The Idil Biret Beethoven Edition began in 1985 with a universally acclaimed box set of the Liszt transcriptions of Beethoven’s nine symphonies, recorded for EMI in St Bavon Church at Chamont Gistoux, Belgium. Another session took place in 1994 to record three sonatas in the same location to test how these would sound.

Several years later, the decision was made to record the remaining 29 sonatas and to release them together with the nine symphonies on Idil Biret’s own label Idil Biret Archive (IBA).

The project grew to cover all the works of Beethoven for piano and orchestra, adding the five piano concertos and Choral Fantasy with the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra conducted by Antoni Wit, which concluded this epic Beethoven Edition spanning a period of over 23 years.

Beethoven’s works for piano are, with Bach’s keyboard compositions, foundation stones of the repertoire. The sonatas encompass every nuance of expressive depth, whilst the concertos reveal the influence of Haydn as well as philosophical depths and grandeur.

Liszt’s reverence for Beethoven is exemplified in his astonishing transcriptions of the symphonies for solo piano. Idil Biret has long since become the ‘esteemed internationally renowned artist’ predicted by her mentor, the great pianist Wilhelm Kempff. She has a large and critically admired discography to her name, always displaying ‘virtuosity, gushing ideas, and emotional generosity’ (ClassicsToday.com).