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

asin: B00000AFQJ binding: Audio CD list price: $11.98 USD amazon price: $11.98

This troika of piano sonatas shows off some of Beethoven's most crystalline writing: from the impressionistic, sensual Moonlight to the somewhat mournful Appassionata to the wonderful, intricate aural shoving match of Waldstein. On the grounds of their sheer power, these three took novelist and erstwhile liner notician John Fowles by quiet storm. He writes in his notes to the CD that he's easily brought to tears, and that Beethoven "knew how to move people quasi-divinely." What happens in Ashkenazy's performance may--or may not--be divine. But what happens is certainly disruptive of calm, even while issuing forth a level of meditative quality that does ultimately serve to excite. There is no shortage of music in the classical annals that will astonish listeners with virtuosity and technical panache. These piano pieces will instead amaze the ears with their emotive powers, so much so that the technical brilliance of them--or Beethoven's entire late canon--might even escape the listening mind. And then you may be left, like John Fowles, crying. For more. --Andrew Bartlett

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: Ludwig van Beethoven asin: 0486253929 binding: Paperback list price: $12.95 USD amazon price: $12.95

Most popular and most performed shorter works, including Rondo a capriccio in G and Andante in F. Breitkopf & Hartel edition.

author: Ludwig van Beethoven asin: 0486253988 binding: Paperback list price: $16.95 USD amazon price: $16.95

Six of the most studied, performed and recorded piano trios, including No. 4 in D Major ("Ghost") and No. 6 in B-flat Major ("Archduke") in full score for piano, violin and cello. Reprinted from the definitive 19th-century Breitkopf & Härtel edition, published in Leipzig.