Kodama Beethoven

Together with the Berlin-based Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester (DSO) Mari Kodama and her husband Kent Nagano have now completed the recording of all of Beethoven's piano concertos by jumping, as it were, back in time twice: the last element of this recording series that has spanned more than 13 years was Beethoven's concerto "number nought" (WoO 4) – personally edited by Mari Kodama from the autograph score.

After her acclaimed complete recording of Beethoven's piano sonatas, Mari Kodama returns with a programme consisting of Beethoven string quartets transcribed for piano by Saint-Saëns, Mussorgsky and Balakirev, as well as Beethoven's variations on the finale of Mozart's Clarinet Quintet.

After her acclaimed complete recording of Beethoven’s piano sonatas, Mari Kodama returns with a programme consisting of Beethoven string quartets transcribed for piano by Saint-Saëns, Mussorgsky and Balakirev, as well as Beethoven’s variations on the finale of Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet. Most pieces are recorded for the first time. Kaleidoscope is designed as a homage, considering and experiencing Beethoven through the lens of other great composers. Mari Kodama is one of the most extraordinary pianists of our age, and has an impressive PENTATONE discography, featuring Beethoven’s complete piano sonatas (2003-2014), piano concertos of Loewe and Chopin (2003), Tchaikovsky Ballet Suites for Piano Duo (2016), De Falla’s Nights in the Gardens of Spain (2017) and Martinů’s Concert for Two Pianos (2018).

Mari Kodama presents New Paths, exploring the young Johannes Brahms and his fascinating friendship with Clara and Robert Schumann.

Together for the first time in the recording studio, the sisters Mari and Momo Kodama are on scintillating form in these lively arrangements of music from Tchaikovsky’s ballets Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and Nutcracker. In another first, the release contains the first ever recording of Arensky’s transcription of the timeless Nutcracker together with notable arrangements by Debussy and Rachmaninov.

Mari Kodama’s successful start to the 23/24 season began at the Hamburg City Hall Open Air concert with the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra under the direction of Kent Nagano performing Beethoven’s Concerto No.2. This year begins with Mari Kodama performing two piano concertos (Colin Mcphee’s Tabuh – Tabuhan for two pianos and orchestra and Poulenc’s Concerto for two pianos) with her sister Momo Kodama and the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra in Tokyo.

Mari Kodama’s successful start to the 23/24 season began at the Hamburg City Hall Open Air concert with the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra under the direction of Kent Nagano performing Beethoven’s Concerto No.2. This year begins with Mari Kodama performing two piano concertos (Colin Mcphee’s Tabuh – Tabuhan for two pianos and orchestra and Poulenc’s Concerto for two pianos) with her sister Momo Kodama and the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra in Tokyo.

Mari Kodama’s successful start to the 23/24 season began at the Hamburg City Hall Open Air concert with the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra under the direction of Kent Nagano performing Beethoven’s Concerto No.2. This year begins with Mari Kodama performing two piano concertos (Colin Mcphee’s Tabuh – Tabuhan for two pianos and orchestra and Poulenc’s Concerto for two pianos) with her sister Momo Kodama and the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra in Tokyo.

Ludwig van Beethoven stands as a giant in music history for his great symphonies, piano sonatas and string quartets, and the challenges of deafness later in life. This programme shows the younger Beethoven’s facility as a creator of light and entertaining chamber works as enjoyable to perform as they are to hear. Taking their cues from Mozart, the Duos build on sonata form and dance movements, the slightly later Serenade taking the shape of a genial 18th-century divertimento.

Compiled from pieces that were clearly composed much earlier as well as from more recent works, the Deuxième Livre pays homage to its two masters and calls for tonalities that it had not yet employed; it evokes the past and the great lutenists of that time with the Pavane and yet also contains important innovations. It is truly a transitional work: published at the very dawn of the century, it opened the doors to the important stylistic changes that French music would undergo during the Age of Enlightenment.