Monument To Beethoven / Œuvres pour piano

Description

In the 1830s, the idea emerged to erect a monument to Ludwig van Beethoven in his hometown of Bonn, a revolutionary initiative led by musicians, musicologists, and citizens. Many of the most renowned composers of their time, including Franz Liszt, Robert Schumann, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, and Frédéric Chopin, contributed to the construction of the statue through their own compositions, arrangements, or concert receipts. On this album, the exceptional young pianist Nikolay Khozyainov performs a high-caliber selection of works that helped fund the Beethoven monument. Each piece has its own unique connection, sometimes clear, sometimes more subtle, to the composer Beethoven. This includes Liszt's piano arrangement of the moving Allegretto from Beethoven's 7th Symphony, Schumann's multifaceted studies on a theme by Beethoven, Mendelssohn's "Serious Variations," and Schumann's Fantasy in C major. In the purest pianistic tradition, Nikolay Khozyainov adds his own composition to the album: the tonal delicacy "Petals of Peace," a work commissioned for the United Nations.