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

asin: B000BC8T8C binding: Audio CD list price: $29.98 USD amazon price: $79.56 USD

Have you ever wished to be present as a great instrumentalist teaches gifted pupils? Sony's set of Alfred Cortot's Master Classes can satisfy that fantasy, as well as provide insightful performances of works (and excerpts of works) including some Cortot never recorded, and hearing him expound on them from a performer's point of view. It's possible thanks to an engineering student who taped many of Cortot's classes in the late 1950s and Murray Perahia, who tracked down the tapes and produced this invaluable set. Don't understand French? Not to worry--French texts and English translations of Cortot's remarks are provided. We also hear Cortot playing with spontaneity and captivating spur-of-the-moment impetuousness, if also with rather more wrong notes than the fastidious would like. The inevitable frustration of wanting him to play an entire lengthy work soon gives way to appreciation for his insights and the beauties of the excerpts he's highlighting. Those insights include technical points like pedaling, rhythm, and touch. But more often he's teaching a work's expressive content. He'll relate a Beethoven Sonata to a love story or the way Chopin's Ballades reflect the Adam Mieckicwicz poems said to inspire them. There's Bach, Mozart, and Schumann here too. Cortot's main point, the lesson that pervades these discs, is one all aspiring artists need to absorb: "Technique can never really be separated from musical expression." This set is must for pianophiles, students, and admirers of one of the last century's greatest artists. --Dan Davis

author: Various asin: 1596150890 binding: Paperback list price: $39.98 USD amazon price: $39.98 USD

Little need be said about this wonderful concerto, which shows Beethoven in thorough command of the idiom. Striking passages, its trademark opening theme in octaves, and a marvelous orchestration create an indispensable part of every pianist’s library, and this new MMO digital recording features Milena Mollova, world-renowned Beethoven interpreter. This deluxe edition includes a second compact disc containing a slow-tempo version of the accompaniment to help you as you learn the concerto. Includes a printed music score on high-quality ivory paper; and a digital stereo compact disc, voluminously indexed for your convenience, containing a complete version with soloist, followed by a second performance of the orchestral accompaniment, minus you, the soloist; and a second compact disc containing a full-speed recording of the complete version of the concerto, followed by a -17% slow-tempo version of the accompaniment for practice purposes. Musicians:Performed by Milena Mollova, piano Accompaniment: Plovdiv Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor: Nayden Todorov Song Listing:Beethoven, Ludwig van Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, op. 37

asin: B0000AH3EO binding: Audio CD list price: $12.98 USD amazon price: $12.98

First Time on CD. Digitally Remastered.