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

asin: B00004W9BS binding: DVD list price: $29.98 USD amazon price: $29.98

Fantasy for piano, choir and orchestra in c minor op.80. The Choral Fantasy was the first time Beethoven united instrumental and vocal music into one seamless and masterful work. This production features the pianist Gerhard Oppitz and the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Gianluigi Gelmetti as well as the Sudfunk Choir directed by Joseph Beischer. It was recorded in the magnificent 500-year-old Gothic Amandus church in Bad Urach, Germany. The second part of this program again features Gerhard Oppitz, a leading pianist renowned for his expressive yet forceful touch. Oppitz is captured here at his best, performing Bach's Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue in D minor BWV 903 and Franz Liszt's Variations on Bach's cantata "Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen". This DVD also includes the option of viewing running commentaries on the pieces as they are performed as well as liner notes, a glossary of music terms, historical markers for the pieces, and performer profiles. Audio playback options are 5.1 dolby digital and non-compressed stereo.

asin: B000002RMM binding: Audio CD list price: $16.98 USD amazon price: $16.98

Itzhak Perlman, Lynn Harrell, and Vladimir Ashkenazy combine majesty with a splendid sense of flow in the opening movement of the Archduke Trio, and treat the variations of the third movement in the manner of late Beethoven--with an emotive power that is all the more intense for being hushed and stilled. The digital recording, dating from February 1982, is fairly close-miked and dry, but quite acceptable. --Ted Libbey

asin: B00008PW4C binding: Audio CD list price: $26.99 USD amazon price: $26.99

5 CD Box set.