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

author: Ludwig van Beethoven asin: 0486253929 binding: Paperback list price: $12.95 USD amazon price: $12.95

Most popular and most performed shorter works, including Rondo a capriccio in G and Andante in F. Breitkopf & Hartel edition.

asin: B000003CTQ binding: Audio CD list price: $9.98 USD amazon price: $8.77 USD

There are more famous pianists around, some flashier, some more visible, but none performs Beethoven's sonatas with more stylistic acuity or technical facility--or understanding of how to play these three mainstays of the piano repertoire. John O'Conor's Hamburg Steinway is a phenomenal instrument, and his recording team captures its every color and dynamic nuance like no one else. --David Vernier

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: B000L21DN0 binding: Audio CD list price: $16.98 USD amazon price: $16.98 USD

These are aggressive, somewhat eccentric readings of these concerti. They are given performances of real fire, and Pletnev takes interesting liberties with dynamics. Sudden passages of very loud or very soft playing ensure that we will not be bored. At times he uses rubato the way an Italian tenor might, which is to say, interestingly but with dubious taste. There is a moment in the First Concerto's Largo that is taken so slowly it sounds as if something might have gone wrong with the CD. It appears that Pletnev has approached both of these works as exemplars of high Romanticism, whereas the first, in particular, looks back to Mozart. This is not to say that he does not play impeccably. His tone is always handsome and no matter how loudly he plays, he never distorts. Whether or not one agrees with his "re-interpretations," it is impossible not to be riveted. Pletnev says in the accompanying notes that his wish is that "every scream, every moment of joy" in the music "should be lived through as it's lived in our real lives." Those who know these concerti well might be surprised at how many screams Pletnev finds. The orchestra plays with great transparency under Christian Gansch. Nothing if not entertaining. --Robert Levine