Yo-Yo Ma, Leonidas Kavakos, Emanuel Ax – Beethoven for Three: Symphony No. 4 and Op. 97 “Archduke” (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:14:53 minutes | 1,24 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sony Classical
Sony Classical is pleased to present Emanuel Ax, Leonidas Kavakos, and Yo-Yo Ma’s Beethoven for Three: Symphony No. 4 and Op. 97 “Archduke,” which will be released March 15, 2024.
Like the artists’ two previous Beethoven for Three releases, this new recording challenges the traditional distinction between chamber and orchestral repertoire, pairing the unforgettable Archduke trio with one of the composer’s most internally varied symphonies, thoughtfully re-arranged for piano, violin, and cello by Shai Wosner. Beethoven for Three: Symphony No. 4 and Op. 97 “Archduke” is the latest chapter in three friends’ ongoing exploration of what Beethoven’s invention means for musicians and audiences today.
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Itzhak Perlman, Emanuel Ax – Fauré & Strauss Violin Sonatas (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 53:42 minutes | 530 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Deutsche Grammophon
Legendary violinist Itzhak Perlman is known the world over as one of the most recognizable and beloved classical artists today. The 16-time Grammy winning Perlman celebrates his 70th birthday on August 31.
Itzhak Perlman and Emanuel Ax – each winners of multiple Grammy Awards among a myriad of other honors – have teamed up for the exquisite album of Romantic-era masterpieces: the Violin Sonata No. 1 in A Major by Gabriel Fauré and the lone Violin Sonata by Richard Strauss. In addition to this being Perlman’s first new solo recording in over a decade, it is also the first recording by this violin-piano team after years of performing together on stage, and the first time Perlman has recorded these two major sonatas.
Describing the Fauré sonata, Perlman says: “It smells like ambrosia – the essence of French music, a lovely piece. For a violinist, its phrases are a real satisfaction to play, as they’re so rich.” As for the Strauss sonata, Perlman says, “It’s by the young Strauss – emotionally heroic, very appassionato. I like to write stories in my mind about the music I play, to help me with the phrasing. This is a dramatic story – although in the slow movement, I imagine it in a coffeehouse, intimate and warm.”
Emanuel Ax, Leonidas Kavakos, Yo-Yo Ma – Beethoven for Three: Symphony No. 6 “Pastorale” and Op. 1, No. 3 (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:12:03 minutes | 1,15 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sony Classical
Like their first ‘Beethoven for Three’ release – ‘Symphonies Nos. 2 & 5’ – this recording challenges the traditional boundary between the chamber and orchestral repertoire to offer the listener two very different sides of the composer using the same three voices.
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Emanuel Ax, Leonidas Kavakos & Yo-Yo M – Brahms: The Piano Trios (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:26:19 minutes | 1,43 GB | Genre: Classical, Piano
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sony Classical
World-famous cellist Yo-Yo Ma and his longtime collaborator, pianist Emanuel Ax, are joined by violinist Leonidas Kavakos in their first recording together of all three of the piano trios of Johannes Brahms. Ma and Ax have built together a distinguished catalogue of Brahms recordings, but this is their first recording of the Piano Trios and their first collaboration with Kavakos.
Of the three Brahms Piano Trios – Trio No. 1 in B Major, Op. 8; Trio No. 2 in C Major, Op. 87; and Trio No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 101 the Second and Third Trios were written and first performed in quick succession (1882 and 1883), both examples of Brahms at his creative zenith. The same can be said of the First Trio: originally completed when he was twenty, in 1854, and premiered the following year, Brahms thoroughly rethought and revised it in a new version premiered early in 1890. That more elegant and concentrated version of a youthful work has become the standard for the First Trio, and it is the version performed on the recording by Ma, Ax and Kavakos.
All three performers have been acclaimed for their interpretations of Brahms, as soloists and as colleagues. Between them, Ma and Ax have shared four Grammy Awards for their recordings of Brahms’s chamber music. With Kavakos, they first performed all three Brahms Piano Trios together on one program at the Tanglewood Festival in 2015. They will repeat the program in US concerts during the 2017-18 season.
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Emanuel Ax – Ravel: Gaspard de la nuit, M. 55 & Valses nobles et sentimentales, M. 61 & Ma mère l’Oye, M. 60 (Remastered) (1978/2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 51:46 minutes | 890 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © RCA Red Seal
Born in Poland in 1949, Emanuel Ax moved with his family to Canada before settling in New York City in 1961. There, beginning in 1966, he studied piano with Mieczyslaw Munz at the Juilliard School of Music. He made a concert tour of South America in 1969; in the year that followed he completed a bachelor’s degree in French at Columbia University and became an American citizen.
Ax had his New York recital debut in 1973, at Alice Tully Hall. In 1974, at the age of twenty-five, he took first place in the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in Tel Aviv. A successful American concert tour was the result, along with numerous European appearances. He received the prestigious Young Concert Artists’ Michaels Award in 1975, and the coveted Avery Fisher Prize in 1979.
An exclusive Sony Classical recording artist since 1987, Mr. Ax made his debut on this label with a collection of Chopin scherzos and mazurkas. He has won two Grammy Awards, both for recordings of the piano sonatas of Franz Joseph Haydn.
Devoted to chamber music, Mr. Ax regularly performs with artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Peter Serkin, Young Uck Kim, and Jaime Laredo; the late Isaac Stern was also a frequent partner. These collaborations frequently result in widely acclaimed recordings and additional Grammy Awards.
In recent years Mr. Ax has developed an enthusiasm for twentieth-century music, including the works of Paul Hindemith, Aaron Copland, and others. He has given the premier performances of compositions by John Adams, Christopher Rouse, Bright Sheng, Melinda Wagner, and others. This growing interest in contemporary music has produced numerous commissions for new music and further additions to his acclaimed discography.
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Emanuel Ax – Dvorák: Piano Quintet in A Major, Op. 81 (1977/2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 40:56 minutes | 797 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © RCA Red Seal
Born in Poland in 1949, Emanuel Ax moved with his family to Canada before settling in New York City in 1961. There, beginning in 1966, he studied piano with Mieczyslaw Munz at the Juilliard School of Music. He made a concert tour of South America in 1969; in the year that followed he completed a bachelor’s degree in French at Columbia University and became an American citizen.
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Emanuel Ax – Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 21 & 3 Novuelles Études & Scherzo No. 2, Op. 31 (Remastered) (1978/2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 49:39 minutes | 925 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © RCA Red Seal
Born in Poland in 1949, Emanuel Ax moved with his family to Canada before settling in New York City in 1961. There, beginning in 1966, he studied piano with Mieczyslaw Munz at the Juilliard School of Music. He made a concert tour of South America in 1969; in the year that followed he completed a bachelor’s degree in French at Columbia University and became an American citizen.
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Emanuel Ax – Brahms: Piano Quintet in F Minor, Op. 34 (1984/2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 42:19 minutes | 791 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © RCA Red Seal
Pianist Emanuel Ax was born in Lvov, Poland, and performs in recital and with major symphony orchestras around the world. He appears regularly at the BBC Proms, Blossom Festival, Edinburgh Festival, Hollywood Bowl, Mostly Mozart Festival, the Tanglewood Festival, and Ravinia Festival, among many others. Frequent chamber music performance collaborators include Isaac Stern, Yo-Yo Ma, and Young Uck Kim. Among his many world premieres of 20th- and 21st-century music include Joseph Schwantner’s Piano Concerto with the St. Louis Symphony under Leonard Slatkin (1988). He has recorded more than 20 discs for RCA records and has been an exclusive Sony Classical recording artist since 1987. He received Grammy Awards in 1985 and 1986 for recordings of Brahms and Beethoven with Yo-Yo Ma. He was also the winner of the first Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition in 1974, the Michaels Award of Young Concert Artists in 1975, and the Avery Fisher Prize in 1979.
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Emanuel Ax – Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos. 23 & 26 (Remastered) (1981/2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 45:32 minutes | 788 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © RCA Red Seal
Born in Poland in 1949, Emanuel Ax moved with his family to Canada before settling in New York City in 1961. There, beginning in 1966, he studied piano with Mieczyslaw Munz at the Juilliard School of Music. He made a concert tour of South America in 1969; in the year that followed he completed a bachelor’s degree in French at Columbia University and became an American citizen.
Read more![Emanuel Ax - Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 21, Op. 53 & Variations and Fugue in E-Flat Major, Op. 35 (Remastered) (1977/2018) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz] Download](https://i0.wp.com/imghd.xyz/images/2022/08/26/td7noxdehdpia_600.jpg?resize=500%2C500&ssl=1)
Emanuel Ax – Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 21, Op. 53 & Variations and Fugue in E-Flat Major, Op. 35 (Remastered) (1977/2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 50:37 minutes | 921 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sony Classical
Born in Poland in 1949, Emanuel Ax moved with his family to Canada before settling in New York City in 1961. There, beginning in 1966, he studied piano with Mieczyslaw Munz at the Juilliard School of Music. He made a concert tour of South America in 1969; in the year that followed he completed a bachelor’s degree in French at Columbia University and became an American citizen.
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![Emanuel Ax, San Francisco Symphony, Michael Tilson Thomas - Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 and Piano Concerto No. 4 (2011) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz] Download](https://i0.wp.com/imghd.xyz/images/2022/08/25/go0avhrwyeiaa_600.jpg?resize=500%2C500&ssl=1)
Emanuel Ax, San Francisco Symphony, Michael Tilson Thomas – Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 and Piano Concerto No. 4 (2011)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:08:18 minutes | 1,37 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © SFS Media
A brilliant performance of Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto, featuring soloist Emanuel Ax, whose performance of the slow movement was described by The San Francisco Chronicle as “dark and eloquent.”
This release is worth making some sublime noise about.-Jeff Dunn
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Yo-Yo Ma & Emanuel Ax – Hope Amid Tears – Beethoven: Cello Sonatas (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 02:32:37 minutes | 2,39 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sony Classical
On Friday, June 4, Yo-Yo Ma and long-time friend and musical partner Emanuel Ax will release Hope Amid Tears, a new recording of Beethoven’s complete works for cello and piano, on Sony Classical. Available now for preorder, Hope Amid Tears presents Beethoven’s five sonatas for cello and piano in the order in which they were composed, tracing an important arc in Beethoven’s development and approach as a composer. Joining them are Beethoven’s three sets of variations for cello and piano.
Read more![Yo-Yo Ma, Leonidas Kavakos, Emanuel Ax - Beethoven for Three: Symphonies Nos. 2 and 5 (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz] Download](https://i0.wp.com/imghd.xyz/images/2022/03/26/usemuautqt10b_600.jpg?resize=500%2C500&ssl=1)
Yo-Yo Ma, Leonidas Kavakos, Emanuel Ax – Beethoven for Three: Symphonies Nos. 2 and 5 (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:08:43 minutes | 1,11 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sony Classical
Beethoven for Three transports listeners to the turn of the nineteenth century, when audiences would have been more familiar with the composer’s music in arrangements for piano trio, string quartet, or piano four hands than for full orchestra. Here, Ax, Kavakos, and Ma seek out the most essential elements of Beethoven’s musical language, pairing his second symphony, arranged for trio by Beethoven’s pupil Ferdinand Ries, with his fifth — among the most recognizable pieces in western classical music — in a newly-commissioned arrangement by Colin Matthews.
Performing the symphonies on three instruments is a challenge that yields a wealth of insights about Beethoven’s writing process. “The idea of actually being able to play the beginning of the fifth symphony with your hands is just an incredible thrill,” says Ax. “And you learn a lot about his kind of combination of controlled mania with an incredible lyricism — and you get so much of that in both the fifth symphony and the second … It was an incredible thrill to work on this over and over and over, just trying to get the notes.”
The new release comes just days before the trio begins a tour of the United States, with performances scheduled in Washington, DC (March 7), New York, NY (March 8), Boston, MA (March 9), Chicago, IL (March 11), and Stony Brook, NY (March 12).
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