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: B000683I8C binding: Audio CD list price: $45.98 USD amazon price: $45.98

While George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra's Legendary Complete Beethoven Symphony Cycle is Still Currently Available Domestically as a Very Expensive "Original Sleeve" Box Set, Surprisingly the Only Way to Attain their Equally Distinguished Piano Concerto Cycle with Leon Fleischer is Here! this Outstanding Eight CD Set is the Beethoven Bargain of the Century!

asin: B00005NY2X binding: Audio CD list price: $45.98 USD amazon price: $45.98

Live performances from Edwin Fischer's final decade of concerts feature him as soloist, chamber musician, and conductor. Fischer's rare interpretive insights can best be heard in his exalted slow movement of Brahms's Sonata No. 3, earning appreciative applause from the knowledgeable audience. The set includes inevitable finger slips and wrong notes, inconsequential byproducts of his striving for artistic integrity. More important, his unerring sense of tempo conveys the heart of the music. Slow movements are soulful but liquid. Drama is always present, allied to a gorgeous tone. His reputation for seriousness doesn't prevent a romp through the Rondo of Beethoven's Concerto No. 1 or the beautifully phrased, long-breathed lyricism of the Romance movement of Mozart's 20th Concerto. Appropriately, since Fischer was an outstanding Bach interpreter, there's a lot of Bach here, including a Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 unannounced anywhere on the box, track listings, or notes. Much of the Bach on this set will sound dated and heavy to modern ears, but it's compelling nonetheless. Those who know Fischer's lofty Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 with Furtwängler (Testament) will be surprised to hear this nearly contemporaneous, swifter, and less symphonic live version with Hans Munch. It's a highlight of a set with few duds. At six discs for the price of four, and nicely packaged in a space-saving box with good notes and variable sound (mostly vintage broadcast quality), the set is a valuable tribute to a great artist. --Dan Davis

asin: B0000041P9 binding: Audio CD list price: $16.98 USD amazon price: $16.98

Itzhak Perlman and Vladimir Ashkenazy play both of these pieces with unflagging virtuosity and impressive energy, bringing symphonic grandeur and scale to their account of the Kreutzer. The fingers and bow fly, yet Perlman never loses command of his tone. Recorded in 1973 and 1974, the readings are closely miked--so closely that one can literally hear the hair on Perlman's bow. The sound is weighty but clear, with excellent presence. --Ted Libbey

author: Beethoven asin: B000LRYQ20 binding: Digital list price: $3.59 USD amazon price: $3.59 USD

Downloadable sheet music file