“By all accounts Beethoven was a freethinking person, and a courageous one, and I find courage an essential quality for the understanding, let alone the performance, of his works.” Daniel Barenboim – pianist, conductor and influential public figure – is closely identified with the works of Beethoven. Spanning more than 30 years, the recordings in this 35-CD collection include such landmarks as the complete symphonies and piano sonatas, the five piano concertos and Fidelio. They confirm that no other recording artist could rival Barenboim’s scope in the composer’s music. His colleagues include Jacqueline Du Pré, Plácido Domingo, Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman and the orchestras are the Berliner Philharmoniker, Berliner Staatskapelle and Chicago Symphony.