Beethoven, Ludwig van - Sonatas for Violin & Piano - Podger, Rachel

Rachel Podger, “the unsurpassed British brilliance of the baroque violin” (The Times), and Grammy Award-winning pianist Christopher Glynn recorded Beethoven’s Sonatas for Violin and Piano Nos. 1, 5, and 10. Following the critically acclaimed Mozart/Jones Sonatas Fragment Completions (2021), this Beethoven album is Podger and Glynn’s second joint release. Reading about Ludwig van Beethoven as a performer usually brings up inevitable stories about his distinctive and original piano playing in Vienna. But when we delve into his early years in Bonn, we read that as a musician at the court of the Archbishop-Elector of Cologne, he was active both as an organist and a violist. And when he left for Vienna in 1792, he was advised to take violin lessons under Ignaz Schuppanzigh. Beethoven's profound understanding of both the violin and the piano, and his ability to combine them with astonishing inventiveness and originality, can be heard in ten sonatas. Three of these are featured on this new album.