3/13 Performance Today's "50 Essential Classical"

NPR Radio has always been an incredibly rich source of information and education about classical music.  One of my favorite features, especially when I was just getting into classical music, is The "PT 50" - that is, the "Performance Today 50 Essential Classical Music CDs" show.  This is a series of - guess what - 50 half-hour programs where 2 radio hosts basically "sell" their favorite classical records and play excerpts from them.  The 3 shows about Beethoven works were these:

BEETHOVEN:
Piano Sonatas Nos. 21 "Waldstein", 23 "Appassionata" & 26 "Les Adieux"
Emil Gilels, piano
(Piano Sonata #26 In Eb, Op.81A, "Les Adieux" (1810) is performed in its entirety starting from 6:30)

The String Quartets
Emerson String Quartet (Op.95 M1, Op.18,No.2 M2, Op.135 M2, Op.59,No.3 M4)

Symphony No. 5 in c minor, Op. 67
Vienna Philharmonic,Carlos Kleiber, conductor

By clicking on the above links you should be able to launch your RealMedia player (or whatever browser plug-in you have set to play RAM streams).  Personally, I have Media Player Classic assigned in my Firefox Options/Applications to play RAM files. 

These programs were hosted by Fred Child and featured selections and commentary by Ted Libbey, who I also paraphrased in 1/5 Beethoven's 32 Piano Sonatas: An Overview (Libby).

To go to the full listing of the PT 50 see below:
The NPR PT 50 w Ted Libby

3/6 Emil Gilels does Sonatas 28 (Op.101) and 12 (Op. 26)

Emil Gilels is no stranger to The Daily Beethoven. After Sviatoslav Richter, he was probably the most celebrated Russian pianist to tour the US in the 20th Century. His playing, tho quite different from Richter's is also very rich and full of both energy and subtlety. HERE's a massive tribute site to Gilels.

So today we have Gilels playing one of my favorite of B.'s late piano works, Beethoven's Piano Sonata 28, Opus 101 (what I like to call the "Baroness") , followed by Gilels on Piano Sonata 12, Opus 26

Opus 101

1. Etwas lebhaft, und mit der innigsten Empfindung. (Somewhat lively, and with innermost sensitivity.) Allegretto, ma non troppo
2. Lebhaft. Marschmäßig. (Lively. Moderate march.) Vivace alla marcia
3. Langsam und sehnsuchtsvoll. (Slow and longingly) Adagio, ma non troppo, con affetto
4. Geschwind, doch nicht zu sehr und mit Entschlossenheit. (Swiftly, but not too much, and with determination) Allegro

Click HERE for the Playlist (not embeddable)

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Opus 26

1. Andante con variazioni 3/8
2. Scherzo, allegro molto 3/4 A-flat major, D-flat major, A-flat major
3. Maestoso andante, marcia funebre sulla morte d'un eroe 4/4 A-flat minor, A-flat major
4. Allegro, Rondo form 2/4 A-flat major

1/12 The 10 Essential Beethoven CDs

Sometimes I get asked - What do you recommend as far as essential Beethoven goes?
And someday I'll have to sit down and answer that question.  My knee-jerk response is "All of it", but if you don't feel up to listening to 87 CDs of Beethoven's music in one go, then here's a Top 10 list from "Classical CD Guide.Com.  Their choices are pretty solid and a good place to start when diving into Beethoven's music...here's a sampling:

Top 10 Essential Beethoven CDs (according to Classical CD Guide.com)
(for any artists who I couldn't find on YT, I subbed a pretty good rendition I think.  These are all excerpts (except #1)...you need to buy those 86 other CDs, right?)

1. Symphony 5, Conducted by Carlos Kleiber Herbert von Karajan
(Complete.  Play It Loud.) "The most famous piece of classical music ever written".


2. "Pathétique" and "Moonlight" Piano Sonatas, Alfred Brendel:
"Beethoven's more intimate medium of expression. "
(Moonlight 1st movement)


3. "Razumovsky" String Quartets Takács Tokyo Quartet:
"Revolutionary chamber works. "
(String Quartet 9, in C, Op.59 No 3 M4, excerpt)


4. Symphony 9, "Choral", Conducted by von Karajan,
"An inspiring journey, culminating in the "Ode to Joy." 


5 Violin Concerto, Wolfgang Schneiderhan, Eugen Jochum:
"Inaugurating the era of the Romantic concerto." 


6. Piano Concerto 5, "Emperor" Kovacevich, Davis: Emil Gilels/Kurt Sanderling:
"The king of piano concertos."


7. Symphony 3, "Eroica" Szell    Arturo Toscanini '53:
"A revolutionary symphony." 


8. "Spring" and "Kreutzer" Violin Sonatas  Perlman / Ashkenazy, Heifetz/Moiseiwitsch
"The young composer at his most jubilant."
("Kreutzer" 1st movement)


9. Late String Quartets, Takács Quartet,
"Quartets that break all the rules." 
(Opus 131, Movement 5 - Presto)


10 Late Piano Sonatas, Maurizio Pollini,
"Complex works that set a new standard."
(Opus 111, excerpt)


From a purely musical perspective, I can humbly judge this post to be the greatest blog post in recorded history ;).

12/29 Different Keys/Different Strokes...No. 27 / Op. 27

One of the many great things about Beethoven's music is the basic integrity and beauty of his work can shine through (or withstand) many different interpretations.  Even Beethoven himself rarely played a sonata the same exact way each time, and on occasion he was known to remark something to the effect of "Well, I never imagined it being played in such a manner - but I like this even better!" (especially if it was an attractive young female interpreter....).  Factors such as tempo, dynamics, phrasing - these are all things which can be personalized by the performer, thereby making a performance a true dialogue between composer and interpreter.  Though I heartily disagree with Maria João Pires that the notated score is not even 1 percent of the music...

Last week I featured a set of unique interpretations by Fazil Say.  Here are a couple double performances to compare side by side - so to speak.


Sonata No. 27, Op 90, Mvt. 1

Wilhelm Kempff:


Emil Gilels:

It still sounds like the same piece - but the personality of the performer comes through quite clearly.

In this example, however it gets a bit more ..extreme.

Sonata No. 13, Op. 27, No.1 "Quasi una fantasia", Mvt. 1

Daniel Barenboim:


Glenn Gould: