Akademie Fur Alte Musik Berlin - Beethoven: Symphonies Nos.4, 6 & 8 - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Michael Nyman - Piano Concerto / Where the Bee Dances [COMPACT DISCS] date 08/25/1998

The least famous of Beethoven's symphonies? Yet these two works are genuine tours de force the composer takes the listener on a journey whose destination never seems to be known in advance, one brimming over with structural innovations subtly brought out in this interpretation by the musicians of the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin. This recording is also an opportunity to discover just how clearly Cherubini's music prefigured that of Beethoven, whereas Méhul's symphony is a response à la française to the German composer.

- A pupil of Dukas and a lifelong friend of Ravel, the composer, pianist and critic Gustave Samazeuilh was a central figure in Parisian musical life over many decades. His skill as a pianist can be heard in themajestic colors and intense virtuosity of Le Chant de la mer (The song of the sea). From the Classical discipline of the Suite en sol (Suite in G) to the later Nocturne (the composer's transcription of hissymphonic poem Nuit), and Quatre Esquisses (Four Sketches), Samazeuilh's voice emerges as one of remarkable originality and superb musical realization.