Arts and ideas: New Beethoven recording
The Sydney Conservatorium of Music's Stephanie McCallum has recorded what is believed to be Beethoven's last piano work.
Stephanie's husband Peter McCallum, Associate Professor of Musicology with the University of Sydney, discovered the tiny piece during his study of the 'Kullak sketchbook', one of Beethoven's working documents full of ideas, jotted notes and musical fragments. He noticed what he calls the 'Bagatelle in F minor' in the middle of Beethoven's sketches for the String Quartet Op. 135.
The tiny work (54 seconds long) is the last track on Für Elise, a collection of Beethoven piano miniatures recorded by Stephanie McCallum for a new CD from ABC Classics. The title work is the best-known, and beloved of many keyboard beginners, but given a glowing professional touch here.