Beethoven's Piano Sonatas

[kapsweiss2021]

Another complete cycle. This time on Melodiya:





And the first volume of a series... I suppose:



Alexander Kobrin is a former winner of 1st prize in Van Cliburn Competition.

[Todd]

Another complete cycle. This time on Melodiya:

Thanks for the heads up.  $20 at Qobuz.  Hmmm.

[Todd]

As I prepare to listen to cycle #126 in my collection, by Mikhail Lidsky, I thought I'd take an opportunity to assess, quantitatively, the performance standards of LvB cycles by country.  Since I have established an exhaustive, scientifically rigorous, objective listening system, I am uniquely positioned to reveal which countries produce the finest LvB interpreters.  For this mathematically precise assessment, I included only countries where pianists have recorded two or more cycles.  This was needed because South Africa would otherwise bestride the world.  Scoring is like golf, the lower the score, the better.  The attachment reveals the incontrovertible truth: Germany wins!

[Madiel]

Home ground advantage.

[Todd]

Found another heretofore unknown to me cycle, this time by one Riccardo Schwartz.  There are some basically unwatched YouTube videos of him playing some chunks of music, and the Fazioli site lists him as an artist, so it looks legit enough.  I'll probably have to buy it and give it a shot.  I will approach it the way I approached John Kane's cycle.

[Brian]

A thought while listening to the Lucchesini cycle this weekend (15 down, 17 to go): what makes this special is that the playing and the recording are so sympathetic to each other. Lucchesini wants the music to glow, and the engineers make sure that his playing glows. The warm, blooming resonance of the concert hall perfectly suits his style. If he'd been recorded by the somewhat cold Hyperion engineers, or in the practice room-sized boxes Naxos sometimes uses, the magic spell would be broken. Such a good marriage of playing and engineering.

[Holden]

A thought while listening to the Lucchesini cycle this weekend (15 down, 17 to go): what makes this special is that the playing and the recording are so sympathetic to each other. Lucchesini wants the music to glow, and the engineers make sure that his playing glows. The warm, blooming resonance of the concert hall perfectly suits his style. If he'd been recorded by the somewhat cold Hyperion engineers, or in the practice room-sized boxes Naxos sometimes uses, the magic spell would be broken. Such a good marriage of playing and engineering.

This made me go to Qobuz for a listen and I can hear what you are talking about. They really sound great through headphones.

[Brian]

Yeah, it sounded OK at home but then I put on No. 6 in the car and cranked the volume up and the louder, the better.

[Jo498]

Is that the live recording rec. ca. 2000 or has Lucchesini made another later one? I am not sure but I suspect that many of these are real live recordings (not like most split together from several concerts), in any case they more often seem to show as sense of spontaneity and occasion than many other recordings.

[Papy Oli]

This made me go to Qobuz for a listen and I can hear what you are talking about. They really sound great through headphones.

This made me go to Idagio for a first listen. Very nimble 1st sonata.

Is that the live recording rec. ca. 2000 or has Lucchesini made another later one? I am not sure but I suspect that many of these are real live recordings (not like most split together from several concerts), in any case they more often seem to show as sense of spontaneity and occasion than many other recordings.

The 1st sonata is definitely a live recording. A Few coughs here and there and some shuffling can be heard.

edit: oh and some applause at the end   

[Jo498]

They are certainly live recordings!
I didn't mean to doubt that. My point was that many live recordings are not single takes from one concert.
Even the Vienna New Years Day concert recordings are to my knowledge "mixed" together from 2 or 3 concerts (New years eve, New years day, maybe another one) and the public? dress rehearsal of that concert (on the 29th or 30th, I believe).
Other "live" recordings might be from a program that was played even more times over several weeks or even months! I was speculating that in Lucchesini's Beethoven more than usual is "real live", i.e. not spliced together from many concerts during a season. But I don't know.

[Papy Oli]

They are certainly live recordings!
I didn't mean to doubt that. My point was that many live recordings are not single takes from one concert.
Even the Vienna New Years Day concert recordings are to my knowledge "mixed" together from 2 or 3 concerts (New years eve, New years day, maybe another one) and the public? dress rehearsal of that concert (on the 29th or 30th, I believe).
Other "live" recordings might be from a program that was played even more times over several weeks or even months! I was speculating that in Lucchesini's Beethoven more than usual is "real live", i.e. not spliced together from many concerts during a season. But I don't know.

my bad, @Jo498 , I misread/misunderstood.

[Jo498]

No problem, your comment gives some evidence that they might be un- or barely edited real live recordings. I have had the set on CD for years but it's been a while that I listened to them, so I didn't remember if there was applause (which in itself doesn't prove much, could still be from several concerts).

[Brian]

I don't have much additional information about the live nature, there is definitely some coughing. The booklet only lists recording years (1999-2001), not specific dates.

The booklet adds that he performed the 32 across two concert seasons at three different venues in Italy, with recordings taking place at one of the three (the school where he taught in Turin), and also did the five concertos, sadly not recorded.

[prémont]

The Italian pianist Maurizio Paciariello has undertaken the job to record all Beethoven's piano sonatas on fortepiano for the label Da Vinci Classics. So far five vol.s (6 CD's) have been released containing about two thirds of the sonatas. I have heard two of the CDs and I am certainly impressed. The pianist belongs to the poetic group (with e.g. Kempff and Lortie) and his playing is competent, well articulated, expressive and thoughtful with a nice feeling for the dynamics and rhetoric of the music. Very much recommended particularly for listeners who like or maybe even prefer fortepiano for these sonatas.

[Que]

The Italian pianist Maurizio Paciariello has undertaken the job to record all Beethoven's piano sonatas on fortepiano for the label Da Vinci Classics. So far five vol.s (6 CD's) have been released containing about two thirds of the sonatas. I have heard two of the CDs and I am certainly impressed. The pianist belongs to the poetic group (with e.g. Kempff and Lortie) and his playing is competent, well articulated, expressive and thoughtful with a nice feeling for the dynamics and rhetoric of the music. Very much recommended particularly for listeners who like or maybe even prefer fortepiano for these sonatas.

Interesting. Had those bookmarkedbut haven't given them a listen yet.
Thanks for posting!

[Todd]

Finally on the release schedule.

[Cato]

Finally on the release schedule.

Thanks for the information!


I assume these are good/great performances?


I know nothing about her, but this is offered on YouTube:

[Todd]

I assume these are good/great performances?

I've never heard her play.  I've been waiting for this cycle since 2019 or 2020 because I knew it was out there.

[Cato]

I've never heard her play.  I've been waiting for this cycle since 2019 or 2020 because I knew it was out there.

Ah!  Okay!  I will find as many performances on the Internet as I can to get an impression.