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.

After his first album with Beethoven's Piano Sonatas Nos. 21 and 29, Sunwook Kim's third solo release with Accentus Music presents an impressive interpretation of Ludwig van Beethoven's three most well-known piano sonatas: Pathetique, Moonlight Sonata, and Appassionata. Sunwook Kim, who won the first prize at the Leeds International Piano Competition in 2006, has matured to become a subtle and accomplished Beethoven specialist, not least thanks to his partnership with the Beethoven House in Bonn, whose unique collection he often consults in his preparation of Beethoven's works. Kim stays close to the original score, yet nevertheless provides a very personal interpretation, which reveals a new and exceptional reading that stands out from the abundance of existing recordings of these three piano sonatas.

Also available on Blu-ray

Beethoven started composing Leonore in January 1804. The subject – the release to freedom of an unjustly imprisoned man by his devoted wife – was part of the genre of ‘rescue operas’ which were very popular at the end of the 18th century. The premiere of Leonore, given before an uncomprehending audience at a time of political upheaval, was a failure and Beethoven responded by shortening the work from three acts to two, which was the version performed in 1806. After further revisions it was to emerge in 1814 as Fidelio. This performance is from Opera Lafayette’s Leonore Project which included a performance of Pierre Gaveaux’s Léonore, ou L’Amour conjugal (available on Naxos DVD 2.110591 and Blu-ray NBD0085V) – the opera on which Beethoven modelled his Leonore.

The opportunity to celebrate, in 2020, the 250th birthday of Ludwig van Beethoven alongside the 30th anniversary of German reunification is akin to a gift for a label that has been instrumental in preserving the recording heritage of the GDR, offering as it does the opportunity for a retrospective view and assessment of the past. This series with 10 new editions from the archive of ETERNA recordings includes audio productions from the early days of the label as well as later productions from the late 80s. Partly remastered from the original tapes and provided with the original covers, these historic-legendary recordings shine in new glamour. The present volume presents Lenore in its original 1805 version.

Born in Strasbourg, Elizabeth Sombart studied piano from the age of seven. She studied all over the world with various teachers, including Bruno-Leonardo Gelber, Peter Feuchtwanger, Hilde Langer-Rühl and Sergiu Celibidache. Elizabeth received the rank of Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite in 2006 and then was awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2008, both in reference to her career in music. Elizabeth has a strong relationship with the RPO and will be continuing this Beethoven Piano Concerto cycle with them over the coming months. This third installment of this series features Beethoven’s mighty fifth piano concerto as well as his ever popular triple concerto, featuring Duncan Riddell on violin and Richard Harwood on cello.

Perahia performs the cadenzas written for these concertos by Beethoven.

Together with the Berlin based Deutsches Symphonie Orchester, Mari Kodama and her husband Kent Nagano have now completed the recording of all of Beethoven's piano concertos by jumping, as it were, back in time twice: the last element of this recording series that has spanned more than 13 years was Beethoven's concerto "number nought” WoO 4- personally edited by Mari Kodama from the autograph score. The original manuscript of this piano concerto is kept at the State Library in Berlin. This is not a completed score, because there is no orchestration. That said, Beethoven annotated the short score, especially in the first two movements, with indications as to which instrument was to play which part. The orchestra score which is available today was written in the early twentieth century based on those annotations. The only problem is "armed with the knowledge we now have acquired about the young Beethoven, we would perform this concerto quite differently in places," explain Mari Kodama and Kent Nagano in unison. They therefore present a very personal adaptation that emerged during rehearsal with the orchestra and at the recording sessions, and which reflects Kodama's and Nagano's individual image of Beethoven. They aim to make audible the exuberant freshness and urgent sense of awakening in the young, almost childlike Beethoven's writing shortly before his artistic powers were to burst forth, the joie de vivre and vital energy in a style that owes something to the playfulness of both Haydn and Mozart. That is Mari Kodama's intention, and she plays it in precisely such a versatile manner.

A subtle performer of the Baroque and Classical piano repertory (Scarlatti, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven all feature in his discography on Aeon or Alpha), Olivier Cavé here offers us for the first time his interpretation of Beethoven’s first two concertos, written between the ages of twenty-five and thirty. There was a genuine alchemy in the Mozart concertos that he recorded in 2016, and this new project is marked by the same youthful vitality in two works composed by a Beethoven still steeped in the influence of Mozart. His energy gets an additional boost from the collaboration with the Kammerakademie Potsdam, an orchestra highly experienced in the Beethoven repertory, and the young conductor Patrick Hahn, one of the most promising members of the new generation, who celebrates his twenty-fifth birthday in 2020.

In August 2020, Herbert Blomstedt made his debut with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra. You could hardly tell that the maestro had celebrated his 93rd birthday only a month prior for he continuously exudes vitality, awareness, and curiosity. “I’m in love with music,” says Blomstedt, who views his profession as a kind of joie de vivre. Together with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and Martha Argerich he revealed just what this joy sounds like with Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 – the work that marked Argerich’s stage debut in 1949 - and Symphonies Nos. 2 and 3, the famous Eroica. Recorded live at the Concert Hall of KKL Luzern, August 2020.

Beethoven’s permanent move to Vienna in 1782 allowed him direct contact with the operatic and Italianate culture of the city. He took lessons in Italian word setting from Salieri and almost immediately began the composition of a series of arias in that language, including Primo amore, piacer del ciel and later the dramatic recitative and aria Ah! perfido. Beethoven also set strophic songs in German that form part of the popular Singspiel tradition which are genial and rare examples of his art. Here, the songs are performed by soprano Reetta Haavisto, tenor Dan Karlstrom, and baritone Kevin Greenlaw.

Ludwig van Beethoven’s piano works occupy a special place in Margarita Höhenrieder's artistic work. In a certain sense, this is almost "logical", since she herself is part of a very special Beethoven lineage: her teacher Leon Fleisher was a student of Arthur Schnabel, who in turn studied with Theodor Leschetizky, who had learned his piano playing from Carl Czerny. And Czerny was a student of Beethoven! For the recordings of all five of Beethoven's piano concertos, Margarita Höhenrieder has top-class orchestras and conductors at her side, including the Staatskapelle Dresden under Fabio Luisi and the Bamberg Symphony under Martin Haselböck. The recordings are complemented by extensive bonus material: a portrait of the pianist and conversations between Höhenrieder and the conductors provide an insight into the life and work of an artist for whom her own concert activities are just as important as the education of the next generation.

Ludwig van Beethoven was commissioned by the dancer and choreographer Salvatore Vigano to write the ballet The Creatures of Prometheus- an allegorical story based on the myth of Prometheus- and the composer’s piano version of the orchestral score was published not long after its premiere in 1801. Beethoven turned his symphonic style and skill in pictorial representation to conjure scenes of stormy excitement alongside elegant dances and the sublime aura of beauty surrounding the legendary musicians Orpheus, Amphion and Arion. The Finale is crowned by a theme that would later be used in the ‘Eroica’ Symphony.

“From the heart, may it go to the heart.”
(Beethoven’s inscription on the manuscript score of his Missa Solemnis)

Last year at the Semperoper as part of the Dresden Musikfest 2014 I attended a disappointing performance of Beethoven’s great Missa Solemnis. Ivor Bolton was conducting a quartet of soloists, Balthasar-Neumann-Chor and the Dresdner Festspielorchester playing on authentic instruments. It was altogether below-par and I reckon the oppressive hot weather of the day affected not just the tuning of the strings but also the energy levels of the performers.

In view of that uninspiring Dresden concert when this new BR Klassik release arrived I was delighted to have the opportunity to reacquaint myself with the score. Recorded live at the Herkulessaal, Munich by the world class Chor und Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks the distinguished conductor Bernard Haitink has selected an impressive quartet of soloists.

The motivation behind Beethoven’s writing of the Missa solemnis was the appointment in 1819 of Archbishop Rudolph as Cardinal-Archbishop of Olomouc. Beethoven’s former piano and composition pupil and most valued patron, Archbishop Rudolph was the youngest son of Emperor Leopold II. Beethoven invested considerable time as well as emotional and spiritual energy on his Missa solemnis and didn’t complete this immense sacred score until 1823 some three years after Rudolph’s enthronement; a ceremony that used works by Haydn and Hummel instead. The Missa solemnis had to wait until 1824 for its première which was given not in a church setting but at a concert hall in Saint Petersburg. Incidentally, in 1807 Beethoven had composed a mass – a commission from Prince Nicholas Esterházy for the name day of his wife.

All Haitink's soloists here sing with unerring commitment and incisiveness. This is not always the case in performances of this work the quartet. They also manage to keep their operatic sensibilities under wraps and concentrate on the reverential aspect of the text. The highly appealing Salzburg-born soprano Genia Kühmeier excels with her eagerly bright and fluid tone. Another Austrian, Elisabeth Kulman is in splendid voice too. A refined well focused lyric mezzo, Kulman’s slightly dark timbre projects strongly, with clear and precise enunciation. In highly engaging voice English tenor Mark Padmore seems to improve each time I hear him. Here he displays creamy tone and impeccable diction all coupled with an eminently respectful projection of the sacred text. Dignified German bass-baritone Hanno Müller-Brachmann impresses with his steady, flexible tone and dark-edged hue. He has certainly become a singer to be reckoned with. Highlights include the uninhibited weighty outburst of praise in the Gloria. This is freighted with awe. I especially enjoyed the singing of Quoniam tu solus sanctus which sounded as effectively dramatic as one could wish. The Adagio of the Agnus Dei, the conclusion to the score, has few parallels in sacred music and captures an atmosphere of spiritual serenity.

The orchestra are fully engaged with the sacred drama with no shortage of relish whilst maintaining a resolutely cohesive whole. The vitality and drive generated by Haitink are major attributes of this memorable performance. Concertmaster Anton Barachovsky adopts a pleasing, rather understated approach to his violin solos in the Benedictus — an appropriately ethereal background to the solo voices. Consistently inspiring all evening the choir is excellent and clearly well prepared.

Recorded live in the inexorably reliable acoustic of the Herkulessaal, Munich the sound team can take a bow for the satisfying, clear and reasonably well balanced sonics. The booklet that accompanies the release includes full Latin texts with German and English translations.

Previously I have not felt entirely comfortable in nominating a stand-out first choice for the Missa solemnis but this release from Haitink and his Bavarian forces is as praiseworthy as any recording I have encountered.

-- Michael Cookson, MusicWeb International

Haitink at 85 makes his first recording of one of music’s choral masterpieces – and what a wonderful performance his wisdom and experience offers.
– Gramophone

Herbert Blomstedt's 2012 performance of Ludwig van Beethoven's Miss Solemnis in D major bursts with energy and excitement, and even though it may seem somewhat removed from more traditional, reverent versions, it still befits the religious sentiments of the composer. As one can deduce from contemporaneous concert performances of the Kyrie, Credo, and Agnus Dei, Beethoven had no problem with a secular treatment of his great mass, and he would have welcomed the vitality and passion that Blomstedt, the MDR Radio Choir, and the Gewandhaus Orchestra bring to the score, without any contrived sense of piety or dogmatic stodginess. Beethoven's concepts of God and religion were close to 18th century Deist ideas, so it's likely he conceived the Missa Solemnis in much the same manner as he did his Symphony No. 9, as a humanist document that addressed the hopes and ideals of humanity, instead of the liturgical needs of the Catholic Church. The liner notes go into great detail about Beethoven's views, so this recording may be understood in that context, but listeners may decide for themselves whether or not Blomstedt gets the theology right. In musical terms, he certainly grasps the power and vitality of the Missa Solemnis and delivers a compelling and thoroughly convincing reading of the work.

-- All Music Guide

Tennstedt had a genuine affinity for this symphony. He left many live recordings, and his last official release from EMI consisted of the “Eroica” incongruously coupled to Mussorgsky’s A Night on Bald Mountain. Go figure. This performance, with a palpably energized NDR Symphony Orchestra, is glorious. Tennstedt’s is a very “German” view of the work: solid (but not stolid), sober, richly textured, and epic in expression. The only possible (welcome) exception to this characterization occurs at the start of the finale, which is notably light, lively, and rooted in the main theme’s dance origins.

If any single moment could be singled out as especially telling, it would have to be the fugue in the funeral march. Careful observation of Beethoven’s legato articulation of the principal theme gives the music an unusually passionate, songful, tragic quality as far removed from the abstract contrapuntal exercise it sometimes becomes as you could possibly imagine. But then, the entire movement is magnificently sustained–as is the first movement’s development section, and just about all the other moments that distinguish a great reading from the merely quotidian. Through it all the NDR Symphony plays with world-class commitment and precision.

The performance is aided in no small degree by gorgeous sonics: warm and resonant, but perfectly clear, with magnificently captured bass lines. This really benefits the coupling: Tennstedt’s view of the Coriolan Overture is measured and weighty, the pauses between the opening phrases sounding especially doom-laden in this acoustic. It’s certainly not the only way to play the overture, but it certainly works here, giving the music a bigness and importance that you might never have suspected. This is, in short, essential Beethoven, and a wonderful memento of a conductor whose studio recordings did not reliably find him at his best.

– ClassicsToday (David Hurwitz)