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

asin: B000NPCMGW binding: Audio CD list price: $11.98 USD amazon price: $10.22 USD

Specially priced 2-CD set in space-saving brilliant box with accompanying three-language booklet. Digitally remastered to the highest standards at the world-famous Abbey Road Studios.

author: Kenneth O. Drake asin: 0253213827 binding: Paperback list price: $24.95 USD amazon price: $24.95 USD

Drake groups the Beethoven piano sonatas according to their musical qualities, rather than their chronology. He explores the interpretive implications of rhythm, dynamics, slurs, harmonic effects, and melodic development and identifies specific measures where Beethoven skillfully employs these compositional devices.

asin: B00009PJQR binding: Audio CD list price: $52.99 USD amazon price: $52.99

This deluxe four-CD set showcases Beethoven's most popular piano sonatas in classic, contrasting performances by some of the 20th century's greatest keyboard soloists. If Bach's "Well-Tempered Clavier" comprises music's Old Testament, Beethoven's 32 Piano Sonatas constitute the New Testament. Through multiple performances of the same work, this collection provides rare, comparative insight into the composer's "Pathétique" Sonata (played by Schnabel, Fischer, Moiseiwitsch and Rubinstein), "Moonlight" (Friedman, Backhaus, Paderewski, Horowitz), "Appassionata" (Kempff, Arrau, Backhaus), and Op. 31, No. 3 (Schnabel, Gieseking, Serkin). As a bonus, the set includes a performance of the "Tempest" Sonata by Gieseking. The rare vintage 78s were brought to 21st-century life through the remastering of Art & Son Studio in Paris, using the 24-bit "CAP 440" technique. Enclosed in an attractive, protective slipcase, the 96-page book contains evocative images of the composer and many rarely seen photos of the performers. The texts — in English, French and German — include an introduction by Pulitzer Prize-winner Tim Page, an illuminating contextual essay by Jed Distler ("Beethoven and the Great Pianists: Making History on Record"), and detailed artist biographies from "The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians."