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

author: Ludwig van Beethoven asin: 1596150025 binding: Paperback list price: $34.98 USD amazon price: $34.98 USD

Though published later, the Concerto No. 2 was actually the first of Beethoven's concerti to be written, and displays an almost Mozartian style, with a solo part that is exciting and beautiful but accessible to less advanced players. Technically it is the easiest Beethoven concerto to master. Includes a high-quality printed music score and a compact disc containing a complete version with soloist, in split-channel stereo (soloist on the right channel); then a second version in full stereo of the orchestral accompaniment, minus the soloist. Performed by David Syme, piano. Accompaniment: Stuttgart Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Emil Kahn.

asin: B000FBHSQI binding: Audio CD list price: $17.98 USD amazon price: $18.30 USD

One of Pierre Fournier's Great Recordings - Arguably the Best Recording of the Beethoven Complete Cello Works - that Will Form Part of Our Fournier 100 Celebrations (The Anniversary of his Birth Falls on 24 June this Year). The Recordings were Made When Fournier was at his Technical Peak, and Partnered by the Keenly-insightful Friedrich Gulda. The CD Booklet Includes a Fascinating Memoir by the Son of Pierre Fournier - Jean Fonda - on "Fournier and Fritz [gulda]", plus a Couple of Delightful Fifties Photos !

asin: B000L21DN0 binding: Audio CD list price: $16.98 USD amazon price: $16.98 USD

These are aggressive, somewhat eccentric readings of these concerti. They are given performances of real fire, and Pletnev takes interesting liberties with dynamics. Sudden passages of very loud or very soft playing ensure that we will not be bored. At times he uses rubato the way an Italian tenor might, which is to say, interestingly but with dubious taste. There is a moment in the First Concerto's Largo that is taken so slowly it sounds as if something might have gone wrong with the CD. It appears that Pletnev has approached both of these works as exemplars of high Romanticism, whereas the first, in particular, looks back to Mozart. This is not to say that he does not play impeccably. His tone is always handsome and no matter how loudly he plays, he never distorts. Whether or not one agrees with his "re-interpretations," it is impossible not to be riveted. Pletnev says in the accompanying notes that his wish is that "every scream, every moment of joy" in the music "should be lived through as it's lived in our real lives." Those who know these concerti well might be surprised at how many screams Pletnev finds. The orchestra plays with great transparency under Christian Gansch. Nothing if not entertaining. --Robert Levine

asin: B0000041A9 binding: Audio CD list price: $17.98 USD amazon price: $18.73 USD

Beethoven was the first great composer of cello sonatas, and he remained really the only one until Brahms wrote two at the end of the last century, and then in our own time Martinu wrote three. Aside from a few individual works by other composers (Grieg, Rachmaninov, Shostakovich, Barber, and Britten), that about sums up the entire repertoire for this particular combination. It's a difficult medium, because the low notes of the cello tend to get covered by the bass of the piano, and balance between the two instruments is always precarious. Of course, when you have artists of the caliber of Rostropovich and Richter, there's nothing to worry about. This classic set has been the reference edition since the day it was issued, and it's now available at a budget price. --David Hurwitz