Beethoven piano sonatas - what is your origin story?

[ritter]

The off-topic posts have been moved to a new thread, Worst Recordings. AFAIK, previously there was no thread on that topic on GMG.

[Karafan]

A prerecorded cassette tape on a cheapo label when I was about 15. It was Pathetique, Moonlight, Appassionata played by Bulgarian/French? pianist Yuri Boukoff, or at least I think it was all by him, could have been different pianists but probably a tape based on that LP, the MC looked a bit different, though, I think.



Among the first 3 CDs I bought a year or so later were Kempff's recording of op. 106 and 31/2 as well as op.111 as filler for the 5th concerto. I also taped a few more sonatas from the radio or a bit later from friend's CDs.
But I was not that fond of or interested in solo piano music in my first few years of listening to classical music, preferring orchestral and chamber music. Nevertheless I bought sonatas 16-32 in a clothbound Peters pocket score in East Berlin 1989 (a few months before the Wall fell, one had to exchange a certain amount of money and music scores and maths textbooks were basically the only thing worth purchasing in East Germany...)

So it was about 8 years later, by then ca. 1996 that I got single discs of more Beethoven sonatas, I am not even sure about all the details, one was op.10 with Goode, also the DG originals reissue of Pollini's recording of the Late sonatas.

When, probably in 1997 the almost complete Gilels DG recordings were issued in that blue box inexpensively (for that time and highly regarded recordings) I bought this. But Gilels often rather slow and always weighty interpretations was not the best choice for getting to know the (mostly early) sonatas I had not heard yet. Another 2 years later, I think, in 1998 or 99 the Gulda (Amadeo, with discs in single jewelcases, basically no notes, and each sonata as one track) was on sale even more cheaply than the Gilels had been, I snapped it up and this was revelatory in those earlyish sonatas I had found a bit boring with Gilels.
Sure, with more familiarity I could later also appreciate the more weighty Gilels interpretations.

great story: thanks.

[DavidW]

The off-topic posts have been moved to a new thread, Worst Recordings. AFAIK, previously there was no thread on that topic on GMG.

Oh, we renamed that to the Havergal Brian thread a long time ago. DUCKS!    

[(poco) Sforzando]

Any thoughts about why he put op 109 before op 106? He uses a nice Fazzioli.

Maybe he can't count?

[Todd]

Maybe he can't count?

Dyscalculia is no laughing matter.

[ShineyMcShineShine]

However, I have yet to hear, or ever see for sale, the Lucchesini cycle

It isn't hard to find online. Or are you one of those who only listens to physical media?

[(poco) Sforzando]

(However, I have yet to hear, or ever see for sale, the Lucchesini cycle!).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blpSgjODwkQ&list=OLAK5uy_k4U2dQ10OsBJH2MabEKtqzBxV3V-D2t68

Worth every penny, and you won't need to spend a dime.

[Karafan]

It isn't hard to find online. Or are you one of those who only listens to physical media?

Guilty as charged!

[André]

As a young teenager I heard but one Beethoven sonatas disc for many years (Rubinstein playing 8, 14, 26). It was not before I was 15-16 that I got seriously into classical music. A friend made me listen to the Hammerklavier played by Ashkenazy and it was quite a shock to realize that Beethoven's sonatas could sound so different from what I was used to. And that pianists could have vastly different conceptions about producing sound from a keyboard.

It took me many attempts (LPs, then CDs) to figure out what Beethoven sound I liked best and what constituted good Beethoven playing. For example, I love Gilels in strong, rythmically driven sonatas (he is supreme in 21 and 23) but not in lighter ones. The approaches I respond to most are from Nat, Korstick and Heidsieck. They are bluff, no-nonsense, sometimes provocative, sometimes resolutely romantic. I find myself listening to the music when I hear them. With others I tend to analyse the playing and forget it's by Beethoven. That should never happen.

[prémont]

As a child, I often listened to my father's LP collection, which contained a lot of Romantic and Vienna Classical music, including several recordings of Beethoven's piano sonatas by Gieseking and Annie Fischer. We also attended a lot of recitals, Brendel, Anda, Kempff, Klien et.c. playing Beethoven sonatas. My mother had a preference for Kempff, a sentiment I shared, leading me to acquire his stereo set years later. However, my interest in Vienna Classical and Romantic music began to wane, and I handed the Kempff recordings over to a friend. Later on my mother passed, and she left to me a strangely mixed LP box set of Backhaus' recordings of all the sonatas, combining both mono and stereo versions. Listening to this collection marked a turning point for me regarding the sonatas, prompting me to start collecting different interpretations. Now, I own quite a few sets, all of which I enjoy immensely. As for my favorites, there are too many to name.

[ShineyMcShineShine]

As a child, I often listened to my father's LP collection, which contained a lot of Romantic and Vienna Classical music

This was my parents' LP collection: https://theonion.com/parents-record-collection-deemed-hilarious-1819565724/

[hopefullytrusting]

Started with the Moonlight Sonata, on one of the "Best of Beethoven" cassettes, so no idea who the pianist was.

Then, moved on to Piano Sonata No. 30 because it was featured in one of my favorite movies ever, Trick (1999, directed by Jim Fall).

After that, I then purchased a dvd, The Art of the Piano and discovered Backhaus, and that was the first complete set I listened to.

[George]

After that, I then purchased a dvd, The Art of the Piano and discovered Backhaus, and that was the first complete set I listened to.

One of my favorite documentaries!

[ShineyMcShineShine]

My first disc was Pollini playing Opp. 22, 26, and 53 on DG. That was acquired in the late 90s via the late, great BMG Music Club which provided the nucleus of my collection. It didn't make much of an impression on me however, so it wasn't until recently that I finally listened to the entire cycle, by Richard Goode. Beethoven's piano sonatas are virtually the only ones I enjoy; everyone after him sounds wrong.

[Florestan]

The very first piano sonata I've ever heard was the Pathetique, recorded on LP by the Romanian pianist Dan Grigore (YT him if interested). I was about 13 at the time and madly in (unrequited) love with a classmate girl. The impression it made on me was devastating --- to this day it's my favorite of the bunch. Then it was the Op. 26 but I can't remember who played it (Richter, maybe?). Then the famous named ones (of which my favorite is Waldstein followed by The Tempest), then the rest.

I can't say I am passionate or knowledgeable about them, although I have around 10 (I think; possibly more) complete cycles, of which the Claude Frank is the only one I've listened to in its entirety. I have never made any comparative listening, I just let the music sound and enjoy it in the here and now, though I favor poetical, lyrical, tender and, dare I say it, light-hearted approaches.

As a related aside, in my late teens and early twenties Beethoven was my favorite composer hands down. Fast forward 30 years, I rarely feel the need to listen to his music --- but when I do, it's mostly his chamber music and piano sonatas.