Beethoven Piano Your resource for the piano music of Ludwig van Beethoven

author: Steven Isserlis asin: 0571206166 binding: Paperback list price: $7.96 USD amazon price: $7.96

Why did Bach's son call him 'The Old Wig'?What part did Stravinsky's parrot play at dinner parties?How did Mozart keep his pigtails styled?What did Schumann invent to make his fingers stronger?And why did Beethoven throw his stew?This book is a unique introduction for children to the world of classical composers and their music.Famous cellist Steven Isserlis brings six of his favorite composers to life in an irresistible manner, painting hilarious biographical portraits of each of them and describing their music in lively detail. Packed with facts, dates, anecdotes and illustrations, Why Beethoven Threw the Stew is an attractive and accessible read for children (and their parents!).

author: Ludwig van Beethoven asin: 0486413985 binding: Paperback list price: $3.95 USD amazon price: $3.95

One of Beethoven's most admired and widely performed piano concertos, perfectly designed and profoundly poetic. This convenient and economic volume — meticulously reproduced with bar-numbered movements — will be the perfect edition for classroom and concert hall alike.

asin: B00004W9CK binding: Audio CD list price: $25.98 USD amazon price: $25.98 USD

If the "Hammerklavier" Sonata (No. 29), perhaps the most profound work ever written for the piano, were not on this disc, one would dwell on the singular charms of the rarely heard, two-movement Sonata No. 27 or the astonishing rightness of Solomon's interpretation of the Sonata No. 26, "Les Adieux." But the "Hammerklavier" is the touchstone of any Beethoven sonata cycle, and it's the rock upon which most pianists founder. Solomon meets its challenges as well as anyone who's every recorded it. Solomon may not match Artur Schnabel's intensity, but he's far superior technically, and he comes close to Claudio Arrau's depth and Wilhelm Kempff's poetry. Solomon is unique in bringing all these attributes to bear on a piece whose mysteries can never be encompassed in one interpretation. He captures the dynamism of the opening Allegro, makes the Scherzo a witty romp, and sustains the long, 22-minute Adagio with a flowing poetry that's breathtaking. The final fugue, played with superhuman ease by Solomon, for once seems an inevitable culmination of a timeless journey. An indispensable disc. --Dan Davis

asin: B000ETQSD0 binding: Audio CD list price: $18.98 USD amazon price: $19.92 USD

Bernard Haitink is not usually thought of as an eminent Beethoven conductor, but this 7th Symphony is perhaps his best-recorded performance of any of the nine. Possibly due to the live concert setting, sparks fly as Haitink induces plenty of rhythmic drive and power, along with fabulous playing by an energized LSO, especially the important winds. His balanced, proportionate approach falls midway between the work's romanticism and its classical framework, avoiding excesses. If the second movement doesn't reach the depth of feeling others strike, it's because Haitink plays it as the flowing Allegretto it is, and not as a slow funeral march. His rip-roaring final movement avoids the runaway train others have evoked, but it's still bursting with vigor, as Beethoven intended. The substantial filler is the Triple Concerto, often looked down upon as inferior Beethoven, but so full of gorgeous melodies and varied timbres of the solo piano, violin, and cello that it's become one of my guilty pleasures, especially as done here in a reading that emphasizes the work's lyricism. --Dan Davis

asin: B0000041UF binding: Audio CD list price: $47.98 USD amazon price: $42.99 USD

There are two really famous Beethoven violin sonatas, the Kreutzer and the Spring. The Kreutzer Sonata inspired the story by Leo Tolstoy, which in turn became the subject of Janácek's First String Quartet, so if you're into comparative studies in the arts, there's a thesis topic for you! The Spring Sonata was featured in Woody Allen's Love and Death, among other places. And perhaps most intriguingly of all, the scherzo of the late sonata, Op. 96, turns up quite clearly in the third movement of Mahler's Second Symphony. So you may already know more about this splendid music than you think. Why not take the plunge with these superb performances and get to know the sonatas at first hand? Just as there are two truly famous Mozart sonatas, there are also two sides to Itzhak Perlman's musical career--the flashy virtuoso and the considerate partner. Chamber-music recordings such as this feature Perlman in this second role, one that gets less attention than his other, more sensational, persona, but which for many listeners is even more musically rewarding. Ashkenazy, no mere accompanist, is very much involved in the proceedings, and the two musicians combine to produce one of the finest sets of Beethoven violin sonatas available as well as one of Perlman's very greatest recordings in any genre. --David Hurwitz