Beethoven Beethoven 7

Beethoven's String Quartets are well known for their inventiveness. The mold of the string quartet form, established by Haydn, was shattered by Beethoven's profound expression and expansion of the "rules." Between 1999 and 2003, the renowned Pražák Quartet recorded all of the Beethoven string quartets, and this match of program and performers is one made in heaven.

Igor Levit - the recent recipient of the prestigious Gilmore Artist Award and the Royal Philharmonic Society’s “Instrumentalist of the Year”- has now completed the recording of all 32 sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven. In September 2019 this mammoth studio-recording project will finally be released and leads the way for important new releases on Sony Classical for Beethoven’s 250-year anniversary.

The nine-time GRAMMY Award-winning Emerson String Quartet has firmly established its authority in interpreting Beethoven’s string quartets since its first Beethoven Cycle performed in 1980 through its complete recording of his quartets on Deutsche Grammophon which won a 1998 GRAMMY Award.

These performances of the Beethoven symphonies and overtures seek to perform these masterpieces employing the same instrumentation, acoustics and timing that Beethoven heard (when he could) and used. Thus we are placed in hearing this music the way its composer wanted us to hear it.

This is the second two-CD set of Beethoven's ten sonatas for piano and violin performed by violinist Henryk Szeryng and pianist Ingrid Haebler. It includes Beethoven's final five works in this form, including the three sonatas of opus 30, the opus 47 sonata, and the opus 96 sonata.

For once the hyperbole rings true. Christian Leotta’s fourth volume of Beethoven sonatas is indeed ‘a major addition to other sets currently available’. Musicianly to the core, this young Italian pianist quietly but unmistakably commands your attention at every level. His musical focus and concentration are unswerving, nothing is rushed or overly volatile, everything is scrupulously placed yet illuminated with acute detail and vitality. You will rarely encounter performances more meticulously prepared.