Ludwig van Beethoven
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Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Op. 14, 49, 78 & 79 / Mari Kodama
“Some pianists seem to have been born to play Beethoven. Mari Kodama has the tools, as well as the inclination, needed to interpret this composer: a well-centered, beautiful tone, a love of the full range of keyboard colors, and a sensitivity to distinctions in rhythm both great and subtle." -- Audiophile Audition
Beethoven: Sonatas for Fortepiano & Violin, Vol. 4
Beethoven: Symphonies No 1 & 2 / Sir Neville Marriner, Asmf
These excellent performances date from 1970, before Neville Marriner embarked on possibly the dullest complete Beethoven symphony cycle in history, and they have all of the qualities of elegance and verve that made the conductor and his Academy of St. Martin in the Fields the greatest chamber orchestra of the 1960s and '70s. There's simply nothing to quibble with from a musical standpoint: the allegros move along smartly, wind parts are clearly audible (particularly in the Second Symphony), and trumpets and drums cut through the texture without blasting. The two slow movements sing and the strings play beautifully. Of course, period groups have made Marriner's approach sound a bit tame in comparison, but whatever the performances lack in rawness and edge they more than make up for in polish. It's a perfectly legitimate view of the music, and one that has aged not a bit.
Sonically, these multichannel remasterings convey an excellent sense of the orchestra in a warm acoustic space, without emphasizing the rear channels to distracting effect. Unfortunately, there is a huge amount of ambient noise (in other words, hiss) that comes as quite a surprise given the silent backgrounds that we have become used to in this digital (or even Dolby) age. Whether or not this will bother you is very much a matter of personal preference, but be warned: audiophile sound this certainly is not. However, the musical values remain first rate and certainly justify making this pair of performances available again.
--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com
Neumeier: Beethoven Project
Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 3 & 4
Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 1-9 / Haselböck, Vienna Academy Orchestra (Complete RESOUND)
Beethoven's Ninth: Symphony for the World / Currentzis
To this day, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 is one of the most popular pieces of classical music in the world. But what is it about this global hit? The film charts the success of the symphony around the globe and encounters passionate amateur musicians and musical personalities. Watch as Greek conductor Teodor Currentzis works on Beethoven’s Ninth with his ensemble, MusicAeterna. Follow Chinese composer and Oscar winner Tan Dun as he creates a new composition inspired by the great Beethoven symphony. Experience the Orchestre Symphonique Kimbanguiste in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as they play the Ninth. Visit a favela in Brazil, where Beethovens’s music helps people get off the streets. Be amazed as a choir of 10,000 in Japan sings the final chorus of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, with great enthusiasm. Learn how Paul Whittaker helps make Beethoven accessible for deaf people. And find out how British DJ Gabriel Prokofiev performs a symphonic remix of Beethoven’s Ninth.
Beethoven: Final Piano Sonatas / Anton Kuerti
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor / Goehr, Netherlands Philharmonic
As a master student of Arnold Schönberg, Walter Goehr was particularly fond of New Music, but as a conductor he devoted himself to compositions from previous centuries. The present recording of a concert from 1955 with Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, which he recorded with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus, documents that he did this very successfully. Goehr was born in Berlin, but, being a Jewish man, he was forced to seek employment outside of Germany after working for Berlin Radio in 1932. He was invited to become music director for the Gramophone Company, and thus moved to London. It was during this time he conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra in the premiere recording of Bizet’s Symphony in C. He was in high demand as a guest conductor for orchestras all across Europe, including the ensemble heard in this historic recording.
Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos. 1, 8, 14, 18, 23, 26, 32
Beethoven: The Complete Sonatas / Brautigam
The 32 Piano Sonatas by Ludwig van Beethoven are often referred to as the ‘New Testament’ of the keyboard literature, following on the ‘Old Testament’ of J.S. Bach's 48 preludes and fugues in the Well-Tempered Clavier. Composed over a period of almost three decades, from 1795 to 1822, the sonatas constitute a fascinating panorama of an artistic career which underwent numerous changes – not to say upheavals – but nevertheless remained remarkably consistent. Ever since the first recording of the entire cycle, by Artur Schnabel in the 1930s, a number of the world's leading pianists have given us their performances of this monumental collection on disc. One of the latest cycles is that of Ronald Brautigam, released on single discs between 2004 and 2010. Performed on the fortepiano, as part of a series of Beethoven's complete solo keyboard works, Brautigam's recordings have been described as ‘riveting’, ‘compelling’ and ‘revolutionary’. The eight discs with the 32 sonatas are now being released as a boxed set, along with a ninth disc containing the early, unnumbered sonatas. Contributing factors to the ‘refreshing directness’ that reviewers have experienced in these performances are the widely praised recorded sound and the carefully selected instruments, built by Paul McNulty after originals from 1788-1819 by the foremost Viennese makers of fortepianos. For this boxed set, the original SACD format has been retained – along with the possibility of listening to the performances in surround – thus offering the opportunity of sharing the experience of one reviewer: ‘One has almost the impression of being a contemporary of Beethoven’s: one of the first, infinitely startled – not to say shocked – witnesses to this music’ (Süddeutsche Zeitung).
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REVIEW:
Much of the playing here is sensational. Notice the pronounced rhetorical emphasis yet intensely focused dotted rhythms in the Pathétique’s introduction, or the revelatory continuity from one variation to the next in Op 14 No 2’s uncommonly quick central movement. Those who think that even Brautigam’s sturdy fortepiano cannot approximate an orchestra should check out Op 22’s first movement, where the full-bodied octaves and brilliantly judged ‘Rossini’ crescendo just before the recapitulation make a pulverising impact.
And what about the Moonlight finale’s controlled fury and slashing momentum that remain musical to the core, or how those Op 10 No 1 and 2 finales rock and roll while retaining maximum linear clarity? Few others rightly feel Op 10 No 3’s Minuet as one beat to a bar and effectively spin out the left-hand counterlines. Among the heroic middle-period works, perhaps Brautigam’s Waldstein and Appassionata make a cogent case for period instruments in regard to textural differentiation between registers, shorter pedal resonances, and being able to truly perceive rather than merely infer each pitch within low-lying chords and runs, abetted by Brautigam’s subtle yet expressively powerful tempo modifications and telling accents.
Brautigam’s late sonatas are never less than masterful.
– Gramophone
Beethoven: Violin Sonatas Nos. 1, 5 & 8 / Waley-Cohen, Watkins
Tamsin Waley-Cohen and Huw Watkins return with the start of a Beethoven Violin Sonata Cycle – here recording the 1st, 5th and 8th sonatas. Gramophone Magazine said “The heart gives a little leap at the prospect of...a duo as engaging and intelligent as Tamsin Waley-Cohen and Huw Watkins.” This cycle is sure to be one of the highlights of Signum’s year, as well as of Beethoven 250. Beethoven’s twelve violin sonatas add up to a comprehensive exploration of the possibilities and potential of writing for the two instruments on equal terms – possibilities that he was ideally placed to understand. The three sonatas on this recording are waypoints on a journey, crafted by a composer who was both violinist and pianist, and who never ceased exploring the practical possibilities of the instruments for which he wrote.
REVIEW:
Their complementary personalities meet most harmoniously in the Spring Sonata’s Adagio, where Watkins draws an appealing, fortepiano-like resonance from the piano and Waley-Cohen’s phrasing taps the music’s pastoral roots. Each of the three sonatas inhabits its own costume, made to measure.
–Gramophone (Editor's Choice, August 2020)
Beethoven: Works for Guitar & Piano / Halasz
Around 1800 Vienna was, alongside Paris, one of the European centers for guitar performance. The instrument was well suited for the idiom of Viennese classicism and ideal for domestic music-making and it was promoted by figures such as the virtuoso Mauro Giuliani and the composer/publisher Anton Diabelli. But Beethoven, the towering giant of musical Vienna, seems to have been unmoved by the charms of the guitar – while instead composing for its sibling, the mandolin. Duo Halász, the husband and wife team of Franz and Débora Halász have now rectified this, by appropriating Beethoven’s four extant pieces for mandolin and piano (WoO?43 and 44) as well as adapting some other early compositions, including the Serenade in D major for flute and piano and the Variations on Mozart’s ‘Se vuol ballare’ for violin and piano. In doing so they follow the example of an eminent guitarist and contemporary of Beethoven, namely Ferdinando Carulli, whose 1825 arrangement of the Variations on Mozart’s ‘Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen’ closes the programme. Franz and Débora Halász have made a number of recordings for BIS, together and separately, to critical acclaim, including a Latin Grammy Award for their disc Alma Brasileira with chamber works by Radamés Gnattali.
Beethoven: Variations on Folk Songs
Beethoven: The String Quartets / Kuss Quartet
Beethoven, L. Van: String Trios (Complete), Vol. 1 - Opp. 3
Beethoven Rediscovered
Alpha continues to explore its catalogue and this year again offers a wide variety of combinations. After a box assembling the gems of the Baroque era (Masters of the Baroque - Alpha 372), the piano is now given pride of place. The box set Masters of the Piano brings together 10 albums in which great contemporary interpreters (Nelson Goerner, Alexander Lonquich, François-Frédéric Guy, Eric Le Sage, Edna Stern, Anna Vinnitskaya) retrace three centuries of creation on the piano, from Bach to Shostakovich, by way of Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Liszt, Chopin, Brahms, Rachmaninoff and Debussy. The piano will also be at the heart of a 7-release box set devoted to Alexei Lubimov’s recordings. Fortepiano, piano, prepared piano . . . the Russian musician has distinguished himself in every repertoire. Finally, to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth of Beethoven, the Beethoven Rediscovered box highlights 16 albums that offer a chance to rediscover his symphonies, concertos and sonatas on period instruments, the fortepiano, etc.
Past praise of the previously released volumes included in this set:
Beethoven/Liszt: Complete Symphonies / Martynov
Yury Martynov is one of the few pianists around with the technical resources, musical grasp and conviction to recreate this legacy persuasively. In doing so, he amply demonstrates its continued usefulness and vitality. It seems safe to say that he has given us the Beethoven-Liszt cycle for our time, and one unlikely soon to be superseded.
– Gramophone
Beethoven: Piano Concertos No 1 & 2 / Schoonderwoerd, Ensemble Cristofori
Passagework is never rattled off mechanically, always expressively shaped. The slow movements are both memorably beautiful. The recording is close, in a richly resonant acoustic; everything is extremely vivid, with Schoonderwoerd’s breathing often audible, though not distractingly. Mandatory listening for anyone with the slightest interest in Beethoven performance practice.
– Fanfare
Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 and 3
Beethoven: Diabelli Variations / Helmchen
Beethoven: Symphonies 1, 2 & 3 / Thielemann, VPO
The Beethoven cycle of the 21st century!
Christian Thielemann joins forces with the prestigious Wiener Philharmoniker in a unique and monumental project BEETHOVEN 9, their first-ever recording of all 9 Symphonies in full high definition and Surround Sound. This recording from the Golden Hall of Vienna´s Musikverein is accompanied by nine(!) hour-long documentaries, one on each symphony, featuring Christian Thielemann and Germany´s most eminent music critic, Prof. Joachim Kaiser. From insights into Beethoven´s musical thinking to interpretational comparisons, including excerpts form legendary performances by Karajan, Bernstein, Böhm, Järvi etc., to historical perpsectives – no aspect of Beethoven´s symphonic oeuvre will remain untreated! This 3 DVD-set contains Beethoven Symphonies 1, 2 & 3 and the Documentaries about Symphonies 1, 2 & 3.
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 1, 2 and 3
Coriolan Overture
Egmont Overture, Op. 84
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Christian Thielemann, conductor
Recorded live at the Goldener Saal der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, Vienna
including:
Discovering Beethoven
with Joachim Keiser and Christian Thielemann
one-hour long documentary for each symphony
Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS 5.0
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish, Italian, Korean, Chinese, Japanese Running time: 155 mins (symphonies) + 170 mins (documentaries)
No. of DVDs: 3
Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos. 29-32
Beethoven: Orchestral Works / Busch, Cappella Aquileia
The compositions on this album, broadly considered, are connected with Beethoven’s efforts on behalf of the theater, and they also attest to his desire to compose for the larger public without having to lower his standards. The center here is formed by his music for Goethe’s Egmont. The Dutch Count Egmont failed in his resistance against the tyrannous rule of the Duke of Alba and was executed. The decisive factor in Beethoven’s choice of this subject must have been that Goethe himself assigned a dramaturgically important role to music above all at the end of his play, and in his composition Beethoven followed these pretextual givens to the letter. When Egmont, in prison prior to his execution, sees the vision of his beloved Klärchen as the personification of liberty, then Egmont’s words and the musically designed vision join together in a melodrama. The album also includes three overtures and Wellington’s Victory, in which Beethoven combines the older tradition of the “battaglia,” the musical depiction of a battle, with victory pathos. Its effect lies not so much in the masterful treatment of the musical material itself as in the development of a spatial dimension for a realistic battle scene and in the big sound overpowering the listener, in short: in its theatrical character. During Beethoven’s lifetime it was his most successful composition.
Last Three Sonatas / Sunwook Kim
Large industrial complexes, built of solid brick tell the story of industrialization of 19th century Leipzig. Where spinning wheels once rattled, chimneys smoked and thousands of workers carried out their daily work, new life has moved in over the past few years. Today, former factories are home to artists' studios, galleries and manufactories. The term "industrial culture" is taken literally here. The Kunstkraftwerk Leipzig is one of these buildings that tell the story of time and was now the chosen location for a very special audio and video production: the exceptional Korean pianist Sunwook Kim played Ludwig van Beethoven's last three Piano Sonatas op. 109-111 in an industrial setting framed by light projections that filled the brick hall. Beethoven's last three piano sonatas occupy a very special place within his oeuvre. Completely deaf by then, the composer puts three of his most intimate and personal works on paper, which at the same time radiate optimism and point musically into the future like hardly any other works.
Beethoven Reimagined
Beethoven: Complete Cello Sonatas & Variations / Testori, Mastroprimiano
Beethoven wrote sympathetically for the cello throughout his career, from the ardent, lyrical voice of the Op.1 piano trios onwards, and he rarely subjugated the instrument to its basso continuo role still prevalent in the works of Mozart and Haydn. He never contemplated a cello concerto, but his five sonatas, plus sets of crowd-pleasing variations on popular themes by Handel and Mozart, have attracted the great cellists of every era. However, the record catalogue boasts comparatively few period-instrument accounts, made according to the performing principles and bowing of Beethoven’s day, and so this new Brilliant Classics set promises a new and refreshing perspective on some perennially audacious masterpieces. The Op.5 Sonatas are intended to astound as well as to innovate. For the first time in the history of the cello repertoire, both instruments were invested with equal importance. The piano writing is scarcely less bold and quick-thinking, requiring both musicians to turn on a sixpence from soloist to accompanist and back again, emulating the more equal dialogue of a string quartet. Formal novelty is also in evidence, in the expanded slow introductions and then in the four-movement structures of Op.69 and Op.102 No.1. In every way the last sonatas belong to Beethoven’s late period: posing questions to listeners as well as performers with every bar, transcending the limits of the instruments to sing and shout, contemplate and argue. The partnership of Mario Testori and Costantino Mastroprimiano is an experienced one, with a well-received Brilliant Classics album (95023) of late-Classical sonatas by Hummel, Moscheles and Ries to its credit. The pianist also contributes an enlightening booklet essay to this valuable contribution to the Beethoven anniversary year.
Beethoven: Symphonies No 7 & 8 / Weill, Tafelmusik
-- Toronto Star
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 / Jansons, BRSO
Taken from the 2012 Japan tour that performed the complete Beethoven cycle in various cities across Japan garnering much acclaim for the Chor and Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks and now available in single editions, this live recording of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 from Tokyo's Suntory Hall also includes noted vocal soloists, Christiane Karg, Mihoko Fujimura, Michael Schade and Michael Volle, all frequent collaborators with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks.
Beethoven: Symphonies nos. 4 & 7 / Masur, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig
Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 7 / Blunier, Beethoven Orchester Bonn
The Beethoven Orchestra of Bonn concludes its complete recording of the symphonies of the composer whose name it bears with an absolutely rousing performance. The spirited Seventh Symphony brings together everything that General Music Director Stefan Blunier has demanded of his musicians from the very beginning of this cycle: emotional depth, gripping rhythms, frenetic energy, and powerful tension holding the audience in suspense even after the last chord has faded away. Prior to this work, however, the Bonn musicians show the Fourth Symphony in an entirely new light: no longer a bashful “wallflower,” it shines in its own special way between its two more famous neighbors.
Beethoven: Coriolan Overture, Op. 62 / Schoonderwoerd, Ensemble Cristofori
Arthur Schoonderwoerd and his Ensemble Cristofori are taking on Beethoven’s Symphonies but in a very different style. Tempo, accentuation, phrasing, or structural architecture are not the first thing that strikes us when we listen to Arthur Schoonderwoerd’s performances of Classical orchestra music for the first time. Instead, the first thing we notice is that the music sounds different. The orchestra is unusually small. Ensemble Cristofori plays as an orchestra- string quartet, double bass, and winds- and the effect is stunning. The orchestral sound is present, but each voice can be heard specifically as well. Arthur Schoonderwoerd is a well established pianist and powerful conductor, and is widely known as a consistent advocate for Early Music performance. He is also a powerful conductor of 21st century music.
