Beethoven's Piano Sonatas

[Ghost of Baron Scarpia]

I've heard his mother rather likes it, if less than Annie Fischer's. 

That's cold. 

[George]

I've heard his mother rather likes it, if less than Annie Fischer's. 

Annie Fischer's mother recorded a set?! 

[North Star]

Annie Fischer's mother recorded a set?! 

I think he must have meant that Annie Fischer's mom likes the Pommier set more than Pommier's mother does.

[George]

I think he must have meant that Annie Fischer's mom likes the Pommier set more than Pommier's mother does.

I know, I was just pulling his leg.

[Ghost of Baron Scarpia]

I hope poor Jean-Bernard doesn't google himself and find this thread. 

Recording the 32 is a thankless job.

[San Antone]

I think he must have meant that Annie Fischer's mom likes the Pommier set more than Pommier's mother does.

I thought he was saying that Pommier's mother likes his recordings but not as much as she likes Annie Fischer's set.   

[Ghost of Baron Scarpia]

Isn't the English language wonderful, you can use a possessive without saying what is possessed and the reader is supposed to find it obvious by context

I've heard his mother rather likes it, if less than Annie Fischer's [recording].
I've heard his mother rather likes it, if less than Annie Fischer's [mother does].
I've heard his mother rather likes it, if less than Annie Fischer's [mother's recording].

Have I missed any possibilities?

[San Antone]

Isn't the English language wonderful, you can use a possessive without saying what is possessed and the reader is supposed to find it obvious by context

I've heard his mother rather likes it, if less than Annie Fischer's [recording].
I've heard his mother rather likes it, if less than Annie Fischer's [mother does].
I've heard his mother rather likes it, if less than Annie Fischer's [mother's recording].

Have I missed any possibilities?

[Papy Oli]

Am I the only one that gets pleasure from the Pommier set?

[asin]B000EQHV48[/asin]

No, that was my first cycle and enjoyed it thoroughly for a long time before I explored the sonatas further with other more distinctive styles. Thank you for that reminder to dig that one out again.

[JBS]

Am I the only one that gets pleasure from the Pommier set?

[asin]B000EQHV48[/asin]

It's cheap enough on Amazon MP, so I ordered it....

[Ghost of Baron Scarpia]

I hope you enjoy it. There is a "French" feel to it, leaning more towards wit and less towards the usual Germanic storming of the heavens.

[Madiel]

I'm not sure that making Beethoven sound less Germanic is a recommendation.

[Ghost of Baron Scarpia]

I'm not sure that making Beethoven sound less Germanic is a recommendation.

It appeals to me as an alternative. It manifested itself (for me) as a certain lightness and lifting of seriousness in the finale of Op 101.

[Jo498]

I think of Beethoven as the last mostly "international" composer, unlike his contemporaries von Weber and Schubert. So he can take both germanified and frenchified interpretations...

[Marc]

Am I the only one that gets pleasure from the Pommier set?

[asin]B000EQHV48[/asin]

No.
I recall especially liking the early up to middle period sonatas.
Maybe because he's also played a lot of Mozart... dunno. Anyway, Pommier is very well able to pleasure me.

[Florestan]

I'm not sure that making Beethoven sound less Germanic is a recommendation.

To me it certainly is, so I got it. Thank you Scarpia for bringing this set to my attention.

It appeals to me as an alternative. It manifested itself (for me) as a certain lightness and lifting of seriousness in the finale of Op 101.

Reclaiming Beethoven from his posterity? 

I particularly liked this (clumsily phrased but perceptive nevertheless) comment by an Amazon customer:

The landscape of Watteau and Fragonard, of equilibrium and pastoral delights, as Kenneth Clark reminded us, pleasure and joy have as much a place in civilisation as the heroic and tragic. (emphasis mine and amen!)

Now this really looks like an interesting set. Will report back asap.

[prémont]

Am I the only one that gets pleasure from the Pommier set?

[asin]B000EQHV48[/asin]

Not at all. I too find his light and transparent style - which without doubt is the result of an active artistic decision - very refreshing in a crowded German style dominated field.

[Madiel]

The landscape of Watteau and Fragonard, of equilibrium and pastoral delights, as Kenneth Clark reminded us, pleasure and joy have as much a place in civilisation as the heroic and tragic. (emphasis mine and amen!)

I wasn't querying their place in civilisation. Just their place in Beethoven. And Beethoven certainly has pleasure and joy, what I'm uncertain about is whether he has Watteau and Fragonard.

The Pastorale symphony still has a storm in it.

[Florestan]

I wasn't querying their place in civilisation. Just their place in Beethoven.

Yes, I understood your point alright and I didn't mean to take issues with it. I meant simply that for me a lighter approach to his piano sonatas (what Scarpia termed "less Germanic storming of the heavens") might make for an interesting experience and therefore I acquired the set. I might end up hating it, I don't know, but Scarpia's description of it appeals to my own aesthetic sensibilities (which are rather Biedermeyer than Sturm und Drang, to keep it Germanic  ).

And Beethoven certainly has pleasure and joy, what I'm uncertain about is whether he has Watteau and Fragonard.

It's more like Claude Lorrain, perhaps. 

Seriously now, I already acknowledged the clumsiness of his phrasing. I think he is right, though, in the sense that a long and illustrious tradition (which is indeed German in origin and conception) privileged the heroic and tragic in Beethoven at the expense of his other features. I'm more than willing to hear an interpretation which allegedly redresses, or even reverses, the balance.

The Pastorale symphony still has a storm in it.

I'd have been very surprised if it didn't have one. Yet it's a storm in the  nature, not in the soul.

[JBS]

I wasn't querying their place in civilisation. Just their place in Beethoven. And Beethoven certainly has pleasure and joy, what I'm uncertain about is whether he has Watteau and Fragonard.

The Pastorale symphony still has a storm in it.

Well, Berlioz,  Gounod, and Boulez are all French, but Watteau and Fragonard are not the painters I would most easily associate with them!

But do not forget that Pascal, Danton, and Hugo are part of the "French" tradition...