The piano duo Tessa Uys and Ben Schoeman established their partnership in 2010 and are currently recording the complete Beethoven/Scharwenka Symphonies for SOMM Recordings.
Performer Biography
Xaver Scharwenka, a virtuoso pianist, composer, and teacher, created highly respected piano duet versions of all nine Beethoven symphonies, which are considered unsurpassed.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Beethoven's music, particularly his symphonies, does not merely 'reflect' life but draws its inner vitality from the music itself, reflecting a creativity epitomized by Shakespeare's quote: 'The thing which I am shall make me live'.
Compositional Technique
Beethoven's Seventh Symphony introduces a 'double-tonic complex', where the main key (A major) is shadowed by a key a major third below (F major), and its dominant (E major) is similarly shadowed by C major.
Historical Context
Beethoven's nine symphonies were written over a quarter-century, from 1799 to 1824, a period marked by turbulent events in Europe that are often considered to have shaped his art.
Performer Biography
There is a direct musical lineage from Xaver Scharwenka, whose piano duet versions of Beethoven's symphonies are featured, back to Beethoven himself, as Scharwenka's teacher was a pupil of Beethoven's student, Karl Czerny.
