This complete Beethoven edition follows the major success of Warner Classics’ complete Debussy and Berlioz editions, acknowledged as the best of their kind. The 80CD set offers recordings of exceptional artistic and technical quality at a price that represents outstanding value for money.
Carefully selected from the Warner Classics and Erato catalogues, and complemented by items licensed in from external catalogues, the recordings do full justice to the extraordinary breadth, diversity and depth of Beethoven’s oeuvre. The edition includes classic recordings from the LP era, but the majority of the collection, above all the complete cycles (symphonies, piano concertos, piano sonatas, string quartets etc.), comprise recordings that represent the best of the CD era.
Celebrated and authoritative Beethoven interpreters from the past and the present Such artists as (in alphabetical order): Artemis Quartet, Daniel Barenboim, Rudolf Buchbinder, Renaud Capuçon, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Carlo Maria Giulini, Bernard Haitink, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Otto Klemperer, Stephen Kovacevich, Yo-Yo Ma, Yehudi Menuhin, Itzhak Perlman, Jacqueline du Pré, András Schiff, János Starker.
An emphasis on complete cycles by a specific artist, ensemble or team of musicians
A particular feature of the box is continuity of the interpreter(s) throughout an entire cycle of works in the same musical genre/related genres:
Symphonies Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Chamber Orchestra of Europe
Piano Concertos András Schiff, Bernard Haitink, Staatskapelle Dresden
Violin Concerto & Romances Itzhak Perlman
Piano sonatas Stephen Kovacevich
String quartets Artemis Quartet
Violin sonatas Renaud Capuçon, Frank Braley
Fidelio & Missa Solemnis Otto Klemperer
Other artists who feature in the collection include: Daniel Barenboim, Rudolf Buchbinder, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Carlo Maria Giulini, Otto Klemperer, Yo-Yo Ma, Yehudi Menuhin, Jacqueline du Pré, János Starker.
Some 300 tracks specially recorded for the box
These specially recorded tracks mostly comprise rarely heard works that are waiting to be discovered by a broader body of listeners. In the main these are piano works, choral works and songs.