Encores After Beethoven (Live)

András Schiff recorded all 32 of Beethoven’s piano sonatas live between 2004 and 2006, and the encores from those concerts have been gathered together here in a single album. There’s a wonderful sense of ease and celebration: each piece was played spontaneously, at the pianist’s whim, and the audience, delighted at Schiff’s generosity, seems to spur him on to playing of utter delight. Ranging from a couple of minutes to more than 13, these encores, taking in Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, and Schubert, make for a surprisingly nourishing feast of glorious piano playing.