethoven wanted Ode to Joy to be a melody that all can sing. This chorus, a realisation in sound of the ideals of the 18th-century Enlightenment, is neither transcendent, divine, perfect nor impeccable. It is humanity singing of it's joy!

Their third duo album on Signum Classics, Viktoria Mullova and Alasdair Beatson perform Beethoven's Sonatas 2 and 10. Uniquely for the A Major sonata Op 12 No 2 they use a copy of an 1805 Walter (a Viennese fortepiano), and for Sonata No 10 op. 96 they use a copy of an 1819 graf, both by Paul McNulty. Together with violin strung with gut, these instruments are what Beethoven's music craves, giving a rich texture and distinct colours between the registers. ?�"'Optimistic, ebullient and inexhaustibly inventive' is how the pianist Alasdair Beatson describes the three Beethoven sonatas on this disc - and that is exactly how they come across in these performances with the violinist Viktoria Mullova. The sense of rustic abandon they create in this work is infectiously gleeful."�- The Guardian ? Recording ? Performance�"Their dazzling playing captures all the music's wit and brilliance"�- BBC Music Magazine