Countess Anna Margarete von Browne is the dedicatee of Ludwig van Beethoven's 6th piano sonata. The Countess regularly invited the young Beethoven together with the fine Viennese society. There was a mutual reverence, so that Beethoven dedicated to her the 3 Sonatas of Op. 10, which he composed between 1796 and 1798. The second one is characterized by its brevity and high tempo, as it does without the slow middle movement. This results in the movement titles of Allegro - Allegretto - Presto.

“When one giant crowns the other” (Kurier)

Beethoven’s opus of 32 piano sonatas, known as “the New Testament of piano music”, is a landmark in piano literature. Spanning Beethoven’s entire life, the sonatas reflect his whole development as a human being and a musician, moving from one century into the next, from one epoch in music in to another. With the sonatas “Pathétique”, “Moonshine”, “Waldstein”, “Appassionata”, “Hammerklavier” and the final sonata Op. 111, which was named the final of all sonatas in Thomas Mann’s “Doctor Faustus”, the cycle contains some of the most known piano pieces of all time.

Now, for the first time in its history the complete cycle was performed at the Salzburg Festival. For this challenge the Festival asked no less than the world-renowned and influential Beethoven expert and pianist Rudolf Buchbinder. Buchbinder has spent his life contemplating Beethoven’s inexhaustible works. With more than 45 performances of Beethoven’s complete sonata cycle in concert halls all over the world and his relentless drive to discover new details and facets in the sonatas through meticulous study of the scores, “Buchbinder has set new standards in the interpretation of Beethoven’s works” summarizes the German radio BR. For his late recording of the cycle Buchbinder received an Echo and was celebrated by the critics as well as by the public.

Buchbinder’s performance is “that of a real master, effortless changing between lightning fast, technically challenging moments and tender lyrical passages. Where others can pride themselves in getting through without any accidents, Buchbinder is a poet, precise in every arpeggio touching in every keystroke” (Kurier). “Brilliant in his virtuosity” (Die Presse). “A real natural” (Der Standard).