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

asin: B000003EUL binding: Audio CD list price: $8.99 USD amazon price: $10.99 USD

Richter was one of the those great virtuoso egomaniac genius types who was so insecure that he practiced for something like 10 hours a day, even before a scheduled performance. But it wasn't just getting the notes right that he was after. He was looking for the way to somehow get an entire work "into his hands," and trying to figure out the relationships between all of its different parts. That's why his performances--even the very slow one--have such an inevitable sounding organic unity. This performance isn't one of the very slow ones, but it does have that sense of urgency and spontaneity, as though Richter and Leinsdorf were composing as they play. It's one of the great recordings. --David Hurwitz

asin: B000A3VTTI binding: DVD list price: $39.98 USD amazon price: $24.97 USD

• A terrific collection of five great piano concertos performed by Maurizio Pollini, one of the 20th centuries great virtuosos. • Filmed with the Vienna Philharmonic in the 1970s at the beautiful Musikverein in Vienna. • Karl Böhm conducts the Beethoven and Mozart concertos, while Claudio Abbado reads the Brahms. TRACK LIST DVD1: Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3, op 37 Piano Concerto No. 5, op 73 "Emperor" Vienna Philharmonic Karl Böhm, conductor DVD2: Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 19, KV 459 Piano Concerto No. 23, KV 488 Vienna Philharmonic Karl Böhm, conductor Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, op. 83 Vienna Philharmonic Claudio Abbado, conductor

author: Beethoven asin: B000LRYQ02 binding: Digital list price: $2.75 USD amazon price: $2.75 USD

Downloadable sheet music file

asin: B0000013JB binding: Audio CD list price: $8.99 USD amazon price: $9.14 USD

Beethoven's Farewell Sonata has three movements--departure, absence, and return--that perfectly capture the emotions they express. The first movement had a powerful influence on Mahler's Ninth Symphony, which quotes it literally on several occasions. The Waldstein and Tempest Sonatas are, in many respects, quintessential Beethoven: passionate, turbulent, but always formally perfect. Jeno Jando's survey of Beethoven sonatas on Naxos has been extremely successful--much more so than several other pianists on more expensive, full-priced labels. His second volume isn't just a good deal for the money, it's a good deal, period. --David Hurwitz