Beethoven's Piano Sonatas

[Todd]

Cycles by country of origin of pianist:

Country		Count
Germany		14
USA		14
Japan		13
Austria		12
France		7
Russia		6
UK		5
Italy		5
Canada		4
Argentina		4
Korea		3
Chile		3
Hungary		3
Lebanon		2
New Zealand		2
Ireland		1
Spain		1
Australia		1
Netherlands		1
Turkey		1
Finland		1
Portugal		1
Belgium		1
South Africa		1
Denmark		1
Switzerland		1
Luxembourg		1
Mixed		1
Greece		1
Norway		1

[Todd]

For Amazon Music users, the Malcolm Bilson led cycle is available for streaming.  I have no interest in buying the cycle, but I will likely stream it.

Also, Muriel Chemin's three volumes from her never finished cycle are available for streaming.

[SurprisedByBeauty]

Cycles by country of origin of pianist:

Country		Count
USA		14
Japan		13
Germany		13
Austria		12
France		7
Russia		6
UK		5
Italy		5
Canada		4
Korea		3
Argentina		3
Chile		3
Hungary		3
Lebanon		2
New Zealand		2
Ireland		1
Spain		1
Australia		1
Netherlands		1
Turkey		1
Finland		1
Portugal		1
Belgium		1
South Africa		1
Denmark		1
Switzerland		1
Luxembourg		1
Mixed		1
Greece		1
Norway		1

Awesome!

[SonicMan46]

Awesome!

Hi Todd - excellent compilations - thanks! Agree w/ the above!  Dave

[prémont]

I had a hankering to put together an updated list of all available complete cycles.  By my reckoning, 110 complete cycles exist, of which I possess 102.

I only own 60 of these.

Is there hope for me anymore?

[Todd]

Is there hope for me anymore?

There is always hope.

[kishnevi]

I only own 60 of these.

Is there hope for me anymore?

Don't feel bad. I only have 18.

[amw]

I have uh...... six. And ten fingers but that doesn't count.

[Baron Scarpia]

Korea

HJ Lim

Y

Y

Why listed as complete? She skipped two sonatas because they were published against Beethoven's wishes.

[Todd]

Why listed as complete? She skipped two sonatas because they were published against Beethoven's wishes.

Oversight.  Maybe I'll fix the list later.

[Todd]

Where does Robert Benz's set stand for instance?

Fourth tier for me.  YMMV.  I'll have to update my list.  There are up to 111 complete cycles, which is a nice number, however temporary.

[prémont]

I have more than 100 . No sane human being needs more than 10

Well, I definitely feel I need more then ten - so I must consider myself insane.

[San Antone]

Well, I definitely feel I need more then ten - so I must consider myself insane.

I don't know exactly, somewhere between 10-20 - but I keep playing the same ones: Lucchesini, Guy, Tackas, and Biss, although his is not complete yet.

[Baron Scarpia]

I don't know exactly, somewhere between 10-20 - but I keep playing the same ones: Lucchesini, Guy, Tackas, and Biss, although his is not complete yet.

Takacs is attractive, but the publisher has let it go out of print.

[Madiel]

I have uh...... six. And ten fingers but that doesn't count.

That's 5 more than me. Note: I don't mean a deficit of fingers.

[DaveF]

Cycles by country of origin of pianist:

My second thought (my first being what an amazing piece of research) was Ha! you've missed Cyprus, but then discovered that although Martino Tirimo has performed them all (in the Shire Hall in Hereford, of all places, about 20 years ago, most of which concerts I attended) he doesn't seem to have recorded a single sonata, which given the quality of his live performances is rather a shame.

[Jo498]

That's 5 more than me. Note: I don't mean a deficit of fingers.

Which one do you have?

I have barely six: Schnabel, Arrau, Gulda, Heidsieck, Lucchesini, Gilels (incomplete, therefore barely). I also have all pieces (although not necessarily all alternative recordings) recorded by Gould and Serkin and most of the ones recorded by Richter, Edwin Fischer and Gelber. And dozens of single discs etc.
I have put any further acquisitions of that repertoire on hold but at some later time the most likely additions are the completion (or preferably a box, but I have already 5 single discs, so a box would have to be quite cheap) of the Brautigam HIP cycle (they sound very good for historical instruments and the interpretations are also good but fairly mainstream and not really as revealing or different as one could expect historically informed recordings to be, that's one reason I stopped buying more of them) or the famous "standard recommendations" Kempff and Backhaus. I have heard several discs from these last two and so far not yielded to their charms.

[Madiel]

Which one do you have?

Kovacevich.

I do have about 3 CDs of other sonata recordings, but just the one cycle. Getting a 2nd is on my to-do list.

[Jo498]

With the cheap re-issue the Kovacevich is also somewhat on my radar although not high priority as I have his older Philips recordings and about three singles from the EMI where I concurred with the often heard opinion that both playing and sound are a little too much on the aggressive side.

[Madiel]

Sometimes too aggressive? Yes, occasionally. The Appassionata is the one that stands out for me in that regard, it's always been a bit uncomfortable. But only occasionally would I say the playing is aggressive. In my view, more often it's dynamic without tipping over. And there are works and movements where a comparison between Kovacevich and another version I have is very much in his favour.

I certainly don't have any problem with the sound in the edition that I have.

I seem to remember reading that he actually re-recorded a few sonatas for the box because he wasn't happy with what he had done for the single releases. Off the top of my head I think it was op.2 he did that for.