Best modern Beethoven piano sonata cycle?

[Xerxes]

I know there are already long threads on this topic, but I was wondering if there is anything approaching either a consensus or majority view as to what the best quality modern complete cycle of Beethoven's piano sonatas might be?  By modern, I mean last 10-15 years.  Ideally, I would want the best performance/sound combination, but performance is more important.  Price is not an issue, nor is where I would have to buy.  I'm not interested in buying everything under the sun. 

At present, I have Wilhelm Kempff's famous stereo cycle and Richard Goode's cycle.

[Que]

Making the effort to read up on the comments that have been made is actually not such a bad idea. ...
.
You're going to get at least 20 different recommendations anyway - there is no easy answer/ quick fix to this, honestly.

You might want to read up on the contributions of a certain member who specialises in LvB beethoven sonatas in particular - his name is Todd, you might have encountered him before? 

Good luck..... and welcome....back

[North Star]

I suggest you'll have a look at this thread

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,2302.msg998314.html#msg998314

[PerfectWagnerite]

At present, I have Wilhelm Kempff's famous stereo cycle and Richard Goode's cycle.

Then you have the best cycle already. You can stop looking.

[Brian]

Last 10-15 years: Francois-Frederic Guy. Big, confident readings, all recorded live, with power but also plenty of sensitivity. Andrea Lucchesini's is equally great in a very different style, also all recorded live, but is now impossible to find. I feel very, very fortunate to have a copy.

Todd likes Daniel-Ben Pienaar's new cycle a lot, but the pianist is deliberately very eccentric and recorded sound is badly boxy and cramped. Pienaar is best for connoisseurs who like hearing eccentrics. Some people like Richard Goode, but that's a minority opinion - Goode can be dull.

Todd's personal ranking is the product of crazy obsession, decades of careful & comparative listening, and deep knowledge. It's also close to the general consensus; I think only his rankings of Heidsieck and Pienaar are controversial. (Personally, I agree with almost all his judgments, in the cases where I've been able to hear the same recordings. The big exception is that Todd does not like the sound of most historical pianos from the 1800s-1830s, so I really like Ronald Brautigam's cycle, but he does not.) Among that listing, here are the most recent performers in his top 3 tiers, in the order they appear in his ranking:

Andrea Lucchesini
Daniel-Ben Pienaar
Francois-Frederic Guy
Peter Takacs (great sound)
Yusuke Kikuchi
Andras Schiff (ECM)
Craig Sheppard
Gerard Willems
Michael Korstick
Stewart Goodyear

Paavali Jumppanen's cycle will be completed in November. I look forward to hearing the final volume, the first few have been interesting.

EDIT: Personally, for the performance/sound combo, and also for maximum contrast with Kempff & Goode, who are both comparatively more laid-back and less showy, I would definitely advocate for FF Guy.

The best Beethoven sonata recordings of the last 4-5 years have been the period-instrument recordings by Penelope Crawford - only 2 CDs with a handful of late sonatas, but they are borderline essential, some of the best Beethoven recordings made in the digital era.

[Parsifal]

I think the short answer is that there is no consensus. I have Guy but haven't had time to listen to any of it. I like Louis Lortie, in superb sound from Chandos. I also like Brautigam on a Fortepiano.

[San Antone]

Last 10-15 years: Francois-Frederic Guy. Big, confident readings, all recorded live, with power but also plenty of sensitivity. Andrea Lucchesini's is equally great in a very different style, also all recorded live, but is now impossible to find. I feel very, very fortunate to have a copy.

Todd likes Daniel-Ben Pienaar's new cycle a lot, but the pianist is deliberately very eccentric and recorded sound is badly boxy and cramped. Pienaar is best for connoisseurs who like hearing eccentrics. Some people like Richard Goode, but that's a minority opinion - Goode can be dull.

Todd's personal ranking is the product of crazy obsession, decades of careful & comparative listening, and deep knowledge. It's also close to the general consensus; I think only his rankings of Heidsieck and Pienaar are controversial. (Personally, I agree with almost all his judgments, in the cases where I've been able to hear the same recordings. The big exception is that Todd does not like the sound of most historical pianos from the 1800s-1830s, so I really like Ronald Brautigam's cycle, but he does not.) Among that listing, here are the most recent performers in his top 3 tiers, in the order they appear in his ranking:

Andrea Lucchesini
Daniel-Ben Pienaar
Francois-Frederic Guy
Peter Takacs (great sound)
Yusuke Kikuchi
Andras Schiff (ECM)
Craig Sheppard
Gerard Willems
Michael Korstick
Stewart Goodyear

Paavali Jumppanen's cycle will be completed in November. I look forward to hearing the final volume, the first few have been interesting.

EDIT: Personally, for the performance/sound combo, and also for maximum contrast with Kempff & Goode, who are both comparatively more laid-back and less showy, I would definitely advocate for FF Guy.

The best Beethoven sonata recordings of the last 4-5 years have been the period-instrument recordings by Penelope Crawford - only 2 CDs with a handful of late sonatas, but they are borderline essential, some of the best Beethoven recordings made in the digital era.

A big +1,especially for the bolded names.  I am a fan of Jonathan Biss, who will probably complete his cycle within the next 5 years, if not sooner.

[NorthNYMark]

I'm not as expert as most here, but recently re-read that entire Beethoven sonata thread, while comparing many/most of the top recommendations on Spotify. I think Brian's post is pretty much on target in relation to my own perceptions (which means that Todd's are, as well). I agree with Brian that Pienaar may be a bit extreme in its tempo changes and other interpretive liberties--I imagine it would be most satisfying for someone like Todd, who has so many cycles already. Of the readily available cycles of the past 15 years, I was most impressed by the Lucchesini, the Takacs, and the Guy, in that order (with the Lucchesini being way ahead of the other two). I believe the Lucchesisni is available as lossless download, though costs the same as the priciest of new-release CD sets. To me, it may be worth it, as he combines (IMHO) Kempff's poetic sensitivity of touch with a much more enthralling sense of forward motion. Guy doesn't have quite the same poetic sense, and Takacs not always the same sense of sweeping motion, but both are bracing and engaging in their different ways (as Brian points out, the sonics of the Takacs set are extraordinary, and really bring out the characteristics of his Bösendorfer). I find the live sonics of much of the Lucchesini set a bit woolly for my taste (tonally it's quite nice, though over-reverberant in places), but the majesty of the performance more than makes up for it.

[Brian]

Guy doesn't have quite the same poetic sense, and Takacs not always the same sense of sweeping motion, but both are bracing and engaging in their different ways (as Brian points out, the sonics of the Takacs set are extraordinary, and really bring out the characteristics of his Bösendorfer). I find the live sonics of much of the Lucchesini set a bit woolly for my taste (tonally it's quite nice, though over-reverberant in places), but the majesty of the performance more than makes up for it.

Thanks for this excellent post - and I do wish the Lucchesini cycle was more easily available for newcomers. It's a truly special achievement, for exactly the reasons you articulate.

Lucchesini's Schubert Impromptus album on Avie is great, too.

[kishnevi]

Of the newest cycles,  I have Guy, Schiff, and Lewis...my preference is in that order.
I am listening to the final CD of Melodie Zhao right this minute. I would rate her under Lewis. Too beautiful for me.

Bavouzet should be coming out with the final volume of his traversal soon. I look forward to that.

[SurprisedByBeauty]

... so I really like Ronald Brautigam's cycle, but he does not...

Paavali Jumppanen's cycle will be completed in November. I look forward to hearing the final volume, the first few have been interesting.

I would second Ronald Brautigam's cycle. It's so good, and the instruments so splendid, I cease to think of it as a "HIP" cycle. It's just a Beethoven Sonata cycle that happens to be played on original instruments. In superb sound with tremendous musicianship.

Also Pollini, but you might not consider his 30-year effort a 'recent' recording. http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2014/12/beethoven-sonatas-survey-of-complete.html This link might be helpful; lets you look at all (almost) the LvB Sonata cycles in chronological order (by date on which they were finished, not started, alas).

I like Jumppanen very much so far, but if Pienaar's (which I don't know) is considered wilfull, I don't think that Jumppanen would be considered much more mainstream. I find the latest Jonathan Biss release really good, but the earlier few releases bland.

Edit: I shouldn't forget Mari Kodama who reminds me of no one as much as Kempff, actually. Not a copy, but an overall unhurried, inwardly witty account -- very far from splash, but well thought-out and in state-of-the-art sound.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Last 10-15 years: Francois-Frederic Guy. Big, confident readings, all recorded live, with power but also plenty of sensitivity. Andrea Lucchesini's is equally great in a very different style, also all recorded live, but is now impossible to find. I feel very, very fortunate to have a copy.

Todd likes Daniel-Ben Pienaar's new cycle a lot, but the pianist is deliberately very eccentric and recorded sound is badly boxy and cramped. Pienaar is best for connoisseurs who like hearing eccentrics. Some people like Richard Goode, but that's a minority opinion - Goode can be dull.

Todd's personal ranking is the product of crazy obsession, decades of careful & comparative listening, and deep knowledge. It's also close to the general consensus; I think only his rankings of Heidsieck and Pienaar are controversial. (Personally, I agree with almost all his judgments, in the cases where I've been able to hear the same recordings. The big exception is that Todd does not like the sound of most historical pianos from the 1800s-1830s, so I really like Ronald Brautigam's cycle, but he does not.) Among that listing, here are the most recent performers in his top 3 tiers, in the order they appear in his ranking:

Andrea Lucchesini
Daniel-Ben Pienaar
Francois-Frederic Guy
Peter Takacs (great sound)
Yusuke Kikuchi
Andras Schiff (ECM)
Craig Sheppard
Gerard Willems
Michael Korstick
Stewart Goodyear

Paavali Jumppanen's cycle will be completed in November. I look forward to hearing the final volume, the first few have been interesting.

EDIT: Personally, for the performance/sound combo, and also for maximum contrast with Kempff & Goode, who are both comparatively more laid-back and less showy, I would definitely advocate for FF Guy.

The best Beethoven sonata recordings of the last 4-5 years have been the period-instrument recordings by Penelope Crawford - only 2 CDs with a handful of late sonatas, but they are borderline essential, some of the best Beethoven recordings made in the digital era.

Of Crawford, I have the 109-110-111 disc so far and have just ordered the other; I do agree with BGR's opinion on the high quality of the playing. I am not really a completest when it comes to Beethoven piano sonatas; I mean how many versions of the trivial op. 49 or even such dull dogs as 27/1 and 22 do I need? I only have three complete sets: Gulda, whose rigidity of phrasing I dislike, Heidsieck, who seems thoroughly eccentric, and Yves Nat, who is very satisfying. But I just ordered the FF Guy. Lucchesini is excellent but I have only his Moonlight/Hammerklavier.

[amw]

I'd agree that complete sets are not going to get you the "best" modern versions of each Beethoven piano sonata. Even if a set has some recordings that are among the best ever, there will be other recordings that are merely good or in some cases quite bad. The Beethoven piano sonatas thread originally was meant to choose your favourite pianist for each of the 32 published sonatas; I'd be curious to see how people answer that question restricting themselves only to modern recordings (which I guess is like, 2000 and later or something, at this point).

[Brian]

{things}

As soon as I saw the picture and giant links I knew you were back, and was glad.

Of Crawford, I have the 109-110-111 disc so far and have just ordered the other; I do agree with BGR's opinion on the high quality of the playing. I am not really a completest when it comes to Beethoven piano sonatas; I mean how many versions of the trivial op. 49 or even such dull dogs as 27/1 and 22 do I need? I only have three complete sets: Gulda, whose rigidity of phrasing I dislike, Heidsieck, who seems thoroughly eccentric, and Yves Nat, who is very satisfying. But I just ordered the FF Guy. Lucchesini is excellent but I have only his Moonlight/Hammerklavier.

Hey, I like Op. 22!

[prémont]

But I just ordered the FF Guy. Lucchesini is excellent but I have only his Moonlight/Hammerklavier.

Which is not a part of his complete live set.