Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

[Brahmsian]

One of the best sets ever put together, IMO, Ray.

Oh, and here's what is left of the table after catching your post.

Atta boy, Bill! 

[(poco) Sforzando]

P
She highlights the comedy, buffoonery. There's nothing reverential here. I don't think the interpretations are too workmanlike either. She's often funny and down to earth, though she can be rapt when she wants to be, like in the second half of the arietta, where she achieves a kind of ecstacy I think. There are rubato things going on, she's not at all stiff. The sound, tone, is not burnished: silver, wood and leather rather than chocolate and  gold.  And the textures tend to be pretty transparent and evenly balanced. The timbre is quite distinctive.

She's written about the internal connections between these pieces. She has ideas about Beethoven's music.

This sounded interesting enough, and I found a used copy on Amazon cheap. It's a mixed bag, IMO. She's not unmusical, and she does well in places like the lyrical opening movements of 101 and 109 (though I don't like her choice not to preserve the ties over the barlines in the first movement of 101 - I don't know what's "correct," but the version with ties sounds to me much more pleasing). Her downfall however is technique. The finale of 101, one of the most technically difficult movements in the late sonatas, is taken at a ponderously slow tempo and slow downs even further once she reaches the demanding development section. It's not even at an acceptable professional level of pianism. Basically, the lady don't play the piano too good, and it's no wonder she shied away from including the Hammerklavier.

[Todd]

Basically, the lady don't play the piano too good, and it's no wonder she shied away from including the Hammerklavier.

Ouch.  Not that Ms Guembes-Buchanan was on my to-buy list before, but this flags her as someone to listen to only when all other options have been exhausted.

[Karl Henning]

In a thread about Beethoven, only when all other options have been exhausted is purely theoretical

[Bogey]

LvB piano sonatas are like our weather here in Colorado.  Don't like this morning's offerings, wait a few hours for the new.

[xochitl]

[aquablob]

Op. 13 

[prémont]

Op. 13 

Yes, this one is a rather pathetic strip.

[Brahmsian]

Will be running through the piano sonatas in January:

Beethoven

Sonata in E flat major, Op. 7
Sonata in E major, Op. 14/1
Sonata in G major, Op. 14/2

Barenboim
EMI Classics

[asin]B00000C2KP[/asin]

[George]

Danny's DG set was my first set of the 32.

[aquablob]

Danny's DG set was my first set of the 32.

I made my way through it a few months ago and really enjoyed it. Not quite as much as his LvB symphony cycle with the Berliner Staatskapelle, but really enjoyed it. Haven't heard the earlier EMI set that ChamberNut posted.

[George]

I made my way through it a few months ago and really enjoyed it. Not quite as much as his LvB symphony cycle with the Berliner Staatskapelle, but really enjoyed it. Haven't heard the earlier EMI set that ChamberNut posted.

Yeah, i enjoy the DG set and sure, his Staatskapelle set of the symphonies is surely better. I also haven't heard the EMI set.

[aquablob]

Yeah, i enjoy the DG set and sure, his Staatskapelle set of the symphonies is surely better. I also haven't heard the EMI set.

Well who asked you

[Brahmsian]

Danny's DG set was my first set of the 32.

Barenboim's EMI set of Beethoven Piano Sonatas is the only set I have (only set I've ever had of Beethoven's sonatas).

One of my very early classical music purchases.  It is so familiar and comfortable to me.  I just love it. 

[kishnevi]

Stray comment, after first hearing it last night

Szell's recording of the Fifth (with the Clevelanders) is so headbangingly energetic it deserves its own mosh pit.

[mszczuj]

I have heard only violin and cello sonatas and piano trios with Barenboim in CD quality. Of piano sonatas I have heard only some fragments from YouTube.

All it was absolutely dull and absolutely unlistenable. As if the guy played only the notes and not the music. The worst Beethoven I can imagine.

Of course it is my personal taste. But it have almost made me cry that there is somebody who has got only his set.

[George]

I have heard only violin and cello sonatas and piano trios with Barenboim in CD quality.

Who was the violinist and the cellist?

[Karl Henning]

Come to think of it, I have Pinchas Zukerman & Daniel Barenboim in four of the vn sonatas:

[asin]B000031W7K[/asin]

[kishnevi]

Barenboim has recorded the complete sonatas three times that I know of: the first set (when he was around 23, I think) is generally considered very good, but a bit over the top in places (certainly not dull) as if he had something to prove.  The middle set, I think, is considered his best, but his most recent complete set, released within the last five years, again I think, might be the one you heard ( I have heard nothing from it).

It's actually the same as the performances on his DVD cycle. 

I have heard only violin and cello sonatas and piano trios with Barenboim in CD quality. Of piano sonatas I have heard only some fragments from YouTube.

All it was absolutely dull and absolutely unlistenable. As if the guy played only the notes and not the music. The worst Beethoven I can imagine.

Of course it is my personal taste. But it have almost made me cry that there is somebody who has got only his set.

If it's the cello sonatas with DuPre--yes,  I understand that sentiment, although I wouldn't say they were unlistenable.  Merely dull.

[Sergeant Rock]

Will be running through the piano sonatas in January:
[asin]B00000C2KP[/asin]

Danny's DG set was my first set of the 32.

Mine was the EMI...and still my favorite.

Sarge