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More than 200 years after its premiere at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Isabelle Faust, Jean-Guihen Queyras and Martin Helmchen have congenially mastered the artistic challenge of Beethoven’s gemstone. Under Herbert Blomstedt's sensitive direction, the soloists unite chamber musical intimacy together with virtuoso sophistication – and prove once again that the Triple Concerto is an unduly underestimated, much too rarely programmed masterpiece. With the composer's 5th Symphony, Blomstedt succeeds in achieving an entirely new perspective of this work. In his Sixth Symphony, the “Pastoral”, Ludwig van Beethoven conveys his musical message in such a way that lets the listener literally “see” images of beautiful nature, tempestuous storms, and shepherds singing in the fields, whereas in his Seventh Symphony, Beethoven lets the music speak for itself. The performances of these works by the Gewandhausorchester give the uplifting feeling that the intentions of both composer and performers are united in serving the musical message. The humanist and musician Herbert Blomstedt embodies this truth in a unique way, creating an atmosphere where the wonders of music all become true. Ludwig van Beethoven's 9th Symphony and the musical city of Leipzig are closely intertwined with each other: Felix Mendelssohn, Kapellmeister of the Gewandhausorchester, made the work an indispensable part of the concert hall repertoire and Arthur Nikisch, one of his successors, established in 1918 the worldwide tradition of performing this groundbreaking and pioneering work at the end of the year. Herbert Blomstedt once again conducted Beethoven's Ninth in Leipzig for the 2016 New Year celebrations. With his former orchestra, of which he has been Conductor Laureate since 2005 and with whom he enjoys a close friendship, he achieves a gripping interpretation of this monumental work.

More than 200 years after it's premiere at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Isabelle Faust, Jean-Guihen Queyras and Martin Helmchen have congenially mastered the artistic challenge of Beethoven's gemstone. Under Herbert Blomstedt's sensitive direction, the soloists unite chamber musical intimacy together with virtuoso sophistication - and prove once again that the Triple Concerto is an unduly underestimated, much too rarely programmed masterpiece. With the composer's 5th Symphony, Blomstedt succeeds in achieving an entirely new perspective of this work. In his Sixth Symphony, the "Pastoral", Ludwig van Beethoven conveys his musical message in such a way that let's the listener literally "see" images of beautiful nature, tempestuous storms, and shepherds singing in the fields, whereas in his Seventh Symphony, Beethoven let's the music speak for itself. The performances of these works by the Gewandhausorchester give the uplifting feeling that the intentions of both composer and performers are united in serving the musical message. The humanist and musician Herbert Blomstedt embodies this truth in a unique way, creating an atmosphere where the wonders of music all become true. Ludwig van Beethoven's 9th Symphony and the musical city of Leipzig are closely intertwined with each other: Felix Mendelssohn, Kapellmeister of the Gewandhausorchester, made the work an indispensable part of the concert hall repertoire and Arthur Nikisch, one of his successors, established in 1918 the worldwide tradition of performing this groundbreaking and pioneering work at the end of the year. Herbert Blomstedt once again conducted Beethoven's Ninth in Leipzig for the 2016 New Year celebrations. With his former orchestra, of which he has been Conductor Laureate since 2005 and with whom he enjoys a close friendship, he achieves a gripping interpretation of this monumental work.

Classical Music

The Franco-Dutch flutist and conductor Louis Droute (1792-1873) was one of the great soloists of his day. Born in Amsterdam, he began his career at the court of Louis Bonaparte, then king of Holland. The King was so impressed with the 15-year-old flutist that he presented him with a crystal flute by the famous Parisian maker Claude Laurent, a flute which today belongs to the permanent collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Drouet was later appointed to the court of Napoleon in Paris. Drouet quickly developed an international solo career, performing in much of Europe and even in the United States. With his friend, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, he made concert tours to London and Paris in 1828 and 1829. The rich depth of Beethoven's music is truly a gift for life, since, just as with the sonatas of Bach, there is always something new left to discover. Each interaction with Beethoven's music reveals a new part of his musical imagination.

Building on the success of their first album of Beethoven violin sonatas, which won a Diapason d’Or of the year (the magazine hailed ‘the birth of a great duo’) and ‘Choc’ de Classica, Lorenzo Gatto and Julien Libeer continue their complete recording of the cycle. “Beethoven’s sonatas have become the core of our musical lives. Rehearsed, tried out in concert, given a rest, rehearsed again.” Since performing the entire cycle over three consecutive evenings at Flagey in Brussels in 2016, they have played them repeatedly, and they met again at the end of 2017, at the Hilversum studio in Amsterdam, to record three more sonatas: “Surprise, even now?... Anyone who frequents Beethoven for a long time is no longer surprised to be surprised. For him, everything is coherent, but nothing is written in advance.” So they experiment here again and Julien has chosen a piano with parallel stringing: “The resonance of Chris Maene Straight Strung illuminates this music in a subtly different way. We enjoy ourselves.” (Lorenzo Gatto, Julien Libeer)

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REVIEW:

They swing forwards enthusiastically in the scherzos of Opp 24 and 96 but the hearts of these readings are in the slower, more intimate music: the stillness that spreads across the centre of the finale of Op 96 is profound, and the dialogue that launches that particular sonata seems to emerge out of nowhere. This is deeply un-showy Beethoven but it’s intensely sincere and it sounds entirely new. Try it.

– Gramophone

Supporting new talents is in Alpha's DNA. Here is the very first recording of the Italian pianist Filippo Gorini, who was recently awarded First Prize in the Telekom-Beethoven Competition in Bonn. He has also won the same competition's Audience Prize twice over. At just twenty years of age, he has already played in such prestigious venues as the Berlin Konzaerthaus, the Leipzig Gewandhaus, the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg, the Herkulessaal in Munich, the Liederhalle in Stuttgart, Die Glocke in Bremen, the Royal Academy of Music in London, and the Moscow Conservatory. Strongly supported by Alfred Brendel, with whom he studies, he has chosen to tackle a monument of the piano repertory, the Diabelli Variations, a work whose interpretation he has matured through frequent performance, notably at the Beethoven Competition where it was the key item in his winning programme. And, appropriately, it is at the Beethovenhaus in Bonn that he made this first albu, the start of a highly promising recording career.

In a world like ours, shaped by centrifugal forces, even a monumental corpus like Beethoven’s thirty-two piano sonatas can appear in a new light. Chronological examination of its genesis reveals fascinating parallels. – The Sonatas op.2 were published in the last year of the French Revolution. – The ensuing wave of political migration reached Vienna and also affected Elector Maximilian Franz, who was not only the brother of Marie Antoinette and Emperor Joseph II but had also been Beethoven’s employer in Bonn. – Beethoven gave compositional form to the triumph and downfall of a tyrant who brought war to Europe and occupied Vienna. – After the international peace conference of 1815, he vigorously embarked on writing modernistic late works in opposition to the emerging police state and its postmodern entertainment culture.

Konstantin Lifschitz applies strict criteria in order to realize the groundbreaking compositional dynamics of these works. He shows his musical independence by supplementing the cycle of sonatas with the Allegretto WoO 53, and still has much to tell us about it, defying past and present fashions. The fact that he recorded the massive cycle live on eight consecutive days also makes this set a monument in its own right.

Beethoven’s piano concertos are a precious source for understanding the history of the practice of this instrument, which, in the early nineteenth century, permanently replaced the harpsichord in the hearts of composers. Thus one can still hear the gallant influence of Mozart in the First Concerto (1795-1800), whereas the Fourth (1805-06) reveals the introspective personality, at once vigorous and generous, of a Beethoven at the height of his artistic maturity. In the second installment of his recording of the complete concertos, the German pianist Martin Helmchen performs these two contrasting works with Andrew Manze and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.

Life and Works: Beethoven

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

In this excellent second volume of the complete sonatas for violin and piano by Ludwig van Beethoven, Andrew Wan and Charles Richard-Hamelin present the three sonatas of opus 12 and Sonata No. 5 in F Major, Op. 24, often referred to as the “Spring Sonata” (Frühlingssonate), was composed in 1800 and 1801 during an especially productive period for Beethoven and is undoubtedly one of Beethoven’s most famous chamber works. The first volume of this collection was considered to be one of the best classical albums of 2018 by Radio-Canada. Andrew Wan is equally at home as a soloist, chamber musician and concertmaster. In August 2008, he was named concertmaster of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra (MSO), making him one of the youngest leaders of a major symphony. His relationship with the orchestra began with performances of Elgar's Violin Concerto, which were hailed as one of the top two musical moments of 2007 by La Presse. As a soloist, he has appeared in the United States, China, New Zealand, Cuba, Argentina, Brazil, Switzerland and Canada.

For this third and marvelous last volume of the complete sonatas for violin and piano by Ludwig van Beethoven, Andrew Wan and Charles Richard-Hamelin present the Sonata No. 4 in A Minor, Op. 23, the famous Sonata No. 9 in A Major, Op. 47 ("Kreutzer"), and the Sonata No. 10 in G Major, Op. 96, characterized by it's refined instrumental textures, subtle nuances, and intimate mood. The first volume of this collection was named one of the best classical albums of 2018 by Radio-Canada. Wan received his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music from the Juilliard School under the tutelage of Masao Kawasaki and Ron Copes. In 2008, he was the only violinist to be accepted into the prestigious Artist Diploma Program at Juilliard. He is currently on violin faculty at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University, as well as the Orford Music Festival. Silver medalist and laureate of the Krystian Zimerman Prize at the 2015 International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, Canadian pianist Charles Richard-Hamelin is standing out today as one of the most important musicians of his generation. This is his ninth album.