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A guide to Beethoven's piano concerto no.4 and its best recordings - Classical Music.
Dec 29, 2020 · In 1806, Beethoven wrote his Violin Concerto in D major, op. 61. In 1807, he took the work that was clearly more pianistic than violinistic and rewrote it for piano as Op. 61a. Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Concerto in D Major, Op. 61a – III. Rondo (Daniel Barenboim, piano; English Chamber Orchestra; Daniel Barenboim, cond.)
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Complete String Quartets
Quartetto Italiano Decca Overall, these performances still strike a finely judged balance between beauty and truth, and are ultimately more satisfying and searching than most of their rivals... Read the review
String Quartets, Vols 1-3
Takács Quartet Decca More probing than the pristine Emersons or Alban Bergs (live), more refined than the gutsy and persuasive Lindsays, and less consciously stylised than the Juilliards (and always with the historic Busch Quartet as an essential reference) – at no point did I feel the Takács significantly wanting. They do Beethoven proud and no one could reasonably ask for more. Rob Cowan(May 2005)
String Quartets, Op 18
Tokyo Quartet Harmonia Mundi Few ensembles have characterised the A major’s cantering first idea as happily as the Tokyos do here, while the ethereal and texturally variegated middle movements anticipate the very different world of Beethoven’s “late” quartets. Beautifully blended recordings, too: if you’re after a top-ranking digital set of Op 18, you couldn’t do better... Read the review
Complete Piano Sonatas
Igor Levit pf Sony Classical A highlight is theWaldstein, the repeated C major left-hand chords underpinning a tensile energy that runs through the entire opening movement. But it’s not about momentum: Levit colours and shapes it with such finesse – withdrawing the sound to a whisper and then building to a great billowing wave. TheAdagio moltois remarkable in the way he stills the mood, conjuring an atmosphere that sounds almost like a postscript to Schubert’sWinterreise. As the music gradual...
Songs
Stephen Genz bar Roger Vignoles pf Hyperion The 26-year-old Erfurt-born baritone Stephan Genz is in the first bloom of his youthful prime. His Schumann Liederkreis, Op 24 (5/98) was the first recording to give serious warning of the distinctive lyric ardour and keen intelligence of his artistry; and now Beethoven’s setting of Goethe’s ‘Mailied’ (Op 52 No 4), with its lightly breathed, springing words, could have been written with Genz in mind... Read the full review in the Reviews Database
Choral Fantasia. Triple Concerto. Rondo for Piano & Orchestra
Pierre-Laurent Aimard pf Thomas Zehetmair vn Clemens Hagen vc Chamber Orchestra of Europe; Arnold Schoenberg Choir / Nikolaus Harnoncourt Warner Classics Listening to the opening tutti on this joyful new Triple Concerto, I could just picture Nikolaus Harnoncourt cueing his strings, perched slightly forwards, impatiently waiting for that first, pregnant forte. This is a big, affable, blustery Triple, the soloists completing the sound canvas rather than dominating it, a genuine collaborative ef...
Missa Solemnis
Laura Aikin sopElisabeth Kulman mezJohannes Chum tenRuben Drole bass-barArnold Schoenberg Choir; Concentus Musicus Wien / Nikolaus Harnoncourt Sony Classical This is a remarkable account of Beethoven’s Missa solemnisand, in one important respect, an unusual one. For though it is in no sense lacking in drama, it is in essence a deeply devotional reading. And aptly so. ‘Mit Andacht’ – ‘with devotion’ – Beethoven writes time and again during the course of the work. Where many of the Mass’s most...
Fidelio
Stemme; Kaufmann; Lucerne Festival Orchestra / Claudio Abbado Decca It was Abbado’s second Berlin Philharmonic symphony cycle from 2001 which thrust him more or less unexpectedly into the ranks of the immortals where Beethoven is concerned. And it was seven years after that, in Reggio Emilia in 2008, that he conducted his first Fidelio. Like Furtwängler in his 1953 studio recording, Abbado leads a viscerally charged performance that flies to the very heart of the matter, and does so in a vers...
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- String Quartet Nos 12, 'American', and 13. Pavel Haas Quartet. (Supraphon) 'The Pavel Haas Quartet play with plenty of feeling and they also relish the rhythmic cut and thrust of the Molto vivace third movement, capturing to perfection the more relaxed Trio’s sunny spirit.
- Rusalka. Sols; Czech Philharmonic Orchestra / Charles Mackerras. (Decca) 'The strings produce ravishing sounds, refined and transparent in the lovely evocations of water, often with instruments muted.
- Slavonic Dances. Chamber Orchestra of Europe / Nikolaus Harnoncourt. (Warner Teldec) 'None are better played than this Chamber Orchestra of Europe CD where pooled individuality sheds fresh light on virtually every piece.
- Symphony No 7. American Suite. Budapest Festival Orchestra / Iván Fischer. (Channel) 'Iván Fischer is truly “one on his own”, a fund of fascinating interpretative ideas which, whether or not you always agree with them, invariably make musical sense.
Dec 17, 2023 · The earliest of Beethoven’s piano concertos that we generally hear, No. 2, was first drafted in the late 1780s and the last completed in 1809-10, by which time the world of Beethoven’s youth ...
- Jessica Duchen
Artistic Quality: 10. Sound Quality: 10. Here’s a Beethoven Piano Concerto cycle that makes one listen to these ubiquitous works with fresh ears. More importantly, it does so without resorting to interpretive gimmicks or conceptual hooey. The Philadelphia Orchestra’s principal guest conductor Nathalie Stutzmann sets the stage for each work ...
Feb 20, 2019 · Although op. 58 is Beethoven's most important, the "Emperor" is perhaps the best most soaring concerto Beethoven wrote. 3: Ludwig van Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3, Op. 37 In C minor: 4: Ludwig van Beethoven Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61: 5: Ludwig van Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major, Op. 15 Dazzling: 6: Ludwig van Beethoven ...
