LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN

In a further contribution to our celebration of Beethoven’s 250th anniversary this year we reissue Wolfgang Schneiderhan and Carl Seemann’s recordings of Beethoven’s complete Violin Sonatas. Recorded originally in the Vienna Musikverein (Brahms-Saal) in 1959 by the legendary Producer Elsa Schiller the stunning new 24 bit/192kHz remastering is offered not only on 3CDs but also on a Blu-ray Audio disc in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. The package is completed with a new 24-page booklet including new liner notes by Tully Potter and new artist pictures from the archive.

Beethoven’s ten violin sonatas reflect many facets of the composer’s personality and cover most of his mature career. They also bring out many qualities in the musicians who perform them. “Seemann and Schneiderhan give a masterful account of Beethoven’s many pages of tension and soulful utterance. The crucial test of the ‘Kreutzer’ is mastered brilliantly in a full-blooded, sweeping treatment that is especially notable for Seemann’s buoyant playing of the variation movement. All in all, this is a highly satisfying set.” (Hi-Fi Stereo Review)

Beethoven was ideally positioned to write such pieces: he was a pianist of brilliant technique and improvisatory flair; and understood perfectly the technical demands that could be placed on the violin. He inherited the sonata for piano and violin (which was how he thought of it) in good order from Mozart. To the graceful, lyrical, well-shaped structures of the older composer, he added even greater interdependence of the parts, an explosive dramatic quality and a hearty sense of humour.