When the Quatuor Ysaye dares... Twelve concerts LIVE in Paris! Played without a safety net at the Auditorium of the Musee d'Orsay! These were the conditions needed to recreate the uncompromising universe of the Beethoven quartets, a true musical Everest. Here, at the very peak of it's art, the Quatuor Ysaye offers the final dazzling demonstration of the unique rigour and sensibility that for thirty years marked it out as one of the finest in the world.

I do not believe that there is a 'right' and a 'wrong' instrument on which to perform Beethoven's Sonatas Opus 2. What matters is the musical result. It depends on the alchemy that is created between the performer and the instrument. I extensively tried various modern copies of fortepianos from 1795 - 1800, trying to get closer to the sound and expressive world of early Beethoven. However, with the opportunity of having a Graf fortepiano (No. 429) in my studio, restored in 2023, I was able to prepare this recording on that instrument, playing it regularly for a year and achieving a kind of familiarity with it's action and timbral response that I have grown fond of - Roberto Prosseda.

What does the German word Heimat mean? The place of one's birth, a place of initial socialisation, or a feeling of security and belonging? Many composers made the city of Vienna their Heimat. Beethoven, Schubert, Ernst, Vorisek and Mozart - all represented on this recording - were shaped by it's rich traditions and contributed to the style that we now call Viennese Classicism. The Austrian capital has always been a centre for the arts, and music in particular. It attracts creative minds and artists and is the embodiment of a bridge between tradition and modernity. This recording aims to take the listener on a journey of discovery through a pivotal period around the year 1800, in the form of a spontaneous and intimate chamber music concert. It combines masterpieces of the duo repertoire for violin and piano with little-known gems such as Vorisek's Sonata in G major.

The leap that Beethoven makes from his first violin sonata compared to his last is huge. "On a personal level, I've always felt that Beethoven is the composer to whom I feel the closest to; the first sonata I ever played was a Beethoven sonata, and so I immediately became enthusiastic about this project. I decided to ask Michael Schoch if he would be interested, and that's how all of this came about." Annedore Oberborbeck

Stellar cellist Gabriel Schwabe completes his two-volume survey of Beethoven's complete works for cello and piano. He is accompanied by the acclaimed English pianist Nicholas Rimmer. Volume 1 is available on Naxos 8.574529.

Pianist Benjamin Hochman's fourth album for AVIE, Resonance, literally resonates with music spanning six centuries. Two late Beethoven sonatas are the pillars of the program, with two Renaissance works by Josquin des Prez and John Dowland, plus a masterpiece by one of today's most heralded living composers, George Benjamin, in between. Resonance opens with Beethoven's Op. 109, followed by Josquin's serene motet Ave Maria, arranged for piano by American contemporary composer Charles Wuorinen, the stylistic contrasts nevertheless resonating with a common tonal centre and rich counterpoint. Dowland's Flow my tears, arranged for keyboard by Downland's contemporary William Byrd, is a lamentation akin to the third movement "Arioso dolente" from Beethoven's Op. 110. The penultimate track is George Benjamin's 2001 Shadowlines. Subtitled "Canonic Preludes", like Beethoven, Benjamin expands both sonic and emotional resonance to the limit.

Piano Concertos

Beethoven: The Late String Quartets

Complete Works For Cello And P

4 Piano Sonatas

Eroica Variations, 32 Variatio

Works For Flute And Piano

Diabelli Variations, Variation

Following the successful album "Nicht Wiedersehen!", the internationally acclaimed bassist Gunther Groissbock and one of the most distinguished pianists in his field, Malcolm Martineau, are now dedicating their new program to the subject of love; under the title "Mannerliebe und Leben" (A Man's Love and Life), they explore love from a man's point of view - based on Schumann's well-known cycle "Frauenliebe und -leben" (A Woman's Love and Life). Beginning with what is probably the first known song cycle in music history, "An die ferne Geliebte" by Ludwig van Beethoven, the well-rehearsed duo then present Schumann's "Dichterliebe". Three songs by Anton Bruckner ("I'm April", "Herbstkummer" and "Mein Herz und deine Stimme") are preceded by further selected songs by Johannes Brahms, including "Wie bist du, meine Konigin", "Unbewegte laue Luft", "Die Mainacht" and "Nicht mehr zu dir zu gehen".

BR-KLASSIK is dedicating a second portrait edition to the eminent Dutch conductor Bernard Haitink, containing a total of 9 CDs. Bernard Haitink died in October 2021; he would have turned 95 in March 2024.

These exceptional live recordings document the long-standing and intensive collaboration between Bernard Haitink, the Bavarian Radio Chorus, and the BRSO. Since Haitink conducted a subscription concert for the first time in 1958, he repeatedly led the BRSO for over six decades—sometimes in the Herkulessaal of the Residenz, sometimes in the Philharmonie im Gasteig. The orchestras’ musicians and singers were just as happy to work with him as the Bayerischer Rundfunk’s sound engineers.

The box set includes complete recordings of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 (CD 1) from 2019, Bruckner‘s Symphonies No. 4 (CD 2) from 2012, No. 7 (CD 3) from 1981, and No. 8 (CD 4 / CD 5) from 1993, as well as his Te Deum (CD 4) from 2010. Also featured are Dvořák‘s Symphony No. 7 from 1981 and his Scherzo Capriccioso (CD 6) from 1981, Mahler‘s Symphony No. 7 (CD 7) from 2011, and Shostakovich's Symphonies No. 8 (CD 8) from 2006 and No. 15 (CD 9) from 2015.