The Fifth Symphony with its theme of fate, the Funeral March from Eroica, and Ode to Joy from the finale of the Ninth; To Elise and Marmotte, the Sonata Pathétique, the Moonlight Kreutzer sonatas, the overtures Leonore and Egmont, the piano variations, the Missa solemnis – to the 250th anniversary of the birth of Ludwig van Beethoven, Firma Melodiya has come up with a digital album of fifty tracks. The set includes digitally remastered phonograms of the original analogue master tapes from the Melodiya archives recorded between the 1950s and the 1980s.
Symphonies, overtures, sonatas, and concertos (in whole or in fragments), piano pieces, sacred music... Beethoven’s most popular and momentous works are performed by the outstanding musicians of the 20th century. The studio and concert recordings made by Emil Gilels, Sviatoslav Richter, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Van Cliburn; Leonid Kogan, Mstislav Rostropovich, Daniil Shafran, Vadim Repin; Herbert von Karajan, Evgeny Svetlanov, Kirill Kondrashin, Rudolf Barshai, and many others captured the highlights of Russia’s Beethoveniana.
