LvB Op 31/3

[Holden]

Commonly known as "The Hunt" sonata (I"ve no idea why) Todd uses this and its two brethren as a yardstick for LVB sonata cycle performances. What's your favourite?

[PerfectWagnerite]

Commonly known as "The Hunt" sonata (I"ve no idea why) Todd uses this and its two brethren as a yardstick for LVB sonata cycle performances. What's your favourite?

I like one brethen, the Op. 31 #2 a lot but I absolutely cannot stand Op. 31 #1. That and Op. 49 No 2 are my least favorite LVB sonatas.

[mn dave]

I own five versions: Arrau, Brautigam, Gulda, Richter (Brilliant) and Schnabel.

Of these, I think I like best what Arrau and Gulda do with it.

[George]

Annie Fischer

[Todd]

With all three Op 31 sonatas there's just no way for me to choose only one.  Can't happen.  Won't try.  I will say that Friedrich Gulda is probably as good as it gets in all three of the sonatas, which is a bit unusual because he doesn't bring as much flexibility as others.  But there it is.  Other notables include Gieseking in the Tahra cycle (there's something extremely satisfying about a basically nonchalant approach in this work); Annie Fischer (who also fares very well in all three works); and Yves Nat, who just does everything right.  Even the lesser mortals – Lucchesini, Kovacevich, and Robert Riefling (Simax) all bring something irresistible to the work.

[aquablob]

My guess, Holden, is that the nickname "The Hunt" comes mostly from the 2nd movement.

A solid interpretation must have some serious rhythmic vigor, I think. Luckily for we the listeners, "rhythmic vigor" can have many variations, so there are many excellent pianists to turn to here, including Kempff, whose short articulations in the last movement offer a very different type of "rhythmic vigor" from Gulda's blazingly fast tempos in the 2nd and 4th movements.

Overall for me, Gulda and Richter offer the most satisfying performances. Both handle the tough rhythmic aspects of the work with brilliant facility (thinking particularly of the right-hand "flights of fancy" in the first movement), and both are just downright fun to listen to! Hard to choose one, but I'm going to go with Richter. His control over dynamic contrasts (both subtle and extreme) adds an extra element of excitement to the work.

[(poco) Sforzando]

My guess, Holden, is that the nickname "The Hunt" comes mostly from the 2nd movement.

Actually, it's usually related to the finale. But as we all implicitly recognize, it's not a particularly convincing nickname (unlike, say, Haydn's 73rd symphony). I have always instead thought of the finale as the one example I know in Beethoven of a Neapolitan tarantella.

[Sergeant Rock]

Of the few I own (half a dozen) Gulda appeals to me, overall, the most (Annie Fischer failed to convince me, and that disappoints not only George, I'm sure, but me). However, I think Glenn Gould finds the ideal tempo in the Menuetto (much more the stately dance here). At the risk of losing all credibility with the Beethoven sonata experts here, I will admit that when I want to lift my mood, put a smile on my face, Glenn's op.31/3 never fails me   Sure, the first and fourth movements are insane but I can imagine Beethoven's stern facade cracking, just a little, if he'd heard this performance   And seriously, Gould worked very hard on all three sonatas of op.31, refusing to sign off on early attempts and coming back to each years later before allowing their release. He took these works seriously.

Sarge

[PerfectWagnerite]

Sure, the first and fourth movements are insane but I can imagine Beethoven's stern facade cracking, just a little, if he'd heard this performance   And seriously, Gould worked very hard on all three sonatas of op.31, refusing to sign off on early attempts and coming back to each years later before allowing their release. He took these works seriously.Sarge

Really? This is the same Glenn Gould that goes on record as saying middle period Beethoven is "junk" and that pieces like the Appassionata is "empty rhetoric"? If he thinks so little of pieces like the Appassionata, the 5th Symphony and the Violin Concerto I really have a hard time believing that he would take pieces like the Op. 31 #1 with it's cartoonish first movement and loquacious second movement seriously.

[Drasko]

Rubinstein.

[val]

Clara Haskil gave a very pure version of this work.

But I prefer Kempff (1951), more attentive to the details.

[Sergeant Rock]

Really? This is the same Glenn Gould that goes on record as saying middle period Beethoven is "junk" and that pieces like the Appassionata is "empty rhetoric"? If he thinks so little of pieces like the Appassionata, the 5th Symphony and the Violin Concerto

Not an absolute given, but I've noticed it's often the more famous works he tends to dis, while advocating some of the lesser known pieces (not that the op.31 sonatas are unknown, but relatively so compared to the Waldstein or Appasionata). And that's not just with Beethoven. He preferred the early Mozart sonatas to the later ones. And preferred Sibelius and Strauss's piano pieces to Chopin's.

Sarge

[ezodisy]

style

[hjonkers]

Commonly known as "The Hunt" sonata (I"ve no idea why) Todd uses this and its two brethren as a yardstick for LVB sonata cycle performances. What's your favourite?

My former piano teacher called this the "cup of tea" sonata, based on the first few notes.