Before Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) changed the direction of music forever, he was a pianist...and a pretty good one to boot. Beethoven could play fiddle too, but, then again, he was no Paganini ...

A few weeks ago I outlined some binge listening plans. I’ve completed two of them. The first was all 32 of Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas. The second was a survey of Baroque music. The Beethoven took about ...

In his last sonata, Beethoven seems to have found the ultimate solution to the unity of form by resolving in one movement the conflicts of the other. The two movements contrast on a number of planes: ...

Andras Schiff has called Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 29 ("Hammerklavier") "a monument of impenetrability" with moments of humor and "unfathomable depths of tragedy and loss." Beethoven's 32 piano ...

Rare is the pianist who accepts the challenge of learning all 32 piano sonatas by Beethoven. Rarer still is the keyboard virtuoso who decides to perform all of them in public, from memory, over the ...

Beethoven wrote piano sonatas throughout his life, from the early pieces he wrote as virtuoso vehicles for himself to the highly distilled essays he crafted after deafness had put an end to his ...