Beethoven's Adagios Audio CD

History paints Beethoven as a tragic and tormented genius, a man driven to self-revelation: "What is in my heart must come out and so I write it down." In the Adagios, Largos, Andantes and other slow movements on this album, Beethoven seems to delve into the very depths of his soul. His slow movements reach such levels of abstraction and spirituality that, at times, the lightly-touched chords seem to melt into thin air. The dreamy Adagio that opens the famous Moonlight Sonata also opens this collection - its hauntingly melancholic tune has become one of the world's best-loved pieces of music. The Adagio of the 9th symphony is almost unbearably moving, full of the anguish and torment of a man who once said: "I must confess that I live a miserable life... I live entirely in my music." The Pathetique Sonata's Adagio cantabile conveys a tremendous sense of loneliness as does the Allegretto of the 7th Symphony which, composed during the anguish of his growing deafness, the ravages of the Napoleonic wars and a doomed love affair with a married woman, repeats again and again a melody laden with grief and mourning. Still on the theme of mourning, the second movement of the Eroica is a funeral march "in memory of a great man," and expresses Beethoven's disillusionment with Napoleon. Some of his more beautiful and peaceful moments are reflected in his concertos. The Violin Concerto contains an exquisite slow movement - dignified and reflective, rather than anguished and it features one of Beethoven's most inspired tunes. The slow, central movements of the Piano Concertos (Nos. 2, 3 and 5 are featured here) are particularly intense and the most beautiful of all is widely believed to be that of the Emperor (Piano Concerto No.5). This unique collection offers not only over two hours of intensely beautiful music but also an insight into the pscye of one of the Western world's greatest composers who, luckily for us, could find no other way to express his thoughts and feelings but through his music.