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

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Downloadable sheet music file

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Volume I of this series is devoted to Beethoven Sonatas # 1 and 14. Pianist Mark Salman and Host David Dubal discuss Beethoven's life during the genesis of each sonata and illustrate its technical and emotional characteristics with musical excerpts. Then Salman performs the entire sonata, giving the viewer a unique close-up glimpse into the inner working of the performer's art.

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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

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Downloadable sheet music file

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Downloadable sheet music file

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The great Russian pianist recorded these concertos again later in his career, with George Szell and the incomparable Cleveland Orchestra for EMI. Those recordings are also available on CD. However, the critical consensus seems to be that Emil Gilels was in better form here, even if Ludwig was no Szell and the Philharmonia can't match the Clevelanders in precision or collective virtuosity. Mind you, there's nothing at all wrong with the conducting or the playing--it's quite fine--but it's Gilels who carries the day. He was one of those artists with technique to burn, but who placed it firmly in the service of the most classically severe music he could find. The result is a particularly combustible blend of passion and intellect, particularly in evidence here. -- David Hurwitz