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

author: Charles Rosen asin: 0300090706 binding: Hardcover list price: $35.00 USD amazon price: $28.00 USD

Beethoven's piano sonatas form one of the most important collections of works in the whole history of music. Spanning several decades of his life as a composer, the sonatas soon came to be seen as the first body of substantial serious works for piano suited to performance in large concert halls seating hundreds of people. In this comprehensive and authoritative guide, Charles Rosen places the works in context and provides an understanding of the formal principles involved in interpreting and performing this unique repertoire, covering such aspects as sonata form, phrasing, and tempo, as well as the use of pedal and trills. In the second part of his book, he looks at the sonatas individually, from the earliest works of the 1790s through the sonatas of Beethoven's youthful popularity of the early 1800s, the subsequent years of mastery, the years of stress (1812-1817), and the last three sonatas of the 1820s. Composed as much for private music-making as public recital, Beethoven's sonatas have long formed a bridge between the worlds of the salon and the concert hall. For today's audience, Rosen has written a guide that brings out the gravity, passion, and humor of these works and will enrich the appreciation of a wide range of readers, whether listeners, amateur musicians, or professional pianists.

asin: B00009PJQR binding: Audio CD list price: $52.99 USD amazon price: $52.99

This deluxe four-CD set showcases Beethoven's most popular piano sonatas in classic, contrasting performances by some of the 20th century's greatest keyboard soloists. If Bach's "Well-Tempered Clavier" comprises music's Old Testament, Beethoven's 32 Piano Sonatas constitute the New Testament. Through multiple performances of the same work, this collection provides rare, comparative insight into the composer's "Pathétique" Sonata (played by Schnabel, Fischer, Moiseiwitsch and Rubinstein), "Moonlight" (Friedman, Backhaus, Paderewski, Horowitz), "Appassionata" (Kempff, Arrau, Backhaus), and Op. 31, No. 3 (Schnabel, Gieseking, Serkin). As a bonus, the set includes a performance of the "Tempest" Sonata by Gieseking. The rare vintage 78s were brought to 21st-century life through the remastering of Art & Son Studio in Paris, using the 24-bit "CAP 440" technique. Enclosed in an attractive, protective slipcase, the 96-page book contains evocative images of the composer and many rarely seen photos of the performers. The texts — in English, French and German — include an introduction by Pulitzer Prize-winner Tim Page, an illuminating contextual essay by Jed Distler ("Beethoven and the Great Pianists: Making History on Record"), and detailed artist biographies from "The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians."

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: B000NPCMGW binding: Audio CD list price: $11.98 USD amazon price: $9.49 USD

Specially priced 2-CD set in space-saving brilliant box with accompanying three-language booklet. Digitally remastered to the highest standards at the world-famous Abbey Road Studios.