In recording Ludwig van Beethoven's nine symphonies with the SWR Radio Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart, its principal conductor Sir Roger Norrington presented a summary of his life-long work with the composer's music. He applied the insights of historically informed performance to a modern symphony orchestra.

During the 2002 European Music Festival, Norrington and the Radio Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart set out to prove that a modern symphony orchestra could play the nine symphonies in accordance with the most recent ‘artistic findings’. Presenting Beethoven's symphonies in the order of their composition was the dramatic concept of this cycle of concerts that is duly captured on these recordings. Since the symphonies were performed at the festival in the order in which they were composed, they are found on the discs in combinations that are unusual, but chronologically accurate.

Rosbaud's ability to combine a structural approach with musical brilliance, urgency with poetic magic, austerity with inspiration, is a source of deep admiration, not least in the works of Beethoven, The more one focuses on the nuances of Rosbaud’s artistry, the more one admires his ability to convey precise ideas to the orchestra without compromising vivacity, verve and spontaneity. These Beethoven recordings prove beyond doubt that Rosbaud was one of the greatest musicians and conductors of the 20th century. This is equally true when providing concerto accompaniments: from supporting the Trio di Trieste's enthusiastic playing in the Triple Concerto, to the titanic brilliance of Ginette Neveu in the Violin Concerto, and to Géza Anda's faultless execution of the Fourth Piano Concerto. Under Rosbaud’s direction, the orchestra performs minute details to perfection, with exciting touches that still remain faithful to the character of the music. Beethoven's structural contrasts achieve an overall homogeneity.

2020 is the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, and this album presents three works that reshape the composer’s awe-inspiring music for the 21st century. The Sonata for Orchestra considers how the Violin Sonata No. 7 would sound had it been written for orchestra, while A Fidelio Symphony transforms vocal lines into symphonic textures to take us through the entire arc of the composer’s sole opera. Based on the famous Ode to Joy of Beethoven’s final symphony, BEETHOVEN9 Symphonic Remix uses loops, grooves and musical transformations to create a contemporary tribute to Beethoven’s universal message.

Die Ruinen von Athen (‘The Ruins of Athens’) was composed to celebrate the opening of the new German theatre in Pest in 1812. Designed to accompany the play of that name by August von Kotzebue, its incidental music is substantial enough to form a kind of one-act Singspiel and is full of attractive arias, duets and choruses and includes the famous Turkish March. Though the work’s theme was rooted in Greek mythology, in reality it was explicitly political in nature, celebrating Pest as ‘the new Athens’. This is the first ever recording of the work with full narration.

‘Leif Segerstam, the wild baton of Finnish music, finds just the right tempo for telling a dramatic Biblical story. The Turku Philharmonic and their local cathedral choir have both delicacy and heft, and the soloists – Hanna-Leena Haapamäki, Jussi Mylls and Niklas Spangberg are absolutely top-drawer. Sensational music, brilliantly performed.’
– Ludwig van Toronto ★★★★★

Beethoven was commissioned to write his first stage work – a ballet score for Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus (‘The Creatures of Prometheus’) – for the dancer and choreographer Salvatore Viganò, nephew of composer Luigi Boccherini. In the myth, Prometheus is punished by Zeus for stealing fire for the benefit of mankind; in the allegorical ballet, Prometheus brings Enlightenment ideas of art and science to humanity. The overture remains popular and the finale – the theme of which Beethoven was later to use in his ‘Eroica’ Symphony – offers a heroic conclusion.

Beethoven was involved with the theatre in one way or another from boyhood, and the commission to compose incidental music for Goethe’s play Egmont at the Royal Imperial Court Theatre in Vienna was the first of many such collaborations. Beethoven’s score conveys the essence of this tragedy and reveals his clear affinity with its theme of heroic sacrifice by a man condemned to death for taking a valiant stand against oppression.

Beethoven’s permanent move to Vienna in 1782 allowed him direct contact with the operatic and Italianate culture of the city. He took lessons in Italian word setting from Salieri and almost immediately began the composition of a series of arias in that language, including Primo amore, piacer del ciel and later the dramatic recitative and aria Ah! perfido. Beethoven also set strophic songs in German that form part of the popular Singspiel tradition which are genial and rare examples of his art.

Ondine celebrates Beethoven’s 250th anniversary of birth by re-issuing Olli Mustonen’s Beethoven cycle with the Tapiola Sinfonietta. The three volumes were originally released in three separate volumes in 2007-9 as ODE 1099-5, ODE 1123-5, and ODE 1146-5.

Mustonen, described by The Sunday Times as the “living dream of pianism”, is known for delivering fresh and visionary approach to standard works – this is evident in these masterful recordings of Beethoven’s concertos. Mustonen is a particularly fitting exponent for Beethoven’s music as the composer himself was also both visionary and revolutionary in his approach to tradition. The recording of Piano Concerto No. 1 includes Mustonen’s own candenzas. Beethoven’s own Piano Concerto arrangement of his Violin Concerto is also featured – one of Mustonen’s signature pieces.

Beethoven’s first two piano concertos share an abundance of lyric and virtuosic qualities. Concerto No. 1 in C major is expansive and richly orchestrated with a sublime slow movement that is tender and ardent, and a finale full of inventive humour. Concerto No. 2 in B flat major marries energy with elegance, reserving poetic breadth for its slow movement and quirky wit for the finale. Also included is the jovial Rondo, WoO 6, which Beethoven originally intended to be the finale of Concerto No. 2.

The first five volumes (9.70307–9.70311) of Boris Giltburg’s traversal of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas have been received with much acclaim. ‘[Giltburg brings] us closer to the spontaneous feel of a live performance... on this form Naxos’s cycle looks set to be something special.’ (Malcolm Hayes, BBC Music Magazine, on Sonatas Nos. 4–7 / 9.70308). ‘The slow movements, which Giltburg plays without affectation but with all the more sensitive differentiation and intelligence, are very beautiful and gripping (Remy Franck, Pizzicato on 9.70308). ‘The B flat Sonata... typifies what one might hope for in a traversal of familiar repertory by an outstanding young artist: fresh perspective on terrain one thought one knew. (Patrick Rucker, Gramophone, on Sonatas Nos. 8–11 / 9.70309).

Boris Giltburg has set out to study and film all of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas by the end of 2020. The project started as a personal exploration, driven by curiosity and his strong love of the Beethoven sonatas. These performances display Giltburg’s customary spirit and technical finesse, and also convey the electric atmosphere of the live recording. Volumes 1–4 can be heard on Naxos 9.70307–10.

Boris Giltburg has set out to study and film all of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas by the end of 2020. The project started as a personal exploration, driven by curiosity and his strong love of the Beethoven sonatas. These performances display Giltburg’s customary spirit and technical finesse, and also convey the electric atmosphere of the live recording. Volumes 1 to 3 can be heard on Naxos 9.70307, 9.70308 and 9.70309.

Boris Giltburg has set out to study and film all of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas by the end of 2020. The project started as a personal exploration, driven by curiosity and his strong love of the Beethoven sonatas. These performances display Giltburg’s customary spirit and technical finesse, and also convey the electric atmosphere of the live recording. Volumes 1 and 2 can be heard on Naxos 9.70307 and 9.70308.

Boris Giltburg has set out to study and film all 32 piano sonatas by Beethoven by the end of 2020. The project started as a personal exploration, driven by curiosity and his strong love of the Beethoven sonatas. These performances display Giltburg’s customary spirit and technical finesse, and also convey the electric atmosphere of the live recording. Volume 1 can be found on Naxos 9.70307.

Boris Giltburg has set out to learn and film all 32 piano sonatas by Beethoven by the end of 2020. The project started as a personal exploration, driven by curiosity and his strong love of the Beethoven sonatas, and the recordings presented in this initial volume display Giltburg’s customary spirit, technical finesse and convey the electric atmosphere of the live recording.

Including premiere recordings, this programme provides us with a privileged opportunity to engage with 36 of Ludwig van Beethoven’s rarely heard sketches, variations and briefest of compositions, even the earliest of which have much to teach us about the emergence of his unique voice and style. The range of Beethoven’s musical experimentation reveals a lasting interest in counterpoint, as well as practical pages such as cadenzas for a Mozart concerto, an incomplete sonata and a second version of the famous bagatelle Für Elise. A significant supplement to his greatest works, these miniatures bring the full arc of Beethoven’s singular genius into ever clearer focus.

‘Beethoven issued the piano arrangement himself before the orchestral scores so that this is not a reduction from the full score so much as the composer’s own approach to the work in the process of composition. It works extremely well and Warren Lee’s playing is engaging and alive throughout.’
– Lark Reviews

Most of the pieces on this album have been designated ‘WoO’ (Works without Opus Number) or bear the numbering from the Hess catalogue of unpublished or unfinished pieces. These include the piano transcription of the topically programmatic Battle Symphony (Wellington’s Victory or The Battle of Vitoria) and the genial variations on Rule Britannia and God Save the King. The Marches, Menuets and Ecossaises derive from a variety of sources, while there is a strangely tragic aspect to the Waltz in C minor.

‘The pedal point inner section of WoO 84 is especially reminiscent of the B major trio from the B minor bagatelle in that set; Weng does an excellent job with these. His playing is clean, but not dull, and he captures the fun, experimental quality of Beethoven’s writing here. Recommended even beyond the realm of Beethoven buffs, who will already have decided to acquire it.’
– AllMusic.com ★★★★

Love of Beethoven’s works threads through Idil Biret’s life like a red ribbon. Her studio recordings and live concerts show this in an unequivocal language… Next to all the Piano Concertos and the Choral Fantasy she has also performed on stage and recorded (on 19 CDs) all the Piano Sonatas and Symphony Transcriptions becoming perhaps the only artist to reach this level of completeness… This knowledge of Beethoven one hears in every nuance in Idil Biret’s playing.” – Carsten Dürer (editor) Piano News (Germany) 2021

Love of Beethoven’s works threads through Idil Biret’s life like a red ribbon. Her studio recordings and live concerts show this in an unequivocal language… Next to all the Piano Concertos and the Choral Fantasy she has also performed on stage and recorded (on 19 CDs) all the Piano Sonatas and Symphony Transcriptions becoming perhaps the only artist to reach this level of completeness… This knowledge of Beethoven one hears in every nuance in Idil Biret’s playing.” Carsten Dürer (editor), Piano News (Germany) 2012

The first volume (8.551400) with Vinzenz Lachner‘s arrangements of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Concertos for piano and string quintet already showed that this would be quite a special complete recording of Beethoven’s piano concertos—and not just because it is the first recording to present this version for the first time ever. For the second volume, Hanna Shybayeva chose the piano trio version of the second symphony in D major Op. 36 to be added in the arrangement by the master himself. After all, this chamber music arrangement from Beethoven’s pen fits perfectly with those of the piano concertos of later times.

Beethoven’s lesser known output includes a series of conventional, tranquil works which followed the standards of the day. Written basically to make ends meet, such works throw light on the everyday activities in the career of revolutionary man, and help us better understand hidden aspects of his genius.

The Serenade in D major for flute, violin and viola was completed around 1797, but it was published as Op. 25 only in 1802. It is, therefore, an early work and one of the lightest and sunniest compositions of Beethoven’s chamber output. The work must have immediately met with success, for about a year later, in 1803, a Leipzig publisher printed a version of it for flute and piano, as Op. 41. In this version, the Serenade is a pleasant entertainment piece, far from the daring language of the composer’s contemporary piano music.

In his first decade in Vienna, Beethoven seems to have been preoccupied with music for wind instruments. The best-known example is his Quintet in E flat major, Op. 16, which he arranged at the same time for piano quartet. He also wrote music for dances and settings of folk songs, and reflected the public’s interest in automata by writing for musical clock. The Napoleonic wars were mirrored in Beethoven’s music of the period, especially in his military compositions such as a series of Marches and the Equali, scored for trombones, which were later played at his funeral.

The string quartets of Beethoven are among the greatest works of their kind, but he composed other works for quartet which have been neglected. This album is dedicated to these intriguing rarities. Alongside the wild and monumental Grosse Fuge, in many ways the culmination of Beethoven’s achievements in the string quartet genre, this recording further displays his mastery of counterpoint by bringing to light brilliant yet forgotten original versions of his quartets Op. 18, No. 1 and Op. 131, plus six virtually unknown miniatures, including his Preludes and Fugues.

Beethoven and Hummel’s relationship was one of fractious beginnings, but ultimately true friendship. Between 1825 and 1835 Hummel arranged his contemporary’s Symphonies Nos. 1–7 and Septet, Op. 20 for his favoured combination of pianoforte, flute, violin and violoncello. Beethoven would surely not have objected – arrangements were, after all, a perfectly normal part of the 19th-century musical landscape. To audiences today his symphonies need little introduction but, thanks to the musical sensitivity and sheer brilliance of Hummel’s arrangements, it is possible to experience the thrill of hearing these extraordinary pieces afresh.

Music for wind ensemble was a regular part of entertainment in Beethoven’s day, and his Octet was composed for the skilled players in the service of his patron, the Archbishop-Elector in Bonn. The charming and skilfully written Sextet is also ‘from my early things and, what’s more, was written in one night’; impressing a critic of the time ‘by its splendid melodies, leisurely harmonic flow, and wealth of new and surprising ideas’. Wind partitas often opened with a March, and the Rondino was originally intended as the Finale to the Octet, two suitable pieces to complete this fashionable Beethoven soirée.