Beethoven: Complete Sonatas for Cello and Piano

Advantages: a new take on a familiar warhorse
Disadvantages: is it worth full price?

...even the piano, Beethoven was, after all, a pianist himself and hated to see a good tune go unplayed by himself) but after a while, when the first shock wears off, the thing actually works quite well. Pletnev did have to make concessions, of course, a little transposition here, a minor rewrite there, but on the whole Beethoven's Clarinet Concerto (as the booklet cheerfully bills it)is a totally credible addition to the repertoire. It comes too late, unfortunately, for the great Gervase de Peyer, but it will be snapped up quite happily by the likes of Sabine Meyer and other relative youngsters. That said, I suspect the names Pletnev and Collins made it imperative for this recording to be issued on a full-price luxury label like DG. As a curiosity (which it will always be, in spite of its quality) it might have more logically appeared... Read review

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Advantages: A work that changed the way we look at symphonies
Disadvantages: none whatsoever

...There have been (and still are) moments in every art form that have somehow broken the accepted norms and created something revolutionary, pointing a clear path towards the future and serving as an influence to a number of other people that follow. In music one of the greatest innovators of all time must be Ludwig van Beethoven. Emerging in the late 18th century as a brilliant piano virtuoso and composer who was first seen as an heir to Mozart, but who soon showed his individual and highly original character, writing music that was more openly emotional, turbulent and less decorous than people were used to. However, Beethoven's promising career seemed almost to terminate before it had even begun as he started to loose his hearing, beginning in the early 1800s. This lead to a tremendous crisis in the composer's life and he seriously... Read review

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Advantages: One of Beethoven's finest symphonies.
Disadvantages: None from me, but some will say "classical music is boring".

...THE END OF AN ERA 1812 can be seen as the markerpoint where Beethoven's middle-period came to an end and his late-period was ushered in. Beethoven's middle-period saw the composer at his most creative high with one masterpiece following the other in rapid succession. The beginning of this period can roughly be timed as starting in 1803 with the appearance of the Third Symphony "Eroica" and the "Kreutzer" sonata. These two works signalled Beethoven distinctly leaving the 18th century Classicism of Haydn and Mozart behind him and taking on a completely new and individual voice. This individuality became more and more apparent in the works that followed: the "Waldstein" and "Appassionata" piano sonatas, the "Razumovski" quartets, the Violin Concerto, the three last cello sonatas, the "Archduke" piano trio, Fidelio, the Fifth and Sixth... Read review

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