Many congratulations to Royal Conservatoire teacher Michel Strauss and students of the Art of Sound department on the release of the album 'Beethoven Sonatas & Variations' by Et'cetera Records. Luister Magazine scored the album with a 9 out of 10. Music critic Wenneke Savenije: "Two things immediately stand out when listening to this album [...]: the extraordinary quality of the audio recording, done in cooperation with students of the Art of Sound department of the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, and the mild wisdom and sunken maturity with which cellist Michel Strauss and pianist Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden [...] embrace Beethoven."
Michel Strauss is head teacher cello at the Classical department at the Royal Conservatoire. He studied with Paul Tortelier and Maurice Gendron at the Conservatoire in Paris and at Yale University with Aldo Parisot.
Michel Strauss: "This recording was conceived with my long-time friend and marvellous pianist Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden — our musical partnership goes back more than twenty years — and it was made in these times when the world is sinking further into violence and hatred every day. Beethoven and Rolland, those great pacifists and humanists, are therefore the patrons of this recording of the complete works of Beethoven for cello and piano; their frequent calls for brotherhood through music resonate all the more strongly today."
The album was recorded in a music studio at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague under the supervision of Art of Sound teacher and recording engineer Daan van Aalst.
