The Weimar-born pianist Daniel Heide is one of the most sought-after song accompanists and chamber musicians of his generation. He studied at the Franz Liszt University in Weimar with Prof. Ludwig Bätzel and received groundbreaking suggestions from Christa Ludwig and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. As a result of his pandemic coping, he discovered his love (back from his studies) for solo repertoire and especially Beethoven. He released his Vol I in 2021. This year the Vol. II comes with the three sonatas with “names”: Pastorale, Moonlight and Marcia funebre.

This recording presents Ludwig van Beethoven's most important overtures composed for his stage works, which were few and far between yet cover a wide variety of styles: the three overtures for his only opera Leonore which was later known as Fidelio followed by the introductory music to the ballet The Creatures of Prometheus and by music for Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s play Egmont, which had previously been rather unsuccessful on stage but enjoyed greater popularity once Beethoven set it to music. The last piece is the Overture to Collin's tragedy Coriolan, written at a time when the drama was hardly performed anymore, and which therefore became a concert overture.

The Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1945 and became one of the most important musical ambassadors of Germany. World-renowned conductors, as well as some of the world’s greatest soloists, have been guests of the Stuttgart RSO, including Carlos Kleiber, Ferenc Fricsay, Karl Böhm, and Wilhelm Furtwängler as well as Maria Callas, Yehudi Menuhin, Alfred Brendel, Hélène Grimaud, Anne Sophie Mutter, Elina Garanca, Rolando Villazon, Hilary Hahn, Sol Gabetta and Lang Lang. Sir Roger Norrington was the principal conductor of the Stuttgart RSO from 1998 to 2011 and has been its Conductor Laureate since 2011. Norrington has succeeded in giving the orchestra its unmistakable image through the use of historically informed performances coupled with the implementation of the resources of a modern symphony orchestra. His work focuses on the symphonic cycles of works by Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Berlioz, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms, Bruckner, Mahler, and Elgar. He has conducted numerous international orchestras including the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Wiener Philharmoniker, the Concertgebouw Orchester, and the Orchestre de Paris as well as many American orchestras.

The celebrated Dover Quartet, the young, Grammy-nominated ensemble brimming with prestigious awards and residencies, concludes its critically acclaimed, three-volume Beethoven cycle with the composer’s five monumental, revolutionary Late Quartets and imposing Grosse Fugue. The triple-album release comprises Beethoven’s very last compositions — remarkable and often daunting works that upended the concept of the string quartet. Many critics and scholars consider them the ultimate expression of Beethoven’s artistry. At the same time, lyrical, songlike “vocal” writing pervades the Late Quartets, delighting the same audiences who flocked to Rossini’s operas. The Dover’s first two Beethoven installments were greeted with ecstatic reviews: “Beethoven would find it hard to believe that his quartets could be played with such perfection of execution, such beauty of tone, such nuance of expression, and such keen understanding of his music’s meaning and intent.” (Fanfare) “Their Beethoven is, simply, perfection.” (Classical CD Reviews)

The French pianist Jean-Pierre Collot presents a highly interesting and, at first glance, unusual juxtaposition of the music of Lachenmann (born 1935) with that of Ludwig van Beethoven. Here, Franz Liszt's piano transcription of Beethoven's Symphony no. 6 "Pastoral" is in dialogue with Serynade and Marche fatale by Lachenmann. In this WDR production, Collot comes across as a contemporary painter and creates fascinating timbres and shades of these highly virtuosic masterpieces. This album was created in collaboration with Lachenmann, whose tonal and highly melodic "fatal march" arrived as a shock after his decades of experimentation with extremes of musical possibility. Serynade, the title of his great piano work, is intentionally misspelled, with a y; the shift references the first letter of its dedicatee's name: Yukiko Sugawara, a pianist and Lachenmann's wife.

Carl Meisl's play The Consecration of the House, to the music of Ludwig van Beethoven, was performed in Vienna on October 3, 1822 on the occasion of the reopening of the Theater in der Josefstadt. Its theme is the reawakening of art after times of crisis. Beethoven's music to August von Kotzebue's text The Ruins of Athens (1812) served as the basis for the work, and was adapted to Meisl’s text as well as expanded to include new music by the composer. Beethoven seems to have started composing for the upcoming performance only in September 1822, writing new music for those of Meisl’s texts for which nothing suitable could be found in The Ruins of Athens. The dance with chorus “Wo sich die Pulse jugendlich jagen” is listed separately as WoO (work without opus number) 98, as is the March, op. 114, which was reworked for the play. The overture achieved a high degree of popularity. Its prominent position as a separate opus (124) between the Missa solemnis and the Ninth Symphony reveals that Beethoven likely approved its use as a concert overture.

Over 20 years ago, Alex Ross, the noted music critic for the New Yorker, described the atmosphere of a Martha Argerich recital in terms reminiscent of the golden age of nineteenth century piano virtuosos: “Her concerts conjure up scenes from another place and time: grown men running down the aisles clutching bouquets, world-renowned musicians pummeling the railings of the upper boxes, jaded critics breaking into foolish smiles.” The subject of these rapturous responses, has, unlike the traditional virtuoso, played relatively few solo recitals, preferring to make music with others. This set is the 8th volume of DOREMI’s special series of live performances and broadcasts featuring the artistry of the young Martha Argerich.

One of Gramophone's Best Classical Recordings of 2022!

This recording brings together two of the greatest works of the Classical era in transcriptions for solo piano by two of the greatest pianist-composers of the Romantic era, resulting in two of the most thrilling experiences that nineteenth-century pianism has to offer. Successfully marrying the unique charac­teristics of the piano to the defining features of Beethoven’s orchestral writing, Franz Liszt is showed here at his most coloristic. He vividly captures the rapid scene shifts and mood changes of Beethoven’s Eroica and exploits not only the piano’s ability both to whisper and to roar, but also the power and intensity of silence. In Mozart’s 20th piano concerto, Charles-Valentin Alkan takes on a different challenge as he masterfully weaves the orchestral and solo piano parts into a single tapestry that brims from start to finish with piano writing of startling inventiveness and originality.

These two pianistic tours de force are presented here by Paul Wee – also a barrister specializing in commercial law at Essex Court Chambers in London – whose astonishing technique and passion for nineteenth-century pianism have been highlighted on acclaimed recordings dedicated to music by Alkan and transcriptions by Thalberg.

REVIEWS:

[Paul Wee's] fleet basic tempos for the opening movement and the Scherzo raise the bar for lightness, crisp articulation, and forward moving intensity, making his colleagues sound thick by comparison. Wee’s remarkable technique particularly impresses in the Finale’s incisively delineated counterpoint. What staggeringly even runs!–not to mention Wee’s ability to play rapid left-hand octaves more proficiently than most pianists can play single lines.

The main challenge of Alkan’s solo piano transcription of Mozart’s D minor concerto is to differentiate solo passages and orchestral tuttis by way of phrasing, touch, voice leading, smart pedaling, and dynamic control. Wee does this brilliantly throughout.

[A] transcendent achievement.

-- ClassicsToday.com

As one of the finest pianists of his era and an improviser of genius, Ludwig van Beethoven’s preferred vehicle for musical exploration was the piano. With his five piano concertos composed between 1788 and 1809, he not only achieved a brilliant conclusion to the Classical piano concerto, but also established a new model for the Romantic era: a sort of symphony with obbligato piano which was to remain a reference point well into the twentieth century. After the first two concertos, which still closely follow the models of Haydn and Mozart, Concerto No. 3 marks a profound stylistic change. In the piano part, Beethoven pushes the instrument to its limits, leading commentators to remark that he was writing for the piano of the future. This trend continued and reached its fullness in the Fourth and Fifth Concertos, which today rank among the great composer’s most admired works.

In 2009, Haochen Zhang was the youngest pianist ever to receive the Gold Medal at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Since then he has captivated audiences worldwide with a unique combination of deep musical sensitivity, fearless imagination and spectacular virtuosity. He now performs the five Beethoven concertos supported by the prestigious Philadelphia Orchestra under its principal guest conductor, the charismatic Nathalie Stutzmann.

REVIEWS:

In a crowded pool of complete Beethoven piano concerto recordings, young Chinese pianist Haochen Zhang makes an impressive splash with his traversal of one of the most imposing cycles in the entire repertoire. With French conductor Nathalie Stutzmann leading the Philadelphia Orchestra, Zhang deftly handles Beethoven’s fiendish runs and cadenzas throughout these five imposing works. Most memorable are the 3rd and 4th concertos, which have the most balance between urgency and delicacy.

-- The Flip Side

The fruits of a long-term collaboration: "Kapellmeister" literally means "master of the chapel choir". The term designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians and today represents the bond, spanning many years, between an orchestra and conductor. It stands for implicit trust between musicians and compelling musical conviction. This expansive release features recordings by some of the finest German conductors, including Herbert Blomstedt, Herbert Kegel, Otmar Suitner, Kurt Sanderling, and Kurt Masur.

Beethoven’s Piano Trios Op. 1 were first performed in 1793 at one of the chamber music soirées held at the home of Prince Karl Lichnowsky – the dedicatee of the whole set – and in the presence of Beethoven’s teacher, Joseph Haydn. The influence of Haydn is clearly apparent in both works, with Beethoven enhancing his teacher’s trademark rhythmic drive with an energetic drama that was to become one of the most distinctive characteristics of Beethoven’s later chamber music. The Rautio Piano Trio returns to Resonus with this first volume of the complete cycle of Beethoven’s Piano Trios, recorded on period instruments. This is the culmination of the Trio’s wider project charting the evolution of the piano trio from its emergence in the mid-eighteenth century, with the music of J.C. Bach, C.P.E. Bach, Mozart and Haydn, through to Beethoven’s complex and mature realization of the genre.

Shura Cherkassky was born in Odessa, Ukraine in 1909 and died in London in 1995. He was initially taught by his mother who had played for Tchaikovsky, but when the family moved to the US in 1923, he studied with his long-time teacher and mentor, the legendary Josef Hofmann, before auditioning for Rachmaninov. Prior to World War II, he had made his name in the US but from 1945 he extensively toured Europe and settled in London in 1961. The last of the great Romantic tradition of pianists, Cherkassky was described by Bryce Morrison as a ‘mercurial genius’, a unique personality, blessed with an incredible technique, who delighted in defying convention as no performance was identical. For a musician reluctant to visit the studio, live performances were the showcase for his stunning virtuosity and creativity caught on the wing.

Described by the New York Times in 1944 as “One of the most remarkably gifted of the younger generation of American keyboard artists,” Leon Fleisher was born in San Francisco in 1928. In 1944, at age 16, he played the Brahms first Piano Concerto as soloist with the New York Philharmonic conducted by Pierre Monteux. In 1952 he won the Queen Elizabeth Competition in Brussels. He played the Brahms and Beethoven Piano Concertos often and recorded them with George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra. In 1964, he noticed that two fingers of his right hand were beginning to involuntarily curl up. He tried every therapy that existed then, but his solo career was effectively ended. He continued to teach, and conduct and in 1967 began to perform works for the left hand. In 1995 he succeeded to regain the use if his right hand and began performing and recording with two-hands. Leon Fleisher passed away in 2020 at age 92. DOREMI is proud to offer here a hitherto unreleased live recording of 16 years old Leon Fleisher playing Brahms Piano concerto No, 1 with the New York Philharmonic, with Pierre Monteux conducting.

A Beethoven cycle that is fun from the first to the last note! Wojciech Rajski guides us through the sheer inexhaustible wealth of ideas energetically and sensitively, humorously and dance-like, with radiant elegance. And he brings to light details that have never been heard before. Pleasure without pathos. The highly acclaimed series was created between 2005 and 2015 in Sopot (Poland) and in St. John's Church in Gdansk. It has so far been released on CD, SACD, Bluray and also LP in individual editions. But Rajski's Beethoven not only has musical qualities that go far beyond the "normal", it also sets recording standards.

TACET's Inspiring Tube Sound, for example, continues to find new enthusiastic fans. That's why the series is now being released once again, as a limited LP box set for exclusive collectors. "Half-speed" mastered, the suitable sides in the legendary "play backwards" mode (also a TACET development), 180g pressings, in a particularly high-quality presentation with gold edging, in a linen-covered box and with serial numbers (total edition of 1000) as well as signed by the producer.

Friedrich Gulda was born in Vienna on May 16, 1930. He began his musical education at the Grossmann Conservatory and subsequently took private lessons from Felix Pazofsky. From 1942 to 1947 he studied piano at the Vienna Academy of Music under Bruno Seidlhofer and Music Theory and Composition under Joseph Marx. He gave his first public performance in 1944 and, two years later when just 16 years old, won the Geneva International Music Competition. Starting after the Second World War, as a 20-year-old, Gulda established himself as a piano soloist with an excellent international reputation and even performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City in 1950. In the 1950s he was celebrated and considered the leading interpreter of Beethoven in his generation. He founded his own Klassische Orchester Gulda for chamber music with members of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra.

In addition to Beethoven, Gulda’s repertoire encompasses works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Schubert, Frédéric Chopin, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel and Richard Strauss, whose Burleske in D minor and lieder are included in this release, with Gulda accompanying soprano Hilde Güden. Gulda was essentially an out-and-out contrarian who showed that a great genius can sometimes be only a step away from a certain madness. While Karl Böhm or Rubinstein admired him as a magnificently talented interpreter of Bach, Mozart and Beethoven, Gulda could also be provocative – including inciting his fellow concert pianists. Asked about Vladimir Horowitz, Gulda once responded: “Horowitz is a master. Because he is able to do – whatever he wants,” but also added: “But what he is after doesn’t interest me” (Joachim Kaiser).

REVIEW:
Friedrich Gulda (1930-2000) was certainly never a conformist pianist. But he was less flamboyant in his youth than in his later years, and he did present new perspectives at the beginning of his career, which helped to provoke a change in thinking. The recordings in this CD box set date from this period.

He recorded the freshly perky Mozart Sonata K. 576 in 1948, and both Concertos K. 503 and 537 in 1955 with the New Symphony Orchestra under Anthony Collins. Gulda’s fresh yet nuanced playing compensates for the weak orchestra’s playing. The Beethoven sonatas Nos. 4, 7, 8 and 19 show the still searching Gulda of 1955 on his way to the 1967 complete recording. The 3rd CD includes the concerto piece by Carl Maria von Weber and the Strauss Burlesque, as well as a set of Strauss songs that Gulda recorded with Hilde Güden in 1956. These are wonderful interpretations of rare freshness and suppleness. Güden’s silvery timbre and her confidently controlled, light vocal line coupled with Gulda’s spontaneous and sensitive playing make for an uncommonly natural performance.

Recorded in 1954, Chopin’s compositions, the 4 Ballades and the 1st Piano Concerto, are among Gulda’s ‘immortal’ recordings. In the 1st Piano Concerto, Gulda collaborates with the more traditional Adrian Boult, but it is precisely the contrast in temperament that leads to special tension and dynamics. This recording has been available several times on various labels, but here it definitely sounds in the best quality so far. Also very exciting are the four ballads, which he plays dramatically and narratively.

Debussy and Ravel, the composers represented on CDs Nos. 5 and 6 of this box, have been Gulda’s recurring preoccupation. The early recordings from 1953 and 1955 may not yet be as stylistically tested on the hard, sharp and pithy of jazz as the late recordings, but their analytically modern style, with clear, precise lines and contours and good transparency, shows the intellectual brilliance of these interpretations.

The bottom line is that this encounter with the young Gulda is a very important one that should help one understand the older musician and could help bring respect to Gulda among those who did not appreciate his later work as much.

-- Pizzicato

Herbert von Karajan during the Fifties live performed several times Beethoven Symphonies the German conductor would have recorded in studio for EMI a little later. Many Karajan performances were made in various countries and thanks to the collectors these recordings were saved and now after seventy years they are still available. That’s the case of these two Beethoven Symphonies conducted by Karajan the first one in New York in 1958 and the second in Tourin in 1954 and now re-presented on modern format after having carefully digitally remastered. This IDIS new release is an amazing testimony of Karajan work who gained always the best from any orchestra he conducted.