The relationship between Beethoven and his piano remained an essential element throughout the composer's creative career. very often, it was at the piano that his first sketches were worked out; the piano was a storehouse of ideas that produced unexpected results. The piano was Beethoven's compositional workshop 'par excellence'. Contact via the fingers with the spatial dimension of the keyboard led to an extension of the registers Beethoven brought into play as he developped the instrument's expressive resources, even to the point of breaking strings, which happened more than once under Beethoven's fingers. (Naïve Records) ==================================== Works on This Recording 1. Sonata for Piano no 4 in E flat major, Op. 7 by Ludwig van Beethoven ■ Performer: Grigory Sokolov (Piano) ■ Period: Classical ■ Written: 1796-1797; Vienna, Austria ■ Date of Recording: 03/1991 ■ Venue: Live Villa dei Cedri, Colà di Lazise, Italy ■ Length: 28 Minutes 34 Secs. 2. Sonata for Piano no 28 in A major, Op. 101 by Ludwig van Beethoven ■ Performer: Grigory Sokolov (Piano) ■ Period: Classical ■ Written: 1816; Vienna, Austria ■ Date of Recording: 03/1991 ■ Venue: Live Villa dei Cedri, Colà di Lazise, Italy ■ Length: 22 Minutes 35 Secs. 3. Rondo for Piano in C major, Op. 51 no 1 by Ludwig van Beethoven ■ Performer: Grigory Sokolov (Piano) ■ Period: Classical ■ Written: ?1797; Vienna, Austria ■ Date of Recording: 03/1991 ■ Venue: Live Villa dei Cedri, Colà di Lazise, Italy ■ Length: 5 Minutes 48 Secs. 4. Rondo for Piano in G major, Op. 51 no 2 by Ludwig van Beethoven ■ Performer: Grigory Sokolov (Piano) ■ Period: Classical ■ Written: ?1798; Vienna, Austria ■ Date of Recording: 03/1991 ■ Venue: Live Villa dei Cedri, Colà di Lazise, Italy ■ Length: 8 Minutes 33 Secs. 5. Rondo a capriccio for Piano in G major, Op. 129 "Rage Over a Lost Penny" by Ludwig van Beethoven ■ Performer: Grigory Sokolov (Piano) ■ Period: Classical ■ Written: 1795; Vienna, Austria ■ Date of Recording: 03/1991 ■ Venue: Live Villa dei Cedri, Colà di Lazise, Italy ■ Length: 5 Minutes 38 Secs.