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

asin: B000EAV6BS binding: Audio CD list price: $16.98 USD amazon price: $30.71 USD

Beethoven's last three piano sonatas have long been regarded as the Mt. Everest of the form, heights that can be scaled only by pianists who possess the keyboard technique to realize the depth of the composer's vision. By those standards, if Uchida isn't the equal of such giants as Arrau, Kempff, and Schnabel, she certainly comes close enough to make this an outstanding release. Her pianissimos are feathery-light; her fortes are as powerful as one might wish, and her trills are analogues of Beethoven's spiritual ideas. She renders Beethoven's full dynamic palette with nuances that make every shading register. Uchida never makes an ugly sound. Her tone remains warm, colorful, and full-bodied. More important, her interpretation encompasses the inward, contemplative slow sections as well as the energetic ones, and she plays Beethoven's contrapuntal passages with a clarity that makes every musical strand count. She's helped by outstanding engineering, too. Not all of the transcendental Beethoven is captured here, but Uchida comes a lot closer than most pianists can aspire to. That alone makes this disc a must-have. -- Dan Davis

asin: B000006O34 binding: Audio CD list price: $33.98 USD amazon price: $33.98 USD

Much of the repertoire here is new to Richter's ever-growing discography, notably 53 minutes worth of transcendent Liszt Années de Pelerinage excerpts, and a haunting Ravel Le Gibet. A live Beethoven Pathetique sonata proves more individual and arresting than Richter's excellent studio recording, as does this 1954 Weber 3rd Sonata to the better- recorded 1966 Philips version. Richter fans, however, will truly be floored by a whirling Ravel Alborado del gracioso and Rachmaninoff's Études- tableaux in E-flat, played better than humanly possible. Don't pass this set up! --Jed Distler

asin: B000003CUO binding: Audio CD list price: $9.98 USD amazon price: $9.98 USD

It takes a lot of confidence, to say nothing of experience and technical mastery to even think about tackling these three Beethovenian giants, but Irish pianist John O'Conor has more than what it takes. He delivers performances that not only show the depth of the composer's complex pianistic structures, but find the music's heart as well. The sonics are superb. --David Vernier

author: Ludwig van Beethoven asin: 0486253929 binding: Paperback list price: $12.95 USD amazon price: $12.95

Most popular and most performed shorter works, including Rondo a capriccio in G and Andante in F. Breitkopf & Hartel edition.