Beethoven's Piano Sonatas

[George]

Why is he making a commentary? Is it a masterclass?

I am not sure, it's in French.

[Scarpia]

Today I listened to the last 3 CDs of this box set. They contain Beethoven sonata recordings by Cortot. However, only Les Adieux is presented in it's entirety, while Appassionata, Moonlight, Pathetique, Op. 90 and Op. 79 are presented in shorter snippets, interspersed with commentary (in French) by the pianist. The recordings were made at the very end of his life, just a few years before he passed away. I was annoyed by the commentary interrupting the music, so I edited the commentary out using Audacity. The resultant music was under 65 minutes long!

You started with a lecture, edited out the lecture itself and pasted the musical examples together, and were surprised that the result was unsatisfactory.  Huh?   

[Mandryka]

I am not sure, it's in French.

This sounds very likely to be from the same material  as the masterclasses which were edited by Murray Perrahia and published by EMI. If that's right EMI have been slightly misleading in their publicity around that box I think.

[Fred]

Korstick can be bangy and mannered, but there is a lot to like about this cycle. (I've heard roughly half of it.) Good find, pricing mistake or not!

Another cheapo is the complete Pludermacher on Quoboz for 9 euro.  Am listening right now, and I think he's fantastic.  In fact it's amazing the differences in price between different downloading services.  Same set on Itunes is $190 (seriously).  Do they have monkeys organising this stuff.  My next priority is definitely Pludemacher's complete Schubert. 

[betterthanfine]

   I think the best way ist the Richter's edition on Brilliant Classics, sound is very listenable, great performances attractive price
[asin]B008L62XEG[/asin]

I bought this yesterday. Have only listened to a few pieces so far so I can't really comment yet, but his opus 111 is to die for! I was completely enthralled and amazed. Can't wait to delve further into this great pianist's recordings.

[Mandryka]

Andrea Lucchesini gave a recital of Op 106, Op 78 and some Berio  in the  Beethovenhaus, Bonn on 14 September 2009. The recital's on symphonyshare.

The Op 106 is good. It's got some of the ebb and flow of his first recording, the one that Berio liked so much, but it has more colour and more intensity of sound, because he uses a Graf. Worth taking and cherishing for sure.

Listening to it made me dig out Paul Badura Skoda's notes on Op 106 where he says:

Despite my familiarity with the pianofortes of Beethoven's time, I doubted for
a long time that an adequate reproduction of opus 106 might be possible on
an instrument of the period. For this Sonata, as no other, looks more
resolutely towards the future and seems to anticipate the widest resources of
the modern piano, its more expressive plenitude of tone, its singing high
register and its more elaborate mechanism. I owe to the initiative and
insistence of Michel Bernstein to have attempted such a daring experiment. I
myself was surprised by the result: the insufficient volume of Conrad Graf's
piano is compensated by its dramatic intensity, its amazing songlike
expressiveness and a sometimes unimaginable richness of colours. We thus
have additional evidence that even in his last creative period Beethoven was a
realist to a much higher degree than is generally thought. Indeed the
instrument is used here to its farthest limits, probably farther than its maker
of genius could have envisaged. Beethoven's phrase "the piano must be
broken" ("Brechen soll das Klavier!") takes its full meaning here.
I do not think that a pianist, were he the greatest, can assume by himself all
the aspects of this Sonata. But if I succeed in conveying a significant part of
this exalting and overwhelming musical experience, I shall have attained my
goal.

[Mandryka]

I bought this yesterday. Have only listened to a few pieces so far so I can't really comment yet, but his opus 111 is to die for! I was completely enthralled and amazed. Can't wait to delve further into this great pianist's recordings.

When did he play that Op 111 there? For me it's the recordings he made in the late 1980s and 1990s which are the most precious. I'm not as keen as others seem to be on that Leipzig concert, for example, even though it's very exciting pianism.

[George]

When did he play that Op 111 there?

1/12/75, according to the notes.

[Scarpia]

1/12/75, according to the notes.

You have notes?

[Brian]

You have notes?

I have the gigantic Russian Legends box, 100CDs, and it confirms Jan 12 1975. There's a booklet, but the recording dates are listed on the cardboard CD holders, in my set.

[Opus106]

Andsnes talks Beethoven. And no, he isn't going to record all the sonatas.

[kishnevi]

Andsnes talks Beethoven. And no, he isn't going to record all the sonatas.

[Todd]

And no, he isn't going to record all the sonatas.

That sucks.

[mc ukrneal]

The article doesn't really discuss the sonatas so much, nor does it rule out a complete sonata set someday. It just sounds like he is currently focusing on the concertos.

[Opus106]

The article doesn't really discuss the sonatas so much...

I did say Beethoven.

...nor does it rule out a complete sonata set someday.

I'm sorry if I misled you there, but most people seem to have correctly surmised that what I said was in relation to the recordings which are to be released by Sony within the next few years.

[Todd]

Korstick's cycle is now out in box form.  I think I'll plump for it, even though the two discs I own don't wow me. 

[Fred]

The entire set is also on MOG (and I assume Spotify) - so I won't be buying it, although I will listen to some (maybe most) of it.  His performance of No. 29 I thought was eccentric, so his was not a cycle I would've purchased in any event.

I downloaded the complete set on 7digital for $10.  I think it's also very cheap on amazon for some reason.

[Mandryka]

Someone has put Paul Badura Skoda's Westminster Beethoven LP on symphonyshare.


> I've had a chance to listen to the Appassionata and it surpassed my
> expectations in terms of interpretation. It's interesting because it's
> quite a noble interpretation, which I think is right for heroic
> Beethoven. Very involved playing too, which I found captivating.  It's
> great that this recording has been brought back to life.

For the first time I can hear why Badura Skoda was so highly thought of by traditional conductors like Furtwangler.

> I like the sound of the transfer on symphonyshare. The piano tone is  quite truthful and has that sort
> of warm bloom that people missed in the early days of CD. It would be
> wonderful if someone with the technical skills could remove some of
> the surface noise and pre echo. I bet this could be made to sound very
> good.

[Opus106]

András Schiff is about to embark upon a series of recitals featuring the 32, beginning tomorrow at Wigmore Hall. If you know or find out about any webcast of these recitals, I'd appreciate it if you could post a link here.

http://www.wigmore-hall.org.uk/whats-on/series/schiffbeethovenpianosonatas

[PaulSC]

András Schiff is about to embark upon a series of recitals featuring the 32, beginning tomorrow at Wigmore Hall. If you know or find out about any webcast of these recitals, I'd appreciate it if you could post a link here.

http://www.wigmore-hall.org.uk/whats-on/series/schiffbeethovenpianosonatas

Wow, hot on the heels of his touring both books of the Bach WTC. That's quite a commitment to the old and new Testaments!