Beethoven's Piano Sonatas

[Florestan]

This box is magical. Live performances.

[Holden]

Piano sonata performances I return to.

Op 10/1 Hungerford
Op 13 Moravec, Richter (Moscow 1960)
Op 14 ins 1/2 Richter - Paris
Op 27/1 Gilels
Op 27/2 Solomon one of the few performers to sequence the timing between all three movements and for his dark approach to the first movement
Op 28 Sokolov in Paris DVD
Op 31/2 Richter, Rubinstein
Op 53 Rudolf Serkin (on M&A), Tomsic
Op 57 Gilels (Moscow live 1960) the best ever Appassionata IMO.
Opp 109-111 Pollini
Op 110 Richter in Leipzig
Op 111 Arrau - Classical Archives DVD circa early '60s

[Todd]

I received my copy of Saleem Ashkar's Beethoven sonata twofer today.  It was recorded using a Bechstein in January of this year.  Per Mr Ashkar's website, this is the first of four releases scheduled for this year and next that will cover the entire cycle.  Bring on (physical) cycle 96!

[Mandryka]

Op 111 Arrau - Classical Archives DVD circa early '60s

This is a really special thing. Extraordinary voicing, each variation has its own character. The sound is fabulous too, and that matters.

[George]

Op 111 Arrau - Classical Archives DVD circa early '60s

This is a really special thing. Extraordinary voicing, each variation has its own character. The sound is fabulous too, and that matters.

Is this the one you guys mean: https://www.amazon.com/Claudio-Arrau-Beethoven-Piano-Sonatas/dp/B004TWOXI0/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498131932&sr=8-1-fkmr1&keywords=Arrau+DVD+Beethoven+Op.+111

I ask because the dates they give are 1970 and 1978, not early 60s.

[amw]

I should mention also that I recently got hold of a Hammerklavier by Valentina Lisitsa which is quite nice, Pollini-ish (though I think I actually prefer Lisitsa). Just wish the first movement wasn't so slow >.> It's on Youtube as well, in five parts for some reason, which is mildly annoying, but nice to watch someone's hands go through the piece for those of us who are curious about playing it.

[Todd]

though I think I actually prefer Lisitsa

Inconceivable!

[amw]

I've never been a huge fan of Pollini's 106! It seemed almost... pedantic somehow, and very small-scale-focused, and lacking the explosive life force that is supposed to animate the piece. (Maybe this is one for the Unpopular Opinions thread.) I think I prefer Lisitsa because her performance has some of that missing life at the expense of some of the analytical clarity, and she doesn't hit the piano quite as hard. >_>

(These remarks apply to Pollini Studio DG. Pollini in Salzburg is much better imo, though still slow, especially in the Adagio.)

[Mandryka]

Is this the one you guys mean: https://www.amazon.com/Claudio-Arrau-Beethoven-Piano-Sonatas/dp/B004TWOXI0/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498131932&sr=8-1-fkmr1&keywords=Arrau+DVD+Beethoven+Op.+111

I ask because the dates they give are 1970 and 1978, not early 60s.

That's the one, let me know if you want me to send you the sound files, I've been playing it all day and I forgotten what a good sonata op 111 can be in the right hands.

[Todd]

Maybe this is one for the Unpopular Opinions thread.

Combine the iconoclastic opinion regarding performance quality with a blithe disregard for Lisitsa's unsavory politics which makes her unpopular all on its own, and you hold an unpopular opinion.  Now I feel compelled to listen to it, if only to understand how very wrong you must be.  It strikes me as somehow outrageous to prefer the work of a younger (broadly understood) performing artist.  How dare you!

[amw]

Unsavoury politics?? In my classical music???? Say it ain't so! I will retreat to my trove of historical recordings by such untroubled figures as Elly Ney, Alfred Cortot, Herbert von Karajan and Yevgeny Mravinsky.

(I actually have no idea what she's done lol. I will guess it has something to do with the Ukraine conflict since that's where she's from. Whatevs.)

If I am wrong, at least I'm outrageously wrong! Also I think what I look for out of a Hammerklavier is very different from what (e.g.) Pollini looks for out of it. He's aiming for something darker, I think.

[Todd]

I actually have no idea what she's done lol. I will guess it has something to do with the Ukraine conflict since that's where she's from. Whatevs.

Yep, it's Ukraine related.  As to Pollini, well, he's just a plain old commie, so I must don antiseptic gloves when handling his discs lest his far leftistness rub off on me. 

[Brian]

It is clearly far better to be outrageously wrong than to be ordinarily wrong.

[amw]

Yep, it's Ukraine related.  As to Pollini, well, he's just a plain old commie, so I must don antiseptic gloves when handling his discs lest his far leftistness rub off on me. 

Hmm, that certainly explains the strange compulsion I feel to liberate the working classes from the global bourgeoisie whenever I listen to his Schoenberg album.

[Que]

I'll put in a word for Paul Komen. He is excellent in a relatively straight-forward way. Among the late sonatas, he did the last 3 but not op. 101 or 106.

Oh yes, so will I... My kind kind of Beethoven: straight up. 

And his Diabellis, recorded at the Beethoven Museum are nice too!

Q

[Que]

Badura Skoda on Astrée sounds attractive, but not at $100 for a single out-of-print disc...

At the moment the complete set is available from Japan, issued by Denon I believe. Still expensive though... ($ 260 / € 235)



But perhaps we'lll get lucky with a cheap reissue by a revamped Naïve! 

Q

[bioluminescentsquid]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSDq_w4W_KA

Interesting recording by, of course, Wim Winters (I think he's a generally interesting clavichordist, especially the liberties he takes with tempos and articulation, and I haven't hit on any duds yet from him). I see that there is a mini-debate in the comments section about the perhaps "demonstratively slow" (words of Gerald van Reenen) tempo.

I'm similarly conflicted. It's certainly very refreshing at this tempo, and quite nice to see elements such as broken chords and long runs not treated as just background musical wallpaper for the voices in the foreground, but actually counterpoint-like harmony. Voices are equal here, but some are equaler (in a good way, of course - this isn't Renaissance polyphony). But sometimes the whole thing stagnates and I find myself more anticipating the next notes to come than enjoying the music. (Even moreso in his Mozart).

But this is über-romantic Beethoven, full of rubato and perhaps Hamletian hesitation, hints of sturm und drang. Most recordings of this piece sound comparatively Galant, I think.

Need a few more listens to fully comprehend.

[Parsifal]

But perhaps we'lll get lucky with a cheap reissue by a revamped Naïve! 

Naive, Arcana, Astree, mystifying how the same recordings cycle through the alphabet soup of sporadically bankrupt French labels. In any case, if it does come back, don't hesitate. They go out of print again in a flash. I managed to get Badura-Skoda's Schubert set on Astree now it's OOP again. Same for the Festetics Haydn set.

I blame Hollande.

[George]

At the moment the complete set is available from Japan, issued by Denon I believe. Still expensive though... ($ 260 / € 235)



But perhaps we'lll get lucky with a cheap reissue by a revamped Naïve! 

Q

For 9CDs, that's about $29 per CD for XRCDs, so not that bad.

[bioluminescentsquid]

At the moment the complete set is available from Japan, issued by Denon I believe. Still expensive though... ($ 260 / € 235)



But perhaps we'lll get lucky with a cheap reissue by a revamped Naïve! 

Q

I have files - you can message me if you want them. This is actually the only Beethoven set I own; beautiful pianos and playing, but tempos are a bit too brisk for my liking. On the Galant-to-Romantic scale, this one's firmly in Galant classicism.