Nikolay Khozyainov - Monument to Beethoven: Beethoven | Mendelssohn | Khozyainov | Schumann

In the 1830s, the idea emerged to erect a monument to Ludwig van Beethoven in his birthplace of Bonn--a revolutionary initiative brought to life by musicians, musicologists, and citizens. Many of the most renowned composers of their time, including Franz Liszt, Robert Schumann, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, and Frederic Chopin, contributed their own compositions, arrangements, or concert proceeds to support the statue's erection. On this album, the young exceptional pianist Nikolay Khozyainov interprets a high-calibre selection of those works that helped finance the Beethoven monument. Each piece has its own unique, sometimes clear, sometimes more subtle, connection to the composer Beethoven. These include Liszt's piano arrangement of the darkly moving Allegretto from Beethoven's 7th Symphony, Schumann's multifaceted etudes on a theme by Beethoven, Mendelssohn's Variations serieuses, and Schumann's Piano Fantasy in C Major. In the finest pianist tradition, Nikolay Khozyainov adds his own composition to the album: the tonally delicate Petals of Peace, a commissioned work for the United Nations Organisation.