The legendary Japanese conductor returns in new live recordings for Beethoven 250. "Ozawa may be entering a glorious Indian summer of creativity" - Gramophone Featuring his beloved Saito Kinen Orchestra, voted by Gramophone as one of the world's 20 greatest orchestras "Animation, vibrancy and joy... he is among the most fortunate of God's creatures who are nourished and sustained by the love of what they do" John Williams "This lithe, balletic athlete with a shock of thick black hair and beads on his white turtleneck. It was Seiji Ozawa, whose energy and grace and dynamism completely entranced me" Steven Spielberg on first seeing Seiji Ozawa.

The penultimate release in Angela Hewitt's cycle of the complete Beethoven piano sonatas features the Piano Sonata in F minor Op.2 No.1. The listener's understanding is again enhanced by Angela's illuminating booklet notes, in which she sets out her approach to performing these most canonic of works in the entire piano literature.

SYMPHONY NO. 9

TRIPLE CONCERTO & SYMPH N 7 BR

Beethoven: Moonlight Sonata - Pavel Kolesnikov - The 'abundance of intelligence' in Pavel Kolesnikov's pianism which so impressed Gramophone pays particular dividends in Beethoven. This recital, which includes the evergreen 'Moonlight' sonata, makes the music sound sound newly minted in Kolesnikov's hands. Label: HYPERION

COMPLETE PIANO CONCERTOS

By giving the stringed instruments the status of genuinely equal partners with the piano, it was Beethoven who gave the piano trio the form it was to retain throughout the 19th century. This album presents the composer's last two works in the genre, Op. 70 No. 2 dedicated to Countess Marie Erdady, and the celebrated 'Archduke' trio, which marked the final public appearance of it's composer. All three eminent Beethovenians, violinist Isabelle Faust, Cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras and pianist Alexander Melnikov join forces here in performances that set a new standard.

Only now have I learnt how to write quartets properly." So wrote Beethoven in 1801, having just finished his first set of string quartets at the surprisingly advanced age of 30. The competition of Haydn and Mozart must have been intimidating for the young composer. Performed here by the Jerusalem Quartet, these six String Quartets Op.18 already display much boldness and originality, from the dramatic echoes of Romeo & Juliet in No.1, to the astonishing programmatic finale of No.6, "La Malinconia.

Pianist Stewart Goodyear performs Beethoven's Diabelli Variations, considered one of the greatest works for keyboard. Stewart Goodyear gained rave reviews with the release of his Beethoven: Complete Piano Notes: Sonatas (MAR 513), as well as releases of Beethoven: The Middle Sonatas (MAR 511) and The Late Sonatas (MAR 507). He continues his exploration of Beethoven's piano repertoire with a brilliant recording of 33 Variations on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli, Op. 120. Beethoven's Diabelli Variations are considered to be one of the greatest sets of variations for keyboard, along with J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations. Beethoven's approach to the theme of Diabelli's waltz is to take some of it's smallest elements and build upon them pieces of great imagination, power and subtlety. Stewart Goodyear says: "Beethoven's Diabelli Variations are both brilliant and profound, bridging the gap of popular versus artistic, virtuosic versus poetic, and earthy versus otherworldly."

BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 9 (Fried) (1929)

BEETHOVEN: Symphonies Nos. 2 and 4 (Kleiber / Pfitzner) (192

BEETHOVEN: Symphonies Nos. 3 and 8 (Pfitzner) (1929-1933)

Musical individuality rather than symbiotic fusion: on historical instruments, but with the greatest expressive freedom, the musical details of Beethoven, Schubert, and Vorisek's works from early-nineteenth-century Vienna speak directly to the listener.

Native from Naples, Italy, pianist Lorenzo Pone lives in Salzburg and is one of the most highly acclaimed young pianists today. Having been a student of Paul Badura-Skoda's for almost a decade, he dedicates his debut album "Tribute to Paul Badura-Skoda" to this great master. Universally praised for the distinctive quality of his sound and his formidable perfectionism, Pone presents among others piano sonatas which he worked on with Badura-Skoda during the last weeks of the latter's life in 2019, among them the Sonata No. 51 by Joseph Haydn, the Grand Sonata No. 26 in A-flat major by Ludwig van Beethoven, the Piano Sonata Op. 1 No. 10 by Lodovico Giustini and the Three Nocturnes Op. 15 by Frederic Chopin. The program, which is derived from a piano recital given at the Teatro di San Carlo of Naples in honor of Badura-Skoda in October, 2019, closes off with three pieces of Claude Debussy's Preludes: Minstrels, La fille aux cheveux de lin and La Puerta del Vino.

This album is the second release in a series of three, that encompass the entire 32 Beethoven Piano Sonatas. Pianist Moritz Winkelmann is a Prize Winner at the International Beethoven Competition Bonn and also part of an exclusive educational linneage that can be traced back directly to Beethoven himself.