Beethoven's Piano Sonatas

[Todd]

Mrs Nagano's cycle will be issued in box format in September.  Looks like I'll be getting four cycles played by women this year.

[jlaurson]

Coming near the end of the year or early next from DG: Maurizio Pollini, Complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas

Will get the press text anon... but it seems in the bag. Only been in the making for as long as I live! 

[Todd]

Coming near the end of the year or early next from DG: Maurizio Pollini, Complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas

I certainly hope DG releases the last disc of sonatas independently, because I do not want to buy a box just to get a handful of sonatas.

[Todd]

Looks like Italian pianist Letizia Michielon kicked off her cycle earlier this year.  Her cover uses a different translation of an Immanuel Kant quote that was also used on Pavaali Jumppanen's first volume.  A new trend?

[Todd]

Sony is issuing a volume-by-volume sonata cycle by Yu Kosuge.  Three twofers with twenty sonatas are currently out, and they appear to be coming out each year, so a 2016 end date seems probable, with a box probably to follow, most likely in time for 2020.  The sets are themed!  Anyway, the cycle appears meant for the Japanese market, but Amazon US also lists them, along with some other core rep.

[Brian]

From PentaTone records: "Japanese pianist Mari Kodama is only the fourth woman to have recorded all of Beethoven's sonatas."

Off the top of my head:
Annie Fischer
Anne Oland
HJ Lim
Melodie Zhao
Idil Biret
Tatiana Nikolayeva (live)

So PentaTone is full of, uh, baloney.

[Karl Henning]

BalognaTone!

[prémont]

From PentaTone records: "Japanese pianist Mari Kodama is only the fourth woman to have recorded all of Beethoven's sonatas."

Off the top of my head:
Annie Fischer
Anne Oland
HJ Lim
Melodie Zhao
Idil Biret
Tatiana Nikolayeva (live)





So PentaTone is full of, uh, baloney.

https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/Ludwig-van-Beethoven-1770-1827-Klaviersonaten-Nr-1-32/hnum/9817828

and Maria Grimberg

[Todd]

From PentaTone records: "Japanese pianist Mari Kodama is only the fourth woman to have recorded all of Beethoven's sonatas."

So PentaTone is full of, uh, baloney.

After seeing the link to Rita Bouboulidi, I am now aware of 14 cycles recorded by women, of which I own 11.  It really isn't that hard to find them on the interwebs:

Annie Fischer
Tatiana Nikolayeva
Maria Grinburg
Anne Oland
HJ Lim
Melodie Zhao
Yaeko Yamane
Ikuyo Nakamichi
Rita Bouboulidi
Idil Biret
Mari Kodama
Daniela Varinska
Shoko Sugitani
Irina Mejoueva

[mc ukrneal]

After seeing the link to Rita Bouboulidi, I am now aware of 14 cycles recorded by women, of which I own 11.  It really isn't that hard to find them on the interwebs:

Annie Fischer
Tatiana Nikolayeva
Maria Grinburg
Anne Oland
HJ Lim
Melodie Zhao
Yaeko Yamane
Ikuyo Nakamichi
Rita Bouboulidi
Idil Biret
Mari Kodama
Daniela Varinska
Shoko Sugitani
Irina Mejoueva

But did they all record ALL the sonatas? HJ Lim, for example, it could be argued, did not. Is it also possible that when they began the project, she would have been the fourth? I don't doubt that they are full of baloney, but am curious if there is a way to get to their #4 or not.

[Todd]

But did they all record ALL the sonatas? HJ Lim, for example, it could be argued, did not. Is it also possible that when they began the project, she would have been the fourth? I don't doubt that they are full of baloney, but am curious if there is a way to get to their #4 or not.

HJ Lim excepted, all of them recorded the 32.  Kodama started around 2003.  At that point, at least five other cycles were complete (Fischer, Nikolayeva, Grinburg, Yamane, Oland), and at least three others were underway (Nakamichi, Sugitani, Biret [may have been done]).  Muriel Chemin also started around the same time as Kodama, if memory serves.  I attribute Pentatone's statement to incompetence and/or laziness. 

[Sammy]

But did they all record ALL the sonatas? HJ Lim, for example, it could be argued, did not.

It's a fact that she left out nos. 19 and 20.  She offers some lame excuse for not including them.  The only way her incomplete set could be competitive with the many complete sets from other pianists would be if her interpretations were top of the line.  Unfortunately, that's not the case.  Her cover states "Complete Piano Sonatas", misleading to say the least.

[Brian]

Just checked; Idil Biret finished recording her last volume in May 2008.

[Todd]

So PentaTone is full of, uh, baloney.

It seems that Pentatone is not the original source of the fourth cycle misstatement.  The original seems to be in a review by blogger Remy Franck on the Pizzicato site, who in covering the Op 31 disc in 2006 stated that "Japanese pianist Mari Kodama is only the fourth woman to take a chance on the complete recording of Beethoven's sonatas."  This is even more inaccurate, of course. 

In perusing the list of the complete cycles, it would be possible to state that Ms Kodama is the fourth Japanese woman to record the cycle, so there's that.

[Leo K.]

It's a fact that she left out nos. 19 and 20.  She offers some lame excuse for not including them.  The only way her incomplete set could be competitive with the many complete sets from other pianists would be if her interpretations were top of the line.  Unfortunately, that's not the case.  Her cover states "Complete Piano Sonatas", misleading to say the least.

Despite the missing nos.19 and 20, Kim's set is revelatory. Her tone and nuances reveal twists and turns that amplify the structure and musical argument of each work.

[yeongil]

It's a fact that (HJ Lim) left out nos. 19 and 20.  She offers some lame excuse for not including them.  The only way her incomplete set could be competitive with the many complete sets from other pianists would be if her interpretations were top of the line.  Unfortunately, that's not the case.  Her cover states "Complete Piano Sonatas", misleading to say the least.

Technically, wouldn't most sets with the title "Complete Piano Sonatas" be misleading anyway, because they don't include the three of WoO 47, WoO 50, or WoO 51? 

[Madiel]

Technically, wouldn't most sets with the title "Complete Piano Sonatas" be misleading anyway, because they don't include the three of WoO 47, WoO 50, or WoO 51? 

You've got a point. There's nothing especially magical about the fact that certain sonatas got numbers, and opus numbers (not least because it turns out that the dispensation of opus numbers for Beethoven's works wasn't remotely regular - it wasn't even always in publication order).

[amw]

I have no problem with recordings of Beethoven's piano sonatas omitting WoO 47, 50 & 51 and/or Opus 49. For the most part they are rather uninteresting music, with not as much to recommend them as the sonatas of e.g. Hummel or Clementi let alone Beethoven's mature works that he saw fit to publish (from Opus 2 onwards). Of course I don't buy that Opus 49 was published against Beethoven's will as some people have claimed, I imagine he needed the money and was hoping to capitalise on the popularity of the minuet from his Septet Opus 20... Beethoven was only an intransigent old curmudgeon when it suited him, when it didn't he was only too happy to turn out things like the alternate finale to Opus 130 (a masterpiece in its own way imo) or all those folksong arrangements.

[The new erato]

Even Beethoven had to make a living. The concept of churning out music without any regard to who will pay to listen to the damn thing is a relatively new concept.

[Pat B]

You've got a point. There's nothing especially magical about the fact that certain sonatas got numbers, and opus numbers (not least because it turns out that the dispensation of opus numbers for Beethoven's works wasn't remotely regular - it wasn't even always in publication order).

For the most part, the works that got opus numbers were the ones that Beethoven thought were worthy of opus numbers.

The only completed piano sonatas that didn't get numbers are the three of WoO 47, published when he was 12 or 13 (with a dedication referring to them as "juvenile attempts"), and WoO 50, which was not quite as early but still several years before op. 1.

The two of op. 49 are the only ones that are disputed. My understanding is that they were written around 1795, probably as teaching pieces, and that we can only speculate on whether he eventually supported their publishing. At minimum, they are not juvenilia. Although they are not as significant as the other 30 numbered ones, I think it's disingenuous -- or maybe a publicity stunt -- to label a set of 30 as "complete."