Emanuel Ax, piano

Part of Beethoven@250
Donna L. Kendall Classical Series

BEETHOVEN: Bagatelle No.25 in A minor, WoO 59, “Für Elise”
BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata No. 2 in A Major, Op. 2, No. 2
BEETHOVEN: Six variations on an original theme for piano in F major, Op.34
BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 2, No. 1
BEETHOVEN: Five variations for piano on “Rule, Britannia!”, WoO 79

“His greatness, his overwhelming authority as musician, technician and probing intellect emerges quickly as he plays. Within minutes, we are totally captured by his intensity and pianistic achievement.” —Los Angeles Times

Grammy Award-winning pianist Emanuel Ax makes a special recital appearance in an all-Beethoven program, including the delicate and emotional “Für Elise”, and two of the Op. 2 sonatas, praised for their harmonic and dramatic thought. The Op. 2 sonatas, dedicated to Joseph Haydn, each contain four movements, an unusual length seeming to show that Beethoven was aspiring towards composing a symphony.

A Sony Classical exclusive recording artist since 1987, Emanuel Ax’s recent releases include Mendelssohn Trios with Yo-Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman, Strauss’ Enoch Arden narrated by Patrick Stewart, and discs of two-piano music by Brahms and Rachmaninoff with Yefim Bronfman. In 2015, Ax was featured with Itzhak Perlman in a Deutche Grammophon duo recording of Sonatas by Faure and Strauss.

Ax has received Grammy Awards for the second and third volumes of his cycle of Haydn’s piano sonatas. He has also made a series of Grammy-winning recordings with cellist Yo-Yo Ma of the Beethoven and Brahms sonatas for cello and piano.