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

author: Beethoven asin: B000LRYQ0C binding: Digital list price: $2.49 USD amazon price: $2.49 USD

Downloadable sheet music file

asin: B00008WQAH binding: Audio CD list price: $36.97 USD amazon price: $36.97 USD

10CD box set.

asin: B00004T92Y binding: Audio CD list price: $31.98 USD amazon price: $31.98 USD

Along with Marston's invaluable reissue of Arrau's early studio recordings, these radio broadcasts from the late 1930s add to our knowledge of one of the century's greats. The younger Arrau was a more overtly virtuosic pianist than the later, more philosophical one on his Philips recordings, but the seriousness of his interpretive approach shines through. The Beethoven sonatas, for example, are weightier in his later recordings, but we can still revel in his unique depth of tone and refusal to settle for surface glitter, a rare trait in a virtuoso of Arrau's technical accomplishments. His Chopin, too, while still in the Germanic tradition, has more air and lightness. The Liszt solo pieces are played with transcendent beauty. He makes light of the Liszt Concerto's difficulties, but it's roughly recorded and doesn't match his mid-1950s version with Eugene Ormandy on Sony. Despite some noisy originals, most tracks have surprisingly fresh and vital sound. An important release. --Dan Davis

asin: B0000029CU binding: Audio CD list price: $11.98 USD amazon price: $9.99 USD

Surprisingly, this seems to be the only coupling of the three most popular Clarinet Trios in the repertoire. The all-star ensemble, all musicians who have frequently performed together, turns out extremely fine performances of all three works. If the Brahms seems like the most thoroughly understood, in its combination of warmth and impulse, the other two works are nearly as fine. Very good sound, resonant and very well balanced, completes a total winner of a disc. --Leslie Gerber