Beethoven Bluray

More than 200 years after its premiere at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Isabelle Faust, Jean-Guihen Queyras and Martin Helmchen have congenially mastered the artistic challenge of Beethoven’s gemstone. Under Herbert Blomstedt’s sensitive direction, the soloists unite chamber musical intimacy together with virtuoso sophistication – and prove once again that the Triple Concerto is an unduly underestimated, much too rarely programmed masterpiece.

The Daily Telegraph describes Nikolaj Znaider as "the most stimulating young musician playing today, drawing on musical intelligence, perception and dynamism to give performances of rare intensity." This release presents one of the world's foremost violinists playing two landmark concertos, accompanied by the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester "one of Europe's finest orchestras" (The Guardian) under the baton of its music director Riccardo Chailly.

After decades of work on Beethovens original scores, the Austrian pianist Rudolf Buchbinder offers a definitive interpretation of all Beethovens piano concertos in this series of live recordings of his ecstatically acclaimed performances in the Musikverein Vienna from May 2011. Buchbinder conducts the Vienna Philharmonic from the keyboard and achieves a rare degree of tension and chamber-like concentration. Rudolf Buchbinder is firmly established as one of the most important pianists on the international scene, he is a regular guest of renowned orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France, London Philharmonic, National Symphony, and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

All are equal before the work, before the mysteries of a score; this was Claudio Abbados heart-felt conviction. For him, the willingness to be open to one another and to the independent life of musical processes was the only prerequisite for making music. In the live performances documented here for the first time, Abbado could be sure of the devotion of these world-class artists: the LUCERNE FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA, the sopranos Christine Schäfer and Juliane Banse, as well as the actor Bruno Ganz. They shared his credo of listening togetherness (Die ZEIT) that made possible those precious moments of musical truth toward which this great conductor strove throughout his life.

With his very own “mysterious seductive power and legendary elegance” (Le Monde), Claudio Abbado opened for the last time the LUCERNE FESTIVAL in the summer of 2013. Only a few months later, the world had to bid farewell to a monumental artist, humanist, great conductor and orchestra founder. Even in the concert itself, documented here, lived a moment of farewell, as the three great works performed tell of the transience of life. The centerpiece of the Eroica is the funeral march revealing “abysses of shattering dimension” - an “intense experience” (Neue Zürcher Zeitung). This record, the last audio-visual documentation of his work, captures once again the extraordinary atmosphere of “vibrant emotionality” that always emerged when Abbado created music with his “orchestra of friends”.

Bernstein delivered a powerful and now legendary live performance of Beethovens String Quartet Op. 135 transcribed for String Orchestra and performed by the Vienna Philharmonic. For the first time ever this performance is now being released on DVD and Blu-ray. Another definitive Bernstein performance debuting now on both mediums is the enigmatic maestros reading of Haydns Missa in tempore belli, filmed live in concert at Ottobeuren in 1984, using to maximum effect the deeply impressive setting of the monasterys magnificent Baroque basilica.

This is exceptional. There are certainly many different valid ways to perform the Missa solemnis, but it's hard to imagine they will surpass this outstanding version…The Royal Concertgebouw is on absolutely top form…As for the soloists, it is hard to recall a Solemnis quartet who blend so well while retaining their mesmeric individuality. (BBC Music Magazine)

This luxury Belcea Quartet Box brings a new high-definition audiovisual reference recording of Beethoven's Complete String Quartets! The ensemble embarked on the complete cycle of Beethoven string quartets, playing the whole program within twelve days, and recorded at the Wiener Konzerthaus in 2012, with each concert featuring one work from the early, middle and late quartets, including perhaps the most exciting of all works by Beethoven: the Opus 133, the 'Große Fuge' which he wrote as the finale of the quartet Opus 130.

This is a Beethoven Symphonies Cycle of the 21st century! Christian Thielemann and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra perform Beethoven Symphonies Nos. 1 – 9 incl. and each DVD includes a one-hour-long documentary for each symphony.
Includes an hour-long documentary for each symphony where Maestro Thielemann and Joachim Kaiser (the most famous German music critic) discuss and analyze in an entertaining conversational exchange Thielemann’s interpretation, complemented by excerpts from rehearsals as well as by comparisons of Beethoven cycles with Karajan, Bernstein etc. – no aspect of Beethoven’s symphonic œuvre will remain unaffected!

This luxury Belcea Quartet Box brings a new high-definition audiovisual reference recording of Beethoven's Complete String Quartets! The ensemble embarked on the complete cycle of Beethoven string quartets, playing the whole program within twelve days, and recorded at the Wiener Konzerthaus in 2012, with each concert featuring one work from the early, middle and late quartets, including perhaps the most exciting of all works by Beethoven: the Opus 133, the 'Große Fuge' which he wrote as the finale of the quartet Opus 130.