Ludwig van Beethoven

Mario Galeani and Grzegorz Nowak partner once more in a brand new recording of Beethoven’s piano concertos.

This is a companion disc to RPOSP013 Piano Concertos Nos. 4 & 5 featuring the same artists.

As with all of the RPO’s recent own-label CDs, this was recorded in the wonderful acoustics of London’s Cadogan Hall, the RPO’s London home.

Beethoven was a musical giant. He wasn’t taller or fatter than everyone else, but his music is big and his name is important. Beethoven is like the Olympic champion of classical music. Some of the music he wrote is strong and serious, and some of it is very gentle. Listen here to orchestras, pianos, violins and other instruments playing some of the most famous pieces of all.

On this new CD award-winning French pianist Laurent Cabasso performs two great masterpieces of the nineteenth century, Beethoven’s 33 Variations on a Theme by Diabelli, and Franz Schubert’s ‘Wanderer’ Fantasy.

After studying with amongst others the great piano teacher and former pupil of Artur Schnabel, Maria Curcio-Diamand, Laurent Cabasso went on to win awards at several international competitions including the Geza Anda Prize in Zurich in 1982, and the Clara Haskil Competition in Vevey in 1987. Since then he has developed into a major international soloist and gives regular recitals and concerts in such centres as the the Tonhalle in Zurich, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, and the Festspielhaus in Zurich. He has performed as soloist with all the major French orchestras, as well as the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande with conductors including Charles Dutoit, Serge Baudo, Emmanuel Krivine, and Michel Plasson. He also appears regularly with some of today’s finest musicians, including Sonia Wieder-Atherton and the Rosamunde and Enesco quartets.

Laurent Cabasso was chosen by the Festival Chopin in Paris as one of the ten pianists who combined to perform the complete cycle of Chopin’s works given to mark the composer’s bicentenary celebration held in Chateauroux and Paris in 2010.

His solo recordings to date include CDs devoted to the music of Schumann, Prokofiev, and Beethoven the latter being chosen by Le Monde as one of the best CDs of the year. Recent distinctions have included a Diapason d’Or for a Liszt recording with the organist Olivier Vernet.

Beethoven’s euphoric Symphony No.9, like his symphony No.5, is one of those pieces of classical music which transcends the barrier between musical genres – one of the few pieces of the classical canon in the popular consciousness. Few can fail to be uplifted and caught up in the joyous 'Ode to Joy' finale. For this performance, recorded live at the Edinburgh International Festival in 1994, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment were joined by the renowned conductor and long-time collaborator, Sir Charles Mackerras, a partnership between him and the OAE that lasted almost a quarter of a century.

This is Signum’s second release with the OAE, following a release of Monteverdi’s Vespers (SIGCD237) earlier this year.

The next release, planned for December, will feature Sarah Connolly performing Mahler’s 'Totenfeier' and 'Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen' with the OAE under Vladimir Jurowski.

The latest recording by the celebrated Ukrainian pianist Sergei Edelmann for Triton features three of Beethoven’s sonatas for solo piano: No. 4 in E flat major opus 7, and two of his best known works, Sonatas No.14 in C# minor opus 27 No.2 known as the ‘Moonlight’, and 23 in F minor opus 57 ‘Appassionata’.

Born in Lvov, Ukraine in 1960, Sergei Edelmann was taught to play by his father, Alexander Edelmann, a renowned pianist and teacher who had links with Vladimir Horowitz and Sviatoslav Richter. His BMG Classics/RCA Red Seal CDs feature recordings of both Mendelssohn Concertos and the Strauss Burlesque, and his series of solo recordings of Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, and Prokofiev, have gathered enthusiastic critical acclaim. In recent times he has made several recordings for Triton, including discs devoted to the music of Schumann (EXCL00025), and Chopin (OVCT00058).

Following closely after the opus 2 set of three sonatas which were written in 1796, the next in the series, Op. 7, stands alone, and bears the designation ‘Grande Sonate’. It was composed around the same time as the first two piano concertos. The two Sonatas which make up Beethoven’s Op. 27 were composed in 1801, between the First and Second Symphonies. Both have the same sub-title, ‘Sonata in the manner of a fantasia’, the fantasy element of No. 2 coming through having the slow movement at the start. It was this that prompted the work’s poetic nickname of ‘Moonlight’ Sonata. The opus 57 Sonata was written in around 1805 the same time as the 3rd and 4th Symphonies, the 4th Piano Concerto, the ‘Rasumovsky’ String Quartets, and the Violin Concerto. The title ‘Appassionata’ is thought to have been added to the work by the publisher.

In 1961, the visiting orchestra to Salzburg was the Dresden Staatskapelle. The 'magic harp', as it was known, certainly justified its reputation under Franz Konwitschny, who confirmed his own standing as one of the leading representatives of the traditionally 'heavy' style of music-making in the German Classical and Romantic repertory.

Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony was notable for its powerful contrast between darker and lighter orchestral sonorities, and much the same was true of Mozart’s Piano Concerto in A major K 488, in which the soloist was no less a luminary than Friedrich Gulda, whose playing was remarkable for its subtly contoured interaction with the orchestra but who was also able to bring to the piece a note of virtuosity and, in the Adagio, an overriding calm.

The Staatskapelle’s concert under Konwitschny ended with Strauss’s 'Sinfonia domestica': a vast portrait of the Strauss family drawing on the orchestra’s full palette of tone colours.

Wigmore Hall Live’s unrivalled reputation for capturing the world’s best song recitals is continued in its forthcoming October release from the distinguished lyric tenor, Matthew Polenzani.

Often referred to as one of the most gifted and distinguished lyric tenors of his generation, Matthew Polenzani has been praised for the artistic versatility and fresh lyricism that he brings to concert and operatic appearances on leading international stages. He has performed, among many others, opposite Renée Fleming, Anna Netrebko and Diana Damrau, and under the baton of Lorin Maazel, Pierre Boulez and Riccardo Muti. He will shortly be performing at Covent Garden in 'Don Giovanni'.

In this, his debut Wigmore Hall recital, Polenzani brings together the works of Hahn, Beethoven, Britten and Schubert, including 'An die ferne Geliebte' and the 'Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo', alongside leading piano-accompanist, Julius Drake.

Composed in April 1816, 'An die ferne Geliebte', opus 98, is Beethoven's only song cycle. Also appearing on the release are five examples of some of Schubert’s most-loved works, composed in the great age of song. Britten’s 'Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo' and are given added poignancy as they are said to represent a thinly-veiled expression of Britten’s affection for Peter Pears. Finally, the album features Hahn’s album of songs, 'Venezia: Chansons en dialecte vénitien'. Described by the composer as both “light and melancholy”, they received their premiere in Venice, 1901.