Beethoven Archive

Beethoven’s fourth piano concerto is every bit as beautiful and in several respects more original than its predecessors. Instead of an orchestral opening, which until this work had been the customary starting point for any …

Ludwig van Beethoven composed sonatas for piano over his entire lifetime. He died at age 57, and he left us with 32 of these sonatas that generations of musicians and ordinary people have enjoyed. My …

Nine of Beethoven’s ten sonatas for violin and piano were composed between 1797 and 1803 for his own performances with various violinists. In the Classical era such works were often described as sonatas for piano …

Conductor Carlos Kleiber was the man I have most admired as a musician who lived during my time. As such, I do not include composers such as Franz Schubert, Mozart and others. Kleiber was even …

Beethoven composed piano sonatas all through his life, which ended in 1827. The last three sonatas by Beethoven form a group that seems to be a continuum. My personal favorite is the middle one, the …