Posts tagged as "ludwig-van-beethoven"

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 ‘Emperor’; Piano Sonatas Nos. 19 & 20

April 29, 2016

A thrilling ‘Emperor’ from Lupu and Mehta is coupled with some solo piano rarities. Both the two Rondos and the two Sonatas included here are among Beethoven’s simpler pieces for piano and, while ever charming, they are constantly played by piano students and on regular piano exam syllabuses.

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5; Piano Concerto in D (after Violin Concerto)

April 29, 2016

Spanish pianist, Alicia de Larrocha’s first recording of Beethoven’s Emperor is a grand and thrilling affair and here receives its first release on CD. The pairing is Beethoven’s own arrangement of his Violin Concerto, for piano and orchestra and it is played with tremendous elan and style by Olli Mustonen. Note the first movement cadenza, […]

Songs of Inspiration

April 29, 2016

For their 1989 festival, the committee of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir invited Dame Kiri Te Kanawa to join the Choir and the Utah Symphony Orchestra under maestro Julius Rudel. The choice of repertoire remained open and Dame Kiri selected a highly appropriate program of inspirational works that she could share with the choir and its […]

Beethoven: Violin Concerto; Viotti: Violin Concerto No. 22

April 29, 2016

It is customary – although also somewhat arbitrary – to divide Beethoven’s career into early, middle and late periods. Be that as it may, his only completed violin concerto comes from the middle period. (Beethoven had attempted a violin concerto in 1790 but only 259 bars of it survive.) He began writing it in late […]

Standing Ovation – Popular Overtures

April 29, 2016

A thrilling collection of Overtures and Preludes (with some popular orchestral pieces thrown in for good measure) from Zubin Mehta. As a showman of the best variety, his recordings remain one of the Decca catalogue’s richest legacies with more than half of this collection released on CD for the first time.

Radetzky March – Marches & Polkas

April 28, 2016

Herbert von Karajan turns his attention to the swaggering pomp of favourite marches by the ‘other’ Strauss family and many others in this good natured and emblazoned romp.

The Panpipes of Zamfir

April 28, 2016

Being born in Romania and surrounded from childhood by folk melodies and fiery popular dance music certainly helps in forming an inspired musician, provided the talent is there. In the case of the exceptionally gifted Gheorghe Zamfir, who was born to a family of vine-growers in 1941 in Gaiesti near Bucharest, these fortunate circumstances led […]

Beethoven: Symphony No. 8; Bruckner: Symphony No. 1

April 28, 2016

The young Abbado made a handful of recordings with the Vienna Philharmonic of which this taught, sprightly reading of Beethoven’s Eighth (just listen to the orchestra’s reflexes in the finale) and the grand yet detailed vision of Bruckner’s First made just one short-lived appearance on CD. Now they return, remastered and at super-budget price.

Beethoven: Symphony No. 7; Overtures – Leonore No. 3; Egmont

April 22, 2016

Over the years, Eloquence has pioneered on CD the Decca discography of Zubin Mehta. Here is his beautifully-graded account of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony together with passionate performances of the Leonore Overture No. 3 and the Egmont Overture.