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Honegger: Symphonies Nos 1-5, Pacific 231, Mouvement symphonique No. 3
Serge Baudo, Czech Philharmonic
Classical - Released January 1, 1991 | Supraphon a.s.
Beethoven: The Complete Piano Variations & Bagatelles
Ronald Brautigam
Classical - Released September 6, 2019 | BIS
Booklet
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Beethoven: Complete Symphonies & Concertos
The Netherlands Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released October 9, 2020 | Challenge Classics
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Beethoven : Bagatelles
Tanguy de Williencourt
Classical - Released February 7, 2020 | Mirare
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5 de Diapason
With this album, pianist Tanguy de Williencourt offers an original vision of Beethoven. The album includes various pieces, some with a “Webernian” length of 30 seconds to 2 minutes, consisting in skits into the musician’s imagination, like ripped off pages of the genius’ diary. In the time of Beethoven, French was in fashion. As their French inspired name indicates, the Bagatellen were sometimes light, sometimes erotic. Beethoven’s Bagatellen, as a name (more than a form) punctuated the composer’s entire career. Yet, he referred to them as his ‘Kleinigkeiten’, little things. A series of charming and dedication pieces (Für Elise), they, nevertheless, became almost prophetic in 1825, when Beethoven’s language resolutely began to foresee the future. © François Hudry/Qobuz
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Beethoven: Fur Elise, Bagatelles Opp. 33, 119 & 126
Paul Lewis
Classical - Released July 10, 2020 | harmonia mundi
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Booklet
‘Miniature’ Beethoven! In our collective idea of the piano, Beethoven’s name is associated with the monument of the thirty-two sonatas, which have often been elevated to the status of the ‘New Testament’ beside the ‘Old Testament’ of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier. Yet, over a period of decades, the composer of Für Elise constantly returned to the genre of the bagatelle, which he called ‘trifles’ but which actually meant a great deal to him. In this small form par excellence, as in the sonata, Beethoven laid the foundations for a flourishing new genre, the piano miniature. Whether they last a few minutes or a few seconds, these Bagatelles are masterpieces! © harmonia mundi
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Beethoven: Complete Sonatas for Piano and Violin
Ludwig van Beethoven
Classical - Released September 25, 2014 | Challenge Classics
Booklet
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Prism II (Bach, Schnittke, Beethoven)
Danish String Quartet
Classical - Released September 13, 2019 | ECM New Series
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Booklet
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5 de Diapason
This release by the Danish String Quartet is part of a five-album series titled "Prism," each of which will apparently include three works: an arrangement of a Bach fugue for string quartet, one of Beethoven's five late quartets, and a 20th century work that somehow lies in the shadow of both, or, to use the quartet's own words, "a beam of music is split through Beethoven's prism." In this case, the program is unusually coherent, with the String Quartet No. 3 of Alfred Schnittke engaging itself directly with the Beethoven String Quartet No. 13 in B flat major, Op. 130, and Grosse Fuge, Op. 133, here played as the finale of the String Quartet No. 13 as Beethoven originally conceived the work. Logically, the Beethoven should go in the middle, but after you hear the Danish String Quartet's blistering performance of the String Quartet No. 13, you'll agree that it would be an impossible act to follow. The group gets just how radical this quartet was, especially with the Grosse Fuge in place, as sharp contrasts grow throughout the work and explode in the unthinkably intense fugue. The quartet takes the first movements of the six-movement work very rapidly, with the lighter melodic passages seeming like passing thoughts, takes a deep pause with the Cavatina slow movement, and then plunges into the fugue at top power. They are aided by magnificent engineering work from ECM, working on the Reitstadel Neumarkt, a riding stadium with famed acoustics. The Schnittke quartet is a fascinating work in itself, quoting the Beethoven extensively and exploring its sharp contrasts (sample the Agitato middle movement). One awaits the rest of the Danish String Quartet's series breathlessly, but it's possible that this volume, with a Beethoven performance for the ages, will tower over the rest. A bonus is a set of notes by the great Paul Griffiths, writing mostly for ECM these days.© TiVo
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Beethoven: The Complete Piano Trios
Suk Trio
Classical - Released July 16, 2021 | Supraphon a.s.
Booklet
Supraphon made these recordings for Nippon Columbia within a short timeframe, from June 1983 to April 1984, at the Rudolfinum in Prague. They capture the mature ensemble when it included the pianist Josef Hála, who in 1980 had replaced Jan Panenka. The trio’s sound was dominated by the strings, primarily the violin of Josef Suk, who also defined the interpretation principles. The singularity of the ensemble and their recordings alike rests in infallible technique, sonic refinement, admirable interplay and profound musicality devoid of any showboating. © Supraphon
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Ludwig van Beethoven : Complete Works for Violoncello and Piano
Jean-Guihen Queyras
Duets - Released September 22, 2014 | harmonia mundi
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Choc de Classica -
Choc Classica de l'année
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Alkan: Paraphrases, Marches & Symphonie for Solo Piano, Op. 39
Mark Viner
Classical - Released January 29, 2021 | Piano Classics
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Booklet
The latest volume in a revelatory Alkan series from an English pianist with a string of critically acclaimed albums of rare repertoire from the Golden Age of the piano virtuoso to his credit. Perhaps the most enigmatic figure in the history of music as a whole, let alone the 19th century, Charles-Valentin Alkan remains one of the most intriguing and alluring names among the pantheon of pianist-composers. According to Franz Liszt, Alkan possessed the finest technique he had ever seen yet preferred the life of a recluse. The outstanding masterpiece of the album is the Symphonie for solo piano which Alkan drew from his set of 12 Studies, Op. 39. It opens with an Allegro which is one of the composer’s most darkly impassioned conceptions, in which declamatory rhetoric, passionate outbursts and towering climaxes are all bound by a tightly organised structure. The piano writing is distinctly orchestral in nature, hence the ‘symphonic’ designation, demanding that the intrepid soloist make his or her way through towering conglomerations of sometimes ten note chords, thick, chordal tremoli and volleys of double octaves: only fully accredited virtuosi need apply! The Symphonie is placed on this album as the climax to a sequence of grand marches conceived on a similarly grand scale. They include the Three Cavalry Marches, Op. 39, which find Alkan at his most concise, in the Berliozian No. 1, his most eccentric (the trio of No. 2) and whimsical (No. 3). Like them, the Marche funèbre, Op. 26 bears witness to Alkan’s ability to channel a latent and, at times, menacing power through material of the slightest substance. The following Marche triomphale, Op. 27 is a massive, swaggering affair, in contrast to the ruminative melancholy of the opening paraphrase Op. 45 on a poem by Legouvé set in a cemetery and cast in Alkan’s most elegiac vein. A profound sadness also inflects the opening section of the composer’s ingenious instrumental setting of Psalm 137, ‘By the waters of Babylon’. The booklet contains an excellent essay on Alkan and his works by the artist himself. © Piano Classics
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Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 - Gossec: Symphonie à dix-sept parties
Les Siècles
Classical - Released September 4, 2020 | harmonia mundi
Hi-Res
Booklet
‘From darkness to light’ . . . ‘Thus Fate knocks at the door’: what with alleged quotations from the composer and the wildest Romantic interpretations, it would be impossible to enumerate all the commentaries that have accompanied ‘The Fifth’ ever since its premiere. So, what if we simply went back to the original score? What if we accepted the idea that, in a context influenced by the French Revolution (as embodied by the brilliant Gossec), it was Beethoven’s music itself that was totally revolutionary, as François-Xavier Roth and his orchestra Les Siècles like to remind us? © harmonia mundi
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Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 - The Creatures of Prometheus
Freiburger Barockorchester
Symphonies - Released February 19, 2021 | harmonia mundi
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A true ‘apotheosis of the dance’ in the words of Richard Wagner, Beethoven’s Seventh has enjoyed perennial popularity ever since its premiere - unlike his sole ballet, The Creatures of Prometheus, of which only the overture has remained (more or less) familiar to us. To offer a new version of a key work in Beethoven’s corpus while reviving the complete version of one of his most unjustly forgotten masterpieces: such is the challenge brilliantly taken up by the musicians of the Freiburger Barockorchester, under the direction of their Konzertmeister Gottfried von der Goltz. © harmonia mundi
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Beethoven: Violin Sonatas Nos.4 & 5 "Spring"
Gidon Kremer
Classical - Released January 1, 1987 | Deutsche Grammophon (DG)
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Beethoven: The Late String Quartets
Quartetto Italiano
Classical - Released January 1, 1976 | Decca Music Group Ltd.
Originally issued on separate LPs in the late '60s, Quartetto Italiano's legendary recordings of Ludwig van Beethoven's late string quartets occupied a prestigious place in Philips' catalog and fully warranted reissue on CD for their technical acumen, intellectual clarity, and expressive depth. All serious string quartets aspire to play these monumental works, which have proved to be more influential than any others in their genre; it's fair to say that most groups wish their performances could at least be equal to Quartetto Italiano's, both in terms of staying power and sublime musicality. It's difficult to choose one opus over another, since each has a distinctive character that demonstrates Beethoven's extremely wide range of moods, and Quartetto Italiano's interpretations are magnificent across the boards, without a single low point. Philips' ADD sound is possibly the only sticking point, because these recordings sound a little cool and muted in comparison with contemporary digital recordings, and listeners who are accustomed to greater resonance and verisimilitude might find this set to be a little flat and veiled. Yet virtually all traces of analog hiss have been removed, and the practiced listener will still be able to appreciate the profundities of the music despite the slightly shallow reproduction.© TiVo
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Beethoven: Sonates pour violoncelle et piano
Anne Gastinel
Classical - Released November 1, 2002 | naïve classique
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Brahms, Beethoven, Chopin (Live in Japan, Kioi Hall, Tokyo, 2008)
Henri Barda
Classical - Released October 27, 2011 | MONSIEUR CROCHE
Booklet
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5 de Diapason -
Pianiste Maestro -
4 étoiles Classica -
Qobuzissime
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Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 30, Op. 109 & Bagatelles, Op. 126
Stephen Kovacevich
Classical - Released August 14, 2020 | Warner Classics
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Beethoven: Cello Sonatas, Op. 102, Bagatelles, Opp. 119 & 126
Andreas Staier
Chamber Music - Released June 10, 2022 | harmonia mundi
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Booklet
From the mid-1810s until the end of his life, Beethoven constantly tested to the limit the forms he had inherited from Haydn and Mozart. His last two cello sonatas bear witness to this structural preoccupation, which was to open up so many new spaces . . . as do the final sets of Bagatelles, as disconcerting as they are innovative! Two genres shrewdly linked by Andreas Staier and Roel Dieltiens in these interpretations, in which eloquence merges with historically informed performance practice. © harmonia mundi
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Oscillations
Ludwig van Beethoven
Classical - Released May 10, 2013 | Challenge Classics
The premise here is the odd pairing of piano music by Beethoven and Stravinsky, one of the few composers to go on record as saying he actively disliked Beethoven's music. The piano, moreover, was central to Beethoven's output and peripheral in Stravinsky's. Israeli pianist Einav Yarden faces a tall order in her "oscillations" between what seem like two musical poles, and the appeal of the program is that, despite the title, she makes the pieces involved seem reasonably closely related to each other. There are several steps to this, beginning with the selection of material. The Beethoven sonatas and especially the Bagatelles, Op. 119, at the end of the program might be said to represent Beethoven at his most "Stravinskian," with a dry, witty tone, structures built on precise manipulations of humorous ideas, and a lack of drama and strongly directional motion. Yarden goes on to apply a common style to all of the music, one that pushes Beethoven forward and Stravinsky backward into the Romantic era. She uses lots of pedal and turns all the music into something resembling a Schumann character piece, something that works well enough again in the Beethoven bagatelles and in the large number of short Stravinsky pieces included. The interpretations are unusual enough on their own to be worth hearing, but the connections they draw, roughly summed up by the statement that Romantic ideas are applicable to both Beethoven and Stravinsky, are equally original. An offbeat program that really works.
© TiVo
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Hommage à Auguste Tolbecque
Jean-Luc Ayroles
Chamber Music - Released December 6, 2019 | Passacaille
Hi-Res
Booklet
Born in Paris in 1830, Auguste Tolbecque arrived in Niort, in the Deux-Sèvres department, 26 years later after marrying a woman from the very same town. This is where he laid down his roots and started a family, spending his time organising and enlivening the musical goings-on of the small town in in Western France. Auguste Tolbecque’s dedication to baroque music and instruments from the past would nowadays have made him a totally contemporary musician. He was fascinated by a past that Mérimée and Viollet-le-Duc were indeed dedicated to preserving with their work on masterpieces of Roman, gothic and Renaissance heritage. But while the musician may have preserved instruments, he appeared to resist playing them, the fact being that it was not yet in fashion to experiment with the styles of playing from past times. It’s thanks to the initiative of cellist and Tolbecque connaisseur Christophe Coin that this album saw the light of day with the presentation of over twenty of the forgotten composer’s works. An instrument-maker, composer and cellist, (Saint-Saëns dedicated his First Concerto to him), author of operettas and operas that have since faded away, Tolbecque has waited a long time for his moment in the spotlight since his death just after the end of the First World War. Inaugurated in November 2019, a century after his death, the brand new Conservatoire Auguste Tolbecque in Niort prolongs this event with this release dedicated to his chamber music, mainly his work for cello and piano, but also for the organ and 2 and 4 hands on the piano, in keeping with the style of the Second Empire. © François Hudry/Qobuz
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