Bernard Roberts Plays Beethoven

[Franco]

Leaving aside the idea of whether JdP has actually heard the recordings he is commenting on, can an opinion about a performance be "wrong"?  It is after all a subjective judgment we all make, and while a consensus may emerge about a recording, there will still be those in the minority who think otherwise.

[SonicMan46]

Dave, I would certainly set my sights on Brautigam, even if it takes waiting for a Big Box to be able to justify it. For one thing, it is in the running to become, like, only the second cycle to be completed, AFAIK. I don't think Komen is complete, and don't know if it will be (although I would love to have it as a complete set). The only complete cycle already (that I've heard of at least) is Badura-Skoda on Astrée, and good luck getting that one together! (it took me 10 years! )  Komen is sweet though, you should check out 1 disk and see what you think.

Just checked the BIS website, Brautigam appears to be up to Vol. 7, so I suspect there are 2-3 volumes to go?  Concerning Badura-Skoda, MDT is offering the set below, i.e. 9 CDs on the Gramola label for $56; not sure if this was licensed from Astree or different recordings?  Jed Distler HERE reviews this set w/ a 7/8 rating - not great!  He states that the pianist is using a 'Bösendorfer concert grand', so a modern piano.  Brautigam seems like the best bet but may be a number of years before he completes the series and then BIS decides to offer a box set?  Dave 

[Todd]

Just checked the BIS website, Brautigam appears to be up to Vol. 7, so I suspect there are 2-3 volumes to go?

There is one more disc for the sonatas, but the project is touted as the complete piano music, so there will probably be another 5-7 discs, depending on whether it's all works or all the works with opus numbers.

The Badura-Skoda recording for Gramola is different from the Astree recordings.  There are some fine performances in the set, and some less successful ones.  It's not an essential cycle, but it has its charms.

[Gurn Blanston]

Just checked the BIS website, Brautigam appears to be up to Vol. 7, so I suspect there are 2-3 volumes to go?  Concerning Badura-Skoda, MDT is offering the set below, i.e. 9 CDs on the Gramola label for $56; not sure if this was licensed from Astree or different recordings?  Jed Distler HERE reviews this set w/ a 7/8 rating - not great!  He states that the pianist is using a 'Bösendorfer concert grand', so a modern piano.  Brautigam seems like the best bet but may be a number of years before he completes the series and then BIS decides to offer a box set?  Dave 

Dave,
Yes, as Todd writes, this is entirely different recordings. I haven't heard it , I read Todd's review a couple years ago when he got it. The Astrée set is performed on several different fortepianos, each of them contemporaneous with the time the work(s) were composed. If there are any flaws in that set, I have yet to hear them, it is exceptionally good and consistent in quality. I suppose that is why it is unavailable now...

IIRC, the Mozart & Haydn integrals came out about a year after the cycle was completed. The Mozart variations set came out after the sonatas set too. Maybe the Beethoven will do the same.

[DavidRoss]

Leaving aside the idea of whether JdP has actually heard the recordings he is commenting on, can an opinion about a performance be "wrong"?  It is after all a subjective judgment we all make, and while a consensus may emerge about a recording, there will still be those in the minority who think otherwise.

Statements about one's subjective response cannot, of course, be "wrong," unless one is lying about it.  However statements about objective qualities residing in the other are "right" only insofar as they accurate describe those qualities.  Thus, for instance, the statement, "She's not a pretty girl," made in reference to someone widely acknowledged as pretty (Tyra Banks?) is wrong, whereas the statement, "I'm not attracted to her," is probably not.

[re. Brautigam's LVB]There is one more disc for the sonatas, but the project is touted as the complete piano music, so there will probably be another 5-7 discs, depending on whether it's all works or all the works with opus numbers.

Some of us may yet hope BIS releases the sonatas as a set without waiting for completion of the complete piano works.

Should I live so long.... 

[SonicMan46]

Some of us may yet hope BIS releases the sonatas as a set without waiting for completion of the complete piano works.

Should I live so long.... 

David - LOL!    After Todd's response, that's exactly my thought - i.e. may be BIS would release the sonatas as a 'box set' first!  Well, we can only hope?  Dave 

[Mandryka]

Bernard Roberts' cycle is a cycle I've long been aware of, but I didn't take the plunge until now.  That the cycle is on Nimbus always gave me pause, mostly for sonic reasons.  But now, running so low on other options, I figured why not, especially given that the cycle is so cheap.  I was in for a big surprise.

The Roberts cycle is possibly the most consistent cycle I've heard, and it's generally excellent, surpassing my expectations.  What one gets is not flashy, willful, showy Beethoven.  What one gets is as straightforward a reading of the sonatas as I can imagine.  There are no exaggerated dynamics, no extreme tempo.  This is Beethoven playing shown of excesses and eccentricities; nothing detracts from Beethoven.  The early sonatas are just right, filled with youthful energy and drive, and delivered with a serious mien.  The middle sonatas are more adventurous and more dynamic, and delivered with a serious mien.  The late sonatas are transcendent and probing, and delivered with a serious mien.  Using Ned Rorem's classification system, this is smart music played in a smart fashion.  With one exception – Op 54 – every sonata was exactly what I wanted to hear, and even that exception was only mildly disappointing.  Otherwise nothing really stands out for me.  The whole cycle is good.  I can't say that the playing revelatory, but I can say that dropping in a CD and just listening to the whole thing is easy.  That's not always the case.

There is the issue of sound quality.  It is too reverberant and distant, resulting in some detail being blurred.  But the sound isn't terrible. 

There's much to admire in this cycle.  The no-nonsense playing is refreshing and disarming.  Roberts comes across as the polar opposite of a pianist like Russell Sherman.  If Roberts can't deliver playing as elevated as Sherman does at times, he makes up for it in consistency.  In many ways the Roberts cycle strikes me as the perfect "middle of the road" cycle, in the best possible sense.  Were the sound better, it might very well be the ideal starter cycle for a newcomer.  This is an excellent cycle and the best overall cycle for me since Takahiro Sonada's Denon set.

I just want to thank you, Todd, for putting me on to this wonderful pianist, whose Bach and Beethoven  I'm exploring a bit right now. I think that the high points of his Beethoven set are major high points of the music on record. I'm listening as I type to Op 26 and I think it's as deep and probing and poetic as I have ever heard. Much the same for Op 109, and the Waldstein and many others.

He may give the appearance of being straightforward and ordinary. But I think that's illusory. I think he's made some very fine decisions about rhythm, tempo, colour. The result only appears less daring and more conventional than others because he's so musical: the poetry of what he does is completely convincing. There's an appearance of artlessness  which  reminds me of Pollini at his best, in his first recording of Chopin's etudes, for example.

By the way I would say much the same about his record of Bach's partitas, which I find both interesting and moving -- good for the head and the heart.  Again the musical rightness of his decisions may make you think that they're safe compared with some others. But I think that's a bit unfair. They only appear safe because they're so right for the music.

[prémont]

I just want to thank you, Todd, for putting me on to this wonderful pianist, whose Bach and Beethoven  I'm exploring a bit right now. I think that the high points of his Beethoven set are major high points of the music on record. I'm listening as I type to Op 26 and I think it's as deep and probing and poetic as I have ever heard. Much the same for Op 109, and the Waldstein and many others.

He may give the appearance of being straightforward and ordinary. But I think that's illusory. I think he's made some very fine decisions about rhythm, tempo, colour. The result only appears less daring and more conventional than others because he's so musical: the poetry of what he does is completely convincing. There's an appearance of artlessness  which  reminds me of Pollini at his best, in his first recording of Chopin's etudes, for example.

An interesting view, which prompted me to relisten to a number of Roberts´ Beethoven sonatas. And I agree with your point. However his direct and self understood but still poetic way of playing reminds me more often of Backhaus´  Beethoven than of Pollini´s.

[Mandryka]

An interesting view, which prompted me to relisten to a number of Roberts´ Beethoven sonatas. And I agree with your point. However his direct and self understood but still poetic way of playing reminds me more often of Backhaus´  Beethoven than of Pollini´s.

He's also very good in op 120, very different than Backhaus and IMO more successful than Pollini towards the end, though I wouldn't want to be withiout the Pollini. I think Roberts has a real sympathy for late Beethoven, this op 120 is very inspired and in the moment.

I feel much less positive about the way he plays earlier pieces, apart from the Waldstein.