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

author: Ludwig van Beethoven asin: 0486284425 binding: Paperback list price: $14.95 USD amazon price: $11.66 USD

Features 2 widely performed concertos in authoritative 2-piano playing editions edited by Franz Kullak.

asin: B000HXDS04 binding: Audio CD list price: $38.98 USD amazon price: $38.98 USD

Paul Lewis's traversal of the Beethoven Piano Sonatas may just become one of the indispensable recorded versions of these unique works. He tackles the Hammerklavier without attacking it; his interest is textual clarity, and he never fails in that approach. If you listen to the last movement of No. 25, "Alla tedesco," you'll be amazed by the formality and forward propulsion which underpins the seeming merriment in the piece, the abrupt ending suddenly quite a puzzle. Similarly, the first movement of the Waldstein is imbued with a darkness that makes you think you're hearing much of it for the first time. Lewis's is a serious--some might say grave--approach to these works, but it is not heavy; indeed, his touch remains light when it ought to be, without making the music seem trivial. Each movement lets us in on another one of Beethoven's secrets, and the lyrical moments have never seemed lovelier. This is a very special set, highly recommended. --Robert Levine

asin: B00000I7VO binding: Audio CD list price: $11.98 USD amazon price: $13.48 USD

Among the concertos of Beethoven and Brahms, these two have always been stepchildren. One reason is their extreme difficulty; both composers were pianists, so Beethoven wrote an idiomatic part only for the piano. Brahms's friend Joseph Joachim offered advice for the violin concerto, but not for the Double Concerto, which was written as a peace offering after a falling-out. The Beethoven Triple Concerto demands utmost virtuosity, as well as intimate teamwork among the soloists, and that is exactly what these three supreme masters of their instruments bring to it. Free--indeed unaware--of technical problems, they give it a joyful, sparkling lightness. The piano ripples, the cello sings gorgeously, the violin soars ecstatically, the tone is intoxicatingly beautiful. The Finale is wistful, charming, lyrical, gently humorous; the ending is a big joke, with the cello and piano rumbling in the bass, while the violin whistles forlornly in the dark until they all join together. The Brahms is grand, majestic, dreamy, radiant, triumphant; the slow movement warm as dark velvet, the Finale genial and relaxed. Though the orchestra never covers the soloists, it explodes in the tutti passages, especially in the Beethoven, so you might keep a finger on the volume control. --Edith Eisler

asin: B000002909 binding: Audio CD list price: $221.98 USD amazon price: $223.92 USD

It may surprise you to learn that, despite his untouchable reputation with the public, Vladimir Horowitz enjoyed a certain dubious reputation with the critics. For many, he was the epitome of the witless virtuoso, all technique and vulgar display, and no brains. There was some truth in this to the extent that he really could be variable on record, but by general consensus his Masterworks recordings show him at his absolute best. Aside from his famous Carnegie Hall concerts from 1965, you get stunning performances of music by Schumann, Haydn, Beethoven, Chopin, Scriabin, and above all, Scarlatti--the composer that Horowitz, more than anyone, put back on the map for pianists the world over. A great set. --David Hurwitz