LvB Op 14/1

[Holden]

This is another piece that I enjoy playing but like to hear what the great pianists have done with it. So what is your one singular preference for LvBs #9 sonata.

[George]

Gulda - Brilliant/Amadeo

[Todd]

Backhaus, from the mono cycle.

[val]

In the two Sonatas opus 14, Schnabel is the best. He gives both works a dramatic dimension that puts them at the level of the opus 10/3 or 13. And these two beautiful works deserve it.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Can't answer as to pianists, but I think the high point of this sonata is the middle movement, which has always struck me as having an almost Brahmsian melancholy. And in the coda of the first movement, Beethoven seems to have anticipated a phrase that emerges in the Kyrie of the Missa Solemnis.

But regardless of what Schnabel may or may not do, I can't see either of these sonatas as being on the level of 10/3 or 13. Probably the best thing in 14/2 is the development section of the first movement, but the variation movement is rather simple-minded. To my mind these are both appealing but comparatively slender works.

[Todd]

But regardless of what Schnabel may or may not do, I can't see either of these sonatas as being on the level of 10/3 or 13.

They're not, and no pianist lends them a dramatic anything that elevates them to that level - not even Richter.

[aquablob]

Gulda - Brilliant/Amadeo

Seconded -- in particular, he handles the cross-rhythms in the 3rd movement better than anyone I've heard.

They're not, and no pianist lends them a dramatic anything that elevates them to that level - not even Richter.

But damn he tries, doesn't he? 6 minutes for the middle movement!