The latest release from Uzbek pianist Behzod Abduraimov combines the fire and virtuosity suggested by the album’s title (and cover), tempered with the musical depth and poetic communication for which he is equally acclaimed. Inferno begins with music by Carl Czerny, a pupil of Beethoven and a teacher to Liszt best known for his technical exercises from The School of …

Jonathan Biss concludes his Beethoven/5 commissioning project bringing to a close one of the most ambitious and innovative Beethoven release series of the 21st century. Over the course of five years, Biss selected a composer to write a piano concerto in response to one of Beethoven’s. The final installment of the project, featuring the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Malin …

The third solo album from German pianist Esther Birringer surveys music by 15 different composers, bringing the masters such as Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, and others into dialogue with modern voices like Lera Auerbach, Ludovico Einaudi, and Valentin Silvestrov. “The term spectrum is usually associated with physics: when white light passes through a prism, it breaks into a full rainbow of …

Regarded as one of the finest interpreters of classical and romantic repertoire, Dame Imogen Cooper presents Beethoven’s Sonatas No. 30 in E major, Op. 109, No. 31 in A-flat major, Op. 110, and No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111. “It has taken many years for me to perceive the last three sonatas by Beethoven as the evolving journey I …

Established in 2016, Trio Sypniewski comprises violinist Magdalena, violist Anna, and cellist Caroline Sypniewski. For their debut album, the three sisters return both to the birth of the string trio and to the origins of their own ensemble. The program includes Purcell’s fantasias for viols – intimate pieces enriched by the musicians’ historically informed performance practice – alongside trios by …

The new album from Víkingur Ólafsson features music by Bach, Beethoven, and Schubert in a recital the Icelandic pianist presented at Symphony Center last June, named one of “Top Ten Performances of 2025” by Chicago Classical Review. At the heart of Opus 109 is Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109, which Víkingur places in a musically …

The fourth album in Leonidas Kavakos, Yo-Yo Ma, and Emanuel Ax’s Beethoven for Three series features Shai Wosner’s arrangement of the Symphony No. 1, as well as the “Ghost” (Op. 70, No. 1) and “Gassenhauer” (Op. 11) piano trios. In this series, the three beloved artists perform the symphonies on three instruments alongside the composer’s canonical piano trios, giving audiences …

The Lost Tapes presents previously unreleased live recordings of four pivotal Beethoven piano sonatas. Captured during performances at the Lucerne Festival and Richter’s private venue in La Grange de Meslay, these recordings offer a rare glimpse into the interpretative genius of one of the 20th century’s most esteemed pianists. The selected sonatas—Op. 31 No. 3 “The Hunt”, Op. 90, Op. …

Named “Instrumental Soloist Revelation” at the 2025 Victoires de la Musique awards, Lorraine Campet has been principal solo double bassist with the Paris Opera Orchestra since 2024. In her debut solo album with pianist Nathanaël Gouin, Campet explores German Romanticism with works by Schubert, Robert Schumann, Beethoven, and Josephine Lang arranged for the double bass. Under the deep and warm …

Nicola Benedetti’s new EP of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto was recorded with Aurora Orchestra and its Principal Conductor Nicholas Collon, with everyone playing from memory. This is a recording of a piece that emerges out of the urgency of the performances that inspired it, and as Nicola Benedetti says, to “try to approach this music with freshness of heart and mind.” …

As their first decade of performing together coincided with the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, the Calidore String Quartet embarked on a tour to perform the complete cycle of the composer’s sixteen string quartets. “Performing the Beethoven cycle is the musical equivalent of scaling Mount Everest,” said violinist Ryan Meehan, who once appeared on WFMT’s Introductions. “It is a grueling …

A reissue of a live recording made at an acclaimed concert in Munich on October 17, 1976, featuring the Fifth Symphony and Leonore Overture No. 3, new to the WFMT library. Following this all-Beethoven program with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Bernstein returned to Munich to conduct regularly, beginning an annual series with the orchestra in 1983. Joachim Kaiser, …

Recent guests in the WFMT studios, Cantus presents a collection of songs that what it means to connect in the modern world on their fourth release on Signum Classics. The program reflects upon the tension between technology and human longing for genuine in-person interaction. Citing the documentary Social Dilemma as an inspiration, ensemble bass Chris Foss says “the digital revolution …

With a discography of well over 100 albums, this release marks Marc-André Hamelin’s first Beethoven recording. The transcendental difficulties of the Hammerklavier — by far Beethoven’s longest piano sonata, and in the composer’s view also his finest — will always deter all but the greatest pianists of the day, with only a select few able to master its formidable musical, …

Following their award-winning first installment of the complete quartets of Beethoven, Caldidore String Quartet presents the Middle Quartets on a three-disc set. Winners of top prizes at major competitions including the 2016 M-Prize International Chamber Music Competition, the ensemble has distinguished itself as one of the foremost interpreters of a vast repertory since they were founded in 2010 at the …