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Yo-Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax, Leonidas Kavakos

Beethoven for Three Symphonies Nos. 2 and 5

Sony Classical
Release Date: March 4, 2022

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1 Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 36 arr. Ferdinand Ries / I. Adagio molto — Allegro con brio?  
2 II. Larghetto quasi andante  
3 III. Scherzo. Allegro vivo  
4 IV. Allegro molto  
5 Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67 - arrangement by Colin Matthews / I. Allegro con brio  
6 II. Andante con moto  
7 III. Scherzo. Allegro  
8 IV. Allegro  
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Emanuel Ax, Leonidas Kavakos, and Yo-Yo Ma's new album, Beethoven for Three: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 5, is available now on Sony Classical. The recording erases the border between orchestral and chamber music, presenting two of Beethoven's iconic symphonies in intimate arrangements that maintain the power and immediacy of Beethoven's orchestral works. 

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.”

  • Emanuel Ax, Leonidas Kavakos, Yo-Yo Ma - Beethoven for Three is the radiofrance - musique 'Record Of the Day'
    Posted At: April 11, 2024 12:00 AM
    Emanuel Ax, Leonidas Kavakos, and Yo-Yo Ma have released the latest in their Beethoven for Three series, Symphony No. 4 and Op. 97, “Archduke," on Sony Classical.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 v...
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  • Like before, new installment of Ax, Kavakos, Ma - Beethoven For Three is infectiously enjoyable / THE CLASSIC REVIEW
    Posted At: March 25, 2024 12:00 AM
    THE CLASSIC REVIEW's Azusa Ueno writes….As a pianist and chamber musician who has performed a fair share of Beethoven’s works, Shai Wosner is now in the depths of an ambitious project of transcribing the composer’s symphonies for a string trio. This third installment of his “Symphony for Three” series again features Leonidas Kavakos, Yo-Yo Ma, and Emanuel Ax. I had not had a chance to listen to their previo...
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  • Ax, Kavakos, Ma - Beethoven for Three: Symphony No. 4, Op. 97 Archduke makes ABC Classic Drive 'New Releases'
    Posted At: March 25, 2024 12:00 AM
    Emanuel Ax, Leonidas Kavakos, and Yo-Yo Ma have released the latest in their Beethoven for Three series, Symphony No. 4 and Op. 97, “Archduke," on Sony Classical. Accompanying the release is a new video of the trio performing one of the most widely loved works in classical music, the first movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5.Like the artists' two previous Beethoven for Three releases, this new recording ...
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  • The Ax and how to swing it - Emanuel Ax, Yo-Yo Ma and Leonidas Kavakos bring star power to Wharton Center / CityPulse
    Posted At: January 25, 2024 12:00 AM
    CityPulse - LAWRENCE COSENTINO writes….Cellist Yo-Yo Ma loves to call it a “garage band.” Some garage. Hey, isn’t that a 1734 Stradivarius violin between the rusty can of paint and the Big Wheels? The superstar trio of Ma, pianist Emanuel Ax and violinist Leonidas Kavakos, coming to the Wharton Center on Wednesday (Jan. 31), is a rare convergence of talent, passion and — yes — garage-band spontaneity and ra...
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  • Ax, Ma, Kavakos - 'Beethoven for Three' makes 98.7WFMT: Featured New Release
    Posted At: April 18, 2022 12:00 AM
    Emanuel Ax, Leonidas Kavakos, and Yo-Yo Ma's new album, Beethoven for Three: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 5, on Sony Classical erases the border between orchestral and chamber music, presenting two of Beethoven's iconic symphonies in intimate arrangements that maintain the power and immediacy of Beethoven's orchestral works. ?Beethoven for Three transports listeners to the turn of the ni...
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  • The Celebrity Series brought surprises and some fun from Emanuel Ax, Leonidas Kavakos, and Yo-Yo Ma / The Boston Globe
    Posted At: March 18, 2022 12:00 AM
    The Boston Globe's Jeffrey Gantz writes….The superstar trio of pianist Emanuel Ax, violinist Leonidas Kavakos, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma opened their “all-Beethoven” Celebrity Series program at Symphony Hall Wednesday with two works that weren’t written for piano trio. The first was the Ukrainian national anthem, for which the near-capacity audience stood. The second was Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony, the “Pastoral...
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  • WDR's Mascha Drost reviews new Ax, Kavakos, Ma 'Beethoven for Three'
    Posted At: March 11, 2022 12:00 AM
    Emanuel Ax, Leonidas Kavakos, and Yo-Yo Ma's new album, Beethoven for Three: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 5, available now on Sony Classical is a recording that erases the border between orchestral and chamber music. The album presents two of Beethoven's iconic symphonies in intimate arrangements that maintain the power and immediacy of Beethoven's orchestral works. Beethoven for Three t...
    Bookmark and Share

  • The Beethoven Express continues with Ma, Ax, Kavakos / Chicago Classical Review
    Posted At: March 3, 2020 12:00 AM

    Yo-Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax and Leonidas Kavakos performed Beethoven piano trios Monday night at Orchestra Hall. The Beethoven Express continues to accelerate down the highway.  Chicago is marking the composer's 250th birthday year with several projects. In addition to John Eliot Gardiner's cycle at the Harris Theater this past week, Riccardo Muti's season-long CSO symphony series continues and the cyc...
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  • Ma/Ax/Kavakos set for Beethoven at ums / All about AnnArbor
    Posted At: February 8, 2020 12:00 AM

    On March 3, cellist Yo-Yo Ma will perform at Hill Auditorium with pianist Emanuel Ax and violinist Leonidas Kavakos.  Audiences will see Ma, Ax and Kavakos perform three piano trios written over 20 years ago by Ludwig van Beethoven. Composed specifically for the violin, cello and piano, the songs scheduled to be played are Piano Trio in c minor, Op. 1, No. 3; Piano Trio in E-flat Major, Op. 70,...
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  • Ma,Ax,Kavakos live up to their billing in Barbican season opener / theartsdesk
    Posted At: September 10, 2018 12:00 AM

    Expectations ran high for this recital, Brahms from an all-star piano trio of Emanuel Ax, Leonidas Kavakos and Yo-Yo Ma. The group has recently recorded the three Brahms piano trios for Sony, and this concert was part of a promotional tour of the US and Europe. The high-profile event also served to open the Barbican season. The performance certainly lived up to its billing, with exemplary performances fr...
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  • Ax, Kavakos, Ma are set for 'Brahms@Society of Music Friends, Vienna / BLOUIN ARTINFO
    Posted At: June 19, 2018 12:00 AM

    There have been classical superstars who come together to form chamber groups, but there is a particularly distinguished tradition of doing that for Brahms trios. Cradle Song is the common name for most children's lullabies with similar lyrics, the original of which was Johannes Brahms' "Wiegenlied: Guten Abend, gute Nacht" meaning ("Lullaby: Good evening, Good night"). It was first published in ...
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  • Ax, Kavakos, Ma unearth the rich dialogue Brahms envisioned for the piano trio / popMATTERS
    Posted At: February 2, 2018 12:00 AM

    There is a mature complexity residing within the structural simplicity in the music of Johannes Brahms. The man was notoriously self-critical, known to endlessly edit and reconstruct his compositions in the name of musical beauty. He thought nothing of burning anything he considered subpar. From this, we can glean insight into a composer obsessed with perfection and precision: nothing is left to chance, ...
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  • Ax,Ma,Kavakos - Brahms is Interlochen PR: Featured New Release
    Posted At: October 15, 2017 12:00 AM

    A new album from Sony Classical presents all three piano trios of Johannes Brahms. Pianist Emanuel Ax and cellist Yo-Yo Ma have already won multiple Grammy Awards for their previous Brahms recordings. Here they join violinist Leonidas Kavakos in their first recorded collaboration as a trio. Johannes Brahms composed his first piano trio in 1854, when he was just twenty years old. He heavily revised the pi...
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  • Kavakos, Ma, Ax Brahms - The Piano Trios is WFMT: Featured New Release
    Posted At: September 25, 2017 12:00 AM

    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 catalog of Brahms recordings, but this is their first of the Piano Trios and their first collaboration with Kavakos. The Brahms: Piano Trio No 3 in C minor, Op 10...
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