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

asin: B000003LIU binding: Audio CD list price: $16.98 USD amazon price: $16.98

The Concerto is one of the recordings that made Ivan Moravec's reputation as a great pianist. It's just as impressive-sounding today. Moravec and the excellent Martin Turnovsky seem to have given this great music an intense reexamination. They play it with attention to every detail, making it sound as though it were a new piece. Frequently you will hear details pointed out in illuminating ways, but never at the expense of musical continuity. This performance is a revelation. Although Moravec's conception of the Variations is a bit outsize, his playing of the solo works is equally convincing. The mid-60s recordings sound excellent. --Leslie Gerber

asin: 1569220522 binding: Paperback list price: $10.95 USD amazon price: $10.95 USD

A collection of 26 of Beethoven's finest piano pieces, including: Andante (from Symphony No. 5) * Farewell to the Piano * Fuer Elise * Minuet in G * Moonlight Sonata * Pathetique Sonata * Victory Theme * and more.

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Itzhak Perlman, Lynn Harrell, and Vladimir Ashkenazy combine majesty with a splendid sense of flow in the opening movement of the Archduke Trio, and treat the variations of the third movement in the manner of late Beethoven--with an emotive power that is all the more intense for being hushed and stilled. The digital recording, dating from February 1982, is fairly close-miked and dry, but quite acceptable. --Ted Libbey

author: BEETHOVEN L asin: 063409906X binding: Paperback list price: $9.95 USD amazon price: $9.95 USD

Schirmer Performance Editions are designed for piano students and their teachers as well as for professional pianists. Pedagogical in nature, these editions offer insightful interpretive suggestions, pertinent fingering, and historical and stylistic commentary. Prepared by renowned artists/teachers, these publications provide an accurate, well-informed score resource for pianists. Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) is renowned for his large-scale, innovative piano sonatas and concertos, and these works hold a prominent and lasting place in the concert repertoire. Yet nestled beneath the larger works for which he is most often lauded lies a vast collection of short piano solos that he crafted throughout his career. These miniatures often display the same careful writing and attention to detail as his longer works. Some were actually intended as pedagogical studies; many derive their style from the popular dance music of the period and reflect Beethoven's love of simple, everyday pleasures. Editor and recording artist: Matthew Edwards

asin: B00004W9BS binding: DVD list price: $29.98 USD amazon price: $29.98

Fantasy for piano, choir and orchestra in c minor op.80. The Choral Fantasy was the first time Beethoven united instrumental and vocal music into one seamless and masterful work. This production features the pianist Gerhard Oppitz and the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Gianluigi Gelmetti as well as the Sudfunk Choir directed by Joseph Beischer. It was recorded in the magnificent 500-year-old Gothic Amandus church in Bad Urach, Germany. The second part of this program again features Gerhard Oppitz, a leading pianist renowned for his expressive yet forceful touch. Oppitz is captured here at his best, performing Bach's Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue in D minor BWV 903 and Franz Liszt's Variations on Bach's cantata "Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen". This DVD also includes the option of viewing running commentaries on the pieces as they are performed as well as liner notes, a glossary of music terms, historical markers for the pieces, and performer profiles. Audio playback options are 5.1 dolby digital and non-compressed stereo.