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

author: Beethoven asin: B000LRYPZI binding: Digital list price: $3.75 USD amazon price: $3.75 USD

Downloadable sheet music file

asin: B0000028NZ binding: Audio CD list price: $8.99 USD amazon price: $9.95 USD

Why this 1968 recording of Sonata No. 24 (Op. 78 in F Sharp) lay dormant until now is a mystery. Gould obviously relishes this little jewel, and plays up the two movement's contrasting qualities with exquisite poise and superb characterization. An unreleased CBC broadcast of the mighty Hammerklavier sonata, on the other hand, is scaled down to drawing-room size. Gould brings out the knotty counterpoint with microscopic clarity, yet ducks from Beethoven's surging dynamism in the outer movements. The Andante Sostenuto is reticent and stark under Gould's introspective hands, touching upon but not yielding to the music's tragic overtones. Not the first choice Hammerklavier for your collection, but Gouldians should hear it. --Jed Distler

asin: B0002UNQ8G binding: Audio CD list price: $16.98 USD amazon price: $32.81 USD

The great Martha Argerich here plays Beethoven's Second and Third Piano Concertos. The latter is a work she's performed only twice before (and not for well over 20 years). There are plenty of fireworks in the outer movements, but all is not well between conductor Claudio Abbado and Argerich. In general, his approach seems to be mellower than hers; while she's emoting all over the place, say, in the first movement of the Third, Abbado is moderate and literal, keeping almost all vibrato out of the string section of the orchestra. In addition, the recording invariably favors Argerich and much orchestral detail is obscured. The listener, however, can't deny the excitement, and Argerich plays the middle movements of both concertos rhapsodically. The Second is altogether more successful, with every phrase delivered naturally, as if the piano knows instinctively where to go. This is for Argerich fans--an interesting release. --Robert Levine