Very old - and yet completely new! Beethoven sonatas once again? Yes, once again. For the Austrian pianist Markus Schirmer really has something to say to Beethoven. The way Schirmer illuminates the text and places emphasis on certain aspects is very fresh and personal. A must? - Yes, a must!" (Wiener Zeitung)

This outstanding 5-disc set presents the complete symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven performed by the Polish Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Wojciech Rajski. The incentive for this series was for the whole of the symphonies to be available in Real Surround Sound. The project began in 2005 in Sopot, Poland, and ended when the ensemble performed the 9th symphony at St. John’s Church, Gdasnk, in the summer of 2015. Wojciech Rajski is known for his impeccable interpretation. He guides us through this exhaustive collection of ideas from one of the most famous composers, lacing the music with dazzling brilliance and sensitivity.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Praised by the New York Times for her 'clear articulation... unequivocal phrasing... [and] expressivity', Ingrid Jacoby has established herself as one of the most poetic and admired pianists of her generation. She began her piano studies with Larisa Gorodecka, herself a pupil of Heinrich Neuhaus. Graduating at sixteen with highest honours from the St Louis Conservatory of Music, Ingrid Jacoby went on to win the National Baldwin Piano Competition, the Concert Artists Guild International Piano Competition and the Steinway Hall Artists Prize. In America, the National Society of Arts and Letters awarded to her (in 1994) one of it's highest distinctions, the Lifetime Achievement Award. Her discography includes the world premiere recording of Korngold's solo piano pieces, works by Gershwin and Bernstein, and a recording of the Shostakovich and Ustvolskaya piano concertos with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras, which earned the highest commendation from the American Record Guide. This is the third release from Ingrid Jacoby's critically acclaimed Beethoven cycle, featuring Concertos Nos. 1 & 3. The booklet contains notes by Richard Wigmore in addition to personal insights by Ingrid Jacoby on Beethoven interpretation. Her first disc in the series, featuring Beethoven's Concertos Nos. 2 & 4, received the following review: 'Utterly compelling... here is a performance of Beethoven that is well-nigh flawless in every regard' (International Record Review). Her recording of Beethoven's 'Emperor' Concerto was equally praised: 'It's one hell of a performance! Jacoby brings a vitality and drive to the first movement that is compelling and fresh, vividly accompanied' (Colin Anderson in Classical Source).

Classical Music

Classical Music

Listening to Beethoven through Liszt' keyboard transcriptions put a afresh perspective on these familiar symphonies. Idil Biret has taken up the complete cycle and I admire her taste, technique and sound musical decision.

Classical Music

Beethoven's first Sonatas for violin and piano Op. 12/1-3, composed during the years 1797 and 1798, contain unmistakable elements of his later composition style, which challenged his contemporaries’ critical taste accordingly. The violin sonatas No. 4 Op. 23 and No. 5 Op. 24 and their composition correlate, according to findings of musicologists, closely with Beethoven’s own relationships. The former one seems to portray the darker side of love, its unfulfillment, whereas the later so-called ‘spring sonata’ – as a sort of characterization of a loving heart’s feeling of spring – references the sweet, beautiful aspects of love. The three sonatas Op. 30/1-3, composed in 1802, the year when he also wrote the ‘Heiligenstädter Testament’, reflect Beethoven’s emotional state and are characterized by heavy mood swings. Maybe the most famous work is the ‘Kreutzer’ sonata No. 9 in A major Op. 47, once termed unplayable by its dedicatee, the French violinist Rodolphe Kreutzer. By contrast, Beethoven’s final violin sonata No. 10 in G major Op. 96 seems more heartfelt in tone and was praised by critics as the ‘most poetic and musically most sensitively crafted’ of his sonatas. Thomas Albertus Irnberger and Michael Korstick furthermore present the variations ‘Se vuol ballare’ WoO 40 on a theme from the opera Le nozze di Figaro by W. A. Mozart. The Rondo in G major, WoO 41, and the Six German Dances, WoO 42, were written in 1794/96 and convey ease and almost juvenile cheerfulness – a trait also prevalent in the interpretation of Irnberger and Korstick.

All of Ludwig van Beethoven’s works for violin and piano are gathered on this new album from Thomas Albertus Irnberger and Michael Korstick. Michael Korstick is a recognized internationally as a Beethoven specialist, and the duo have been hailed as “the current champions in the Beethoven Ring.” (W. Shaper, Radio Bremen. This four-disc collection includes detailed information on the compositional background, written by T. A. Irnberger.

How come a piano trio calls themselves ‘van Beethoven’? Isn't that a little bold? Beethoven stands for independence of mind, for revolutionary ideas, for music that reaches far beyond his own time. Beethoven was a ‘lone wolf’, but at the same time the central point of departure for new traditions of composition. This fits in with the main mission of the TrioVanBeethoven: the care of the classical trio works, but also the commissioning of new compositions or crossover projects constitute the work of Verena Stourzh, violin, Clemens Zeilinger, piano, and Franz Ortner, cello. Their first grand opus which is presented now with Gramola is this timeless recording of Beethoven's complete works for piano trio in an extensive release, comprising countless hours of recording sessions, which made them ascend into the proverbial olymp of this genre.

Classical Music

Launching his Mozart debut recorded with the Czech Philharmonic and Jir� Belohl�vek, Jan Barto� drew to himself a lot of critical attention on an international scale. Those who reviewed the album especially appreciated his rare ability to combine thorough understanding both of the musical architecture and the deep emotionality of the works (a quality possessed also by the pianist's tutors Ivan Moravec and Alfred Brendel). From the early "Haydn-like" Sonata No. 3 in C major to the highly dramatic "Appassionata" to the transcendent last Sonata No. 32 in C minor, which gives an impression of the composer parting with this world, the pianist facilitates to us the amazing integrity and colorfulness of Beethoven's piano work. During the thirty years separating his first and last piano opus, the composer tried out numberless experiments, and yet some crucial themes come up again and again; the imprint of his unique musical DNA is discernible from his very first opuses. In the hands of Jan Barto�, Beethoven whispers, sings and thunders. We encounter a world full of contrasts, an image whose colors remain impressed in our memory for a long time.