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Beethoven: Diabelli Variations
Mitsuko Uchida
Classical - Released April 8, 2022 | Decca Music Group Ltd.
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Gramophone: Recording of the Month
The late Beethoven recordings of pianist Mitsuko Uchida have been career makers, and it is cause for celebration that she has capped them with the 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli, Op. 120, a work that perhaps poses deeper interpretive challenges than any of the late sonatas. The Variations often show a kind of rough humor, and a performer may pick up on that, or the player may deemphasize the humor and seek out the epic qualities of the Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109, and Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111. Uchida does neither. The outlines of her usual style, high-contrast and a bit dry, are apparent, but she does not let them dominate her reading. What Uchida realizes is that the abrupt transition from humor to the deepest existential ruminations is part and parcel of Beethoven's late style, and she works to hone the particular character of each Beethoven variation. Her left hand, as usual, is strikingly powerful, and this brings out many striking details (consider the stirring variation 16). The trio of slow minor variations toward the end are given great seriousness but are not in the least overwrought; Uchida achieves an elusive Olympian tone through the final variations. There is much more to experience here, for each variation is fully thought out, but suffice it to say that this is one of the great performances of the Diabelli Variations.© TiVo
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Beethoven: Complete Symphonies & Concertos
The Netherlands Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released October 9, 2020 | Challenge Classics
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Schubert: Schwanengesang & String Quintet
Julian Prégardien
Classical - Released September 10, 2021 | Alpha Classics
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Here are two works composed by Schubert at the very end of his short life. Schwanengesang (Swansong) was written in Vienna in the autumn of 1828. He died on 19 November at the age of thirty-one, and Die Taubenpost (Pigeon post), which closes the collection, is said to be his very last composition. The fourteen songs, by turns light-hearted, sombre and melancholy, are settings of poems by Ludwig Rellstab, Heinrich Heine and Johann Gabriel Seidl. In the summer of the same year he composed his String Quintet in C major, scored for two cellos, which was not premiered until 1850, at the Vienna Musikverein. The power and orchestral dimensions of the work make it a pinnacle of nineteenth-century chamber music. We could not have dreamt of a finer line-up of musicians to record these two Schubert monuments. Fanny Mendelssohn’s Schwanenlied (also to words by Heinrich Heine) completes the programme, along with Felix Mendelssohn’s Song Without Words No. 1 (for solo piano), composed a year after Schubert’s death and Schubert’s own setting of an unrelated Schwanengesang (D. 744, on a poem by Johann Senn). © Alpha Classics
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Beethoven: Symphonies
Paul Kletzki, Czech Philharmonic
Classical - Released February 25, 2011 | Supraphon a.s.
Recorded between 1964 and 1968, Paul Kletzki's respected cycle of Ludwig van Beethoven's symphonies on Supraphon rightly should be classified as a historical item for specialists, rather than as a recommended option for anyone seeking a great (and great sounding) modern set. Kletzki was an admired and popular conductor, noted for working with both European and American orchestras, and his interpretations of Beethoven are intelligent and insightful, regarded by some reviewers as among the finest of their time; the performances are still valuable for their musicality and significance among mid-20th century offerings. However, these recordings predate the movement for historically informed performance practice, so fans of late Classical and early Romantic period style will find this set of little interest, and only traditionalists will be enthusiastic about it. These analog versions don't compare well with the best contemporary digital recordings, and the sound of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra is a bit too homogenized and at times too muddy in this remastering to make the music fully enjoyable. Although the instruments can be made out clearly enough, some of their upper partials seem to have been eliminated in the reduction of tape hiss, and the ensemble's overall sound seems a little dulled in tone as a result. Artistically, there is much to appreciate here, but this box set faces serious competition from later and better sounding alternatives.
© TiVo
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Ludwig van Beethoven : Symphonie n° 9
Christian Thielemann
Symphonic Music - Released December 12, 2011 | Sony Classical
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5 de Diapason
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Beethoven: Symphonie No. 9
Berliner Philharmoniker
Classical - Released January 1, 1958 | Les Indispensables de Diapason
Beethoven : The Nine Symphonies
Pierre Monteux
Classical - Released August 28, 2015 | Decca Music Group Limited
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5 de Diapason
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Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 1-9
Concertgebouworkest
Classical - Released November 20, 2020 | Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
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Pachelbel: Canon in D Major - Vivaldi: Violin Concertos, Oboe Concerto & Cello Concerto - Walter Rinaldi: Guitar Works & Piano Works - Bach: Air On the G String, Adagio for Oboe & Toccata and Fugue in D Minor - Beethoven: Fur Elise & Moonlight Sonata
Pachelbel Society Orchestra
Concertos - Released July 21, 2014 | Rinaldi & Rinaldi Produzioni
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Beethoven: Op.27 & Op.109 - Chopin: Nocturne Op.9 No.3 - Schubert: Impromptu Op.90 No.4 - Schumann: Kreisleriana, Op.16
Wilhelm Kempff
Classical - Released May 21, 2021 | Da Vinci Classics
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Beethoven: 9 Symphonies
Leonard Bernstein
Symphonies - Released January 2, 1980 | Deutsche Grammophon (DG)
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The Complete Beethoven Piano Concertos
Garrick Ohlsson
Classical - Released May 12, 2023 | Reference Recordings
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Gramophone Editor's Choice
Musical careers last longer than they used to, and here, it is difficult to detect any weakening of the long-impressive technique of pianist Garrick Ohlsson, 74 years old, when this album was recorded in the summer of 2022. The feat is especially impressive in that all five of the Beethoven concertos (plus the Overture to The Creatures of Prometheus, Op. 43, with no piano) were performed live within a single week. Ohlsson is backed by the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra under the direction of veteran conductor Donald Runnicles, who points out that he and Ohlsson had very little discussion about interpretation prior to the performances. It is here that Ohlsson's expertise is evident. He doesn't blaze any new paths in these works, but one has the feeling that he holds the performances, to borrow a phrase from John Le Carré, like a thrush's egg in his hand. His readings are simple in the best way. Sample the arresting opening of the first movement of the Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58; it is direct, yet there are micro shapings that bespeak long familiarity. In fact, it is in the first two concertos, where the lengthy expositions make it less possible for Ohlsson to control the flow of events, that are less effective. The partnership between Ohlsson and the orchestra, though, is lively throughout, and Runnicles gets excellent results from what is likely essentially a pickup group; the orchestra is moderately sized and agile. Superb live recording from Reference Recordings, discussed in detail in the booklet, is another draw.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Beethoven for Three: Symphony No. 4 and Op. 97 "Archduke"
Yo-Yo Ma
Classical - Released March 15, 2024 | Sony Classical
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The "Beethoven for Three" series, featuring piano trio arrangements of Beethoven's symphonies, offers one or more symphonies together with one of the composer's actual piano trios. The three performers, violinist Leonidas Kavakos, pianist Emanuel Ax, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma, could probably have sold albums on name recognition alone, but they deliver performances worthy of their names. Certainly, arrangements of Beethoven's symphonies for smaller forces were common enough in the 19th century, but the ones here, by composer Shai Wosner, are new and frequently quite artful; hear the delicate slow introduction to the first movement of the Symphony No. 4, Op. 60, where Wosner interprets the original rather than straining to duplicate it. The highlight on this volume may come with the masterful reading of the Piano Trio in B flat major, Op. 97 ("Archduke"), where the players' familiarity with each other really shows. Sample the Scherzo, where there is not a note that isn't distinctively articulated in some way, and the fascinatingly deliberate opening to the finale. Sony Classical contributes impressive engineering from a new studio venue at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in upstate New York. This album breathes new life into the all-star format, and it made classical best-seller lists in the spring of 2024.© James Manheim /TiVo
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Beethoven: Symphony No. 9
Berliner Philharmoniker
Classical - Released December 18, 2020 | Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
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Beethoven: Symphonies 1-9 & Overtures (Remastered HD)
Herbert von Karajan
Classical - Released March 24, 2014 | Warner Classics International
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The Karajan Official Remastered Edition is a series of remasterings, from the original master tapes, of the finest recordings the Austrian conductor made for EMI between 1946 et 1984 including Karajan's first — and probably most thrilling — recording of the complete Beethoven Symphonies, made in the early 1950s (1951-1955) with London's Philharmonia Orchestra recently founded by Walter Legge. The recording of the Ninth Symphony is available here in stereo for the very first time, taken from original, unreleased tapes.
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Beethoven: Symphonies Nos 4 & 5
National Symphony Orchestra, Kennedy Center
Symphonies - Released May 19, 2023 | National Symphony Orchestra
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The early reviews on conductor Gianandrea Noseda's tenure with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington are good, and it may be that he will become as familiar a figure in the U.S. as he is across the pond. He has recording projects underway devoted to the contrasting figures of Beethoven and George Walker, and these have been positively reviewed. This live recording (no audience noise or applause) of Beethoven's Symphony No. 4 in B flat major, Op. 60, and Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67, offers fine examples of Noseda's rigorous yet eminently crowd-pleasing style. The Symphony No. 5 opens with a strikingly short pair of fermatas in the famed "Fate" motif, and the forward motion thus propelled never really lets up. The first movement is impressively concentrated and exciting, although by the time the finale is reached, one has a bit of a feeling that there is no higher level to go to. However, Noseda's slow movements are elegant, and there are signs that he is getting a more beautiful sound out of his large string section than has been heard in some time. At times (hear the beginning of the Symphony No. 4 Scherzo), that string sound falls victim to Kennedy Center's indifferent (and much-tinkered-with) acoustics, but this is a satisfying Beethoven recording from a conductor emerging as one of the world's best.© James Manheim /TiVo
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Beethoven: The Complete Symphonies
Gewandhausorchester Leipzig
Classical - Released June 30, 2017 | Accentus Music
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Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 "Choral" (Live)
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released February 12, 2021 | Reference Recordings
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Conductor Manfred Honeck and his Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra recorded this live reading of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, in 2019. The marketplace was not exactly crying out for a new Beethoven's Ninth, even considering Honeck's strong track record in Classical-era repertory and Reference Recordings' increasingly fine results in Pittsburgh's Heinz Hall. However, it is absolutely worth experiencing Honeck's accomplishment here. The reading is distinctive and justified at length in a booklet essay by Honeck. His reading is fast, blazing, kinetic, with moments of high contrast, such as the ethereal third movement in its entirety, giving the listener breathing space. The first movement is quick, but Honeck relaxes the tempo just slightly as things proceed, making room for the brass to give their stentorian statements. The scherzo is very fast throughout, which has the effect of not stealing the delicate discourse from the slow movement, and the finale, though also fast, is never rushed. There is a certain logic in playing the work this way, inasmuch as the impossible-to-sing passages in the solos become just a bit less impossible at these speeds. Most impressive is that Honeck holds the musicians and the singers together at his blazing speeds; his 22:30 timing for the finale comes in more than two minutes faster than, say, Fritz Reiner's classic Chicago Symphony recording, and Honeck would have been even faster had he not offered a rather deliberate reading of the movement's recitative introduction. The soloists shine, and they deliver in a difficult reading that, at its best, feels like the cry of exultation Beethoven envisioned. The slightly American accent of the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh is somehow not a detriment but an inducement here; there is real energy running through the performance and real joy. Reference Recordings has once again produced audiophile-quality sound whose depth and transparency are awesome even on everyday equipment.
© TiVo
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Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 1-9 (Live)
Malmö Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released June 5, 2020 | Ondine
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How intriguing! American conductor Robert Treviño has dedicated his debut release with Ondine to Beethoven’s symphony cycle. This is the first time the Finnish label has visited these landmarks of Western symphonic culture with a traditional Scandinavian orchestra, namely the Malmö Symphony Orchestra, which will celebrate its centenary in 2025. With a rather faded palette of sound-colour and a smooth legato, this is undoubtedly a traditional version of the nine symphonies that transports us back to an era of discographies from Herbert von Karajan and Otto Klemperer. But by no means does it belong in the past…Treviño has worked closely with the likes of Leif Segerstam, David Zinman and Michael Tilson Thomas, the two latter conductors having, incidentally, made many interventions of their own in the Beethovenian symphonies as each attempted to produce worthy reinterpretations. Tilson Thomas drastically reduced the number of musicians in his complete cycle for CBS, whilst David Zinman based his work on Jonathan Del Mar’s Barenreiter edition which restored many of the lost accents and phrases that had been altered from one hundred and fifty years of, at times, rather unscrupulous interpretations. Here, Robert Treviño’s interpretations are lyrical and rich, precise as regards polyphony and mindful of the need to find a balance rather than overstress the text. Treviño ensures that each section finds its proper place and doesn’t get lost in the overall composition, creating dialogues with a chamber-like aesthetic. The unusual “concertato” at the beginning of the last movement of Eroica is the prime example of this. © Pierre-Yves Lascar/Qobuz
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Beethoven: Symphony No. 4 in B-Flat Major, Op. 60
Bayerisches Staatsorchester
Classical - Released January 1, 1984 | Orfeo
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