Born in Bonn, Beethoven moved to Viennna when in his twenties to study under Haydn. Vienna was was the centre of msical life in Europe at the time and Beethoven quickly established his reputation as a brilliant pianist. Teaching and composing augmented his income.

Beethoven's compositions between 1800 and 1802 were dominated by two works, although he continued to produce smaller works, including the Moonlight Sonata. In the spring of 1801 he completed The Creatures of Prometheus, a ballet. The work was such a success that it received numerous performances in 1801 and 1802, and Beethoven rushed to publish a piano arrangement to capitalize on its early popularity. In the spring of 1802 he completed the Second Symphony, intended for performance at a concert that was eventually cancelled.

By this time he was suffering from a severe form of tinnitus, a ringing in his ears that made it hard for him to perceive and appreciate music; he also avoided conversation. Beethoven wrote to friends in 1801 describing his symptoms and the difficulties they caused in both professional and social settings.

On the advice of his doctor, lived in the small Austrian town of Heiligenstadt, just outside Vienna, from April to October 1802 in an attempt to come to terms with his condition. There he wrote his Heiligenstadt Testament, which records his resolution to continue living for and through his art.

Over time, his hearing loss became profound: there is a well-attested story that, at the end of the premiere of his Ninth Symphony, he had to be turned around to see the tumultuous applause of the audience; hearing nothing, he wept. Beethoven's hearing loss did not prevent his composing music, but it made playing at concerts—a lucrative source of income—increasingly difficult. After a failed attempt in 1811 to perform his own Piano Concerto No. 5 (the "Emperor"), he never performed in public again.

Click on image for full size printable inlay image 1st movemnent Alegro moderato wirth candenza by Saint Seans 2nd movement Andante con molto and 3rd movement Rondo

"Rarely, rarely as comes the spirit of delight, there is the infrequent occasion which makes the reviewer's life really worth while : such an occasion is the issue of this recording. I cannot remember a finer or more deeply satisfying performance of this great concerto, one which more effortlessly overcomes every obstacle and in which every detail is so meticulously polished and so absolutely right. The recipe is simple enough : take a soloist and a conductor who, besides being personalities as well as great artists, are entirely en rapport, add a first-rate orchestra of alert musicians, give them all enough time to rehearse thoroughly, finish off with a recording engineer who secures the right balance between piano and orchestra, and who captures the lustre of the orchestral playing —and you get a masterpiece, like this.

Throughout these discs there is this feeling that two personalities are pulling together, each inspiring the other. The orchestral playing is never allowed to become just an accompaniment, but is full of life (notice, as one instance only, the basses in bars 55-58). Phrasing is beautifully modelled, the rhythm is admirably taut (listen to the second subject of the first movement), and the perfectly-controlled string dynamics at the end of the Andante are most moving. Rubinstein's cadenzas, which are new to me, are entirely acceptable in style, though that in the first movement is over-long.

So far as I am concerned, nobody need bother to record this concerto again : this performance is it ! " Lionel Salter reviewing the original release in Gramophone October 1949

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Click on image for full size printable inlay image "The recording itself is admirable and the playing of first-rate quality." Gramophone October 1937 There is a cut in the reprise of the first part of the Scherzo and the omission of the conventional repeats in the first and last movements. This was standard practice at the time the recording was made.	1st movement 2nd movement 3rd movement
Click on image for full size printable inlay image "I am perfectly sure that I like this new performance of the Concerto the best of all. Geza Anda is of the Serkin school of thought in that he also takes the first movement briskly (with a two-in-a-bar feeling), but he is more careful in his precise choice of speed and the result is altogether better judged. The playing is wonderfully clean, full of attractive touches, and glitters as it should. Galliera and the Philharmonia are in equally good form. I was just a little disappointed in the Finale, which is not as exuberant as it seems to me it should be. But this is only a slight reservation in otherwise whole-hearted approval. The recording is good, though oboes here and there sound rather ungrateful." Gramophone November 1955	1st movement 2nd movement 3rd movement
Click on image for full size printable inlay image "The Viennese style--more caressing than the Teutonic--is admirably suited to the first of the Beethoven symphonies, handled gently and easily by Schuricht. The orchestra's playing is virtually impeccable, as one would expect." Gramophone September 1952	1st movement 2nd movement 3rd movement 4th movement
Click on image for full size printable inlay image "One of the Berlin Philharmonic's assets is the woodwinds' capacity for scaling-down, for modulating their tone-qualities so that they are part of the orchestra rather than an assertive contrast to the strings. It is wellexemplified in this recording of Beethoven's Second Symphony, particularly in the Larghetto. Similarly their brass is integrated into the tuttis which consequently escape domination by trumpets and drums." Gramophone August 1972	1st movement 2nd movement 3rd movement 4th movement
Click on image for full size printable inlay image "The pp sotto voce final pages are beautifully done, and the muted horn calls a benediction on our country holiday. Just back from my own, I find the music moving, and the records happy in unified style, without any feeling of showing off. I can remember more "brilliant" readings and playings. Someone might even think this a bit dull--but only, I believe, if he were more concerned about manner than matter. To be able to call a result musicianly is my ideal." Gramophone October 1948	1st movement 2nd movement 3rd, 4th and 5th movements