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

asin: B000001K4G binding: Audio CD list price: $10.98 USD amazon price: $10.98 USD

Even Alfred Brendel may not approve of the Beethoven performances heard on these discs. Brendel is several decades older and wiser now, and may well find these products of his relative youth as callow as I do. The magnificent Diabelli Variations, one of Beethoven's greatest compositions, is trivialized by this undercharacterized playing, which lets so many important moments go by without saying anything special about them. It's worth the extra money to spring for a great performance of this music, like Richter on Praga PR 254 023 or Oelbaum on Bridge BCD 9010. The smaller pieces also sound bland. Even at a low price this set is no great bargain. --Leslie Gerber

author: Franz Liszt asin: 0486418847 binding: Paperback list price: $16.95 USD amazon price: $11.53 USD

Second volume in a Dover series of Liszt's piano transcriptions of Beethoven's 9 symphonies includes Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68, "Pastorale"; Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92; Symphony No. 8 in F major, Op. 93; and Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, "Choral."

asin: B000003CTQ binding: Audio CD list price: $9.98 USD amazon price: $8.77 USD

There are more famous pianists around, some flashier, some more visible, but none performs Beethoven's sonatas with more stylistic acuity or technical facility--or understanding of how to play these three mainstays of the piano repertoire. John O'Conor's Hamburg Steinway is a phenomenal instrument, and his recording team captures its every color and dynamic nuance like no one else. --David Vernier

asin: B000087F5C binding: DVD list price: $24.98 USD amazon price: $22.49 USD

It would be difficult, perhaps impossible, to assemble a better group of musicians to perform Beethoven's Triple Concerto and Choral Fantasy. Daniel Barenboim has been so busy conducting the world's top orchestras and opera companies that there is a danger of forgetting what an excellent pianist he is. He conducts both of these works from the keyboard, as Beethoven would have expected, engaging in chamber music-like dialogue in the concerto and creating a sense of impromptu in the Fantasy's long piano solo, which Beethoven wrote for himself and partly improvised at the first performance. Itzhak Perlman and Yo-Yo Ma are sensitive, alert, and technically superb partners. The music is not Beethoven's most familiar, but it is absolutely charming. The concerto is appealing in its melodic material and the intricate interactions among the soloists and orchestra. The Choral Fantasy features a long piano solo that Beethoven wrote for himself, plus a choral melody that sounds like a preliminary sketch for the last movement of his Ninth Symphony. Both works pose unusual balance challenges, to which Barenboim and the recording engineers rise impressively. --Joe McLellan

asin: B0006B4PQ8 binding: DVD list price: $24.95 USD amazon price: $24.95 USD

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.