BaL 7.11.20 - Beethoven: Piano Sonata No 29 in B flat, Op 106 ‘Hammerklavier’

[gradus]

This BAL is a thankless task, why don't they tell us which recordings they're reviewing in advance when it is plainly impossible to listen to all recorded versions.
John Lill for me.

[HighlandDougie]

I'm glad to see you mentioning Scherbakov here - I've listened to most of his sonatas so far, apart from the late ones, and I've been very impressed. I especially like the clarity of his playing: he almost always avoids the sustaining pedal where not marked (unlike, I would say, the majority of pianists).

However, I listened, just this afternoon, to his Hammerklavier, and was disappointed by his tempo for the first movement, which seems crucial to the effect of the piece as a whole. I first learned this piece (as a listener: I'm no keyboard player) from Charles Rosen's LP, and from reading his magnificent 'The Classical Style'. He came up to Durham when I was studying music there (mid-70s), and played the Hammerklavier; a group of us stayed up into the early hours with him after the concert, drinking beer and marvelling at the way he was as eloquent with words as with the notes. And I've never forgotten his insistence that that opening should never sound maestoso: indeed, it makes the music smaller, rather than larger, if you don't play it fast enough.

And Scherbakov, although reasonably fast in much of i, is undeniably going for the maestoso effect in the opening motif, wherever it happens. And he follows with a disappointingly slow Scherzo: the slowest of all the 23 (ok, I'm a bit obsessed with this piece...) versions noted in my score. A pity, because his final two movements strike me as a lot more successful.

It's Osborne and Levit for me, though if I feel like a slightly less driven version, I might listen again to Koroliov, whose recording I discovered last week, thanks to a post in (I think) another thread here. I enjoyed the way Koroliov sets brisk initial tempi, for both first movement and fugue, but then lets the music relax in places.

Last seen live performed by Steven Osborne - and very much like Igor L in this work, although it’s not something I find myself wanting to listen to very often. And that’s a sad reflection on me, not LvB’s genius in this extraordinary oeuvre.

[Lordgeous]

Anyone for Ogden? Having recently discovered his recording I found it electrifying. Perhaps my identifying more of a sense of struggle here (rather than refinement) is coloured by knowledge of Ognen's life? Before, my favourite has been Solomon's which I've known for years.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Didn’t Ogdon launch into the fugue at his RNCM audition at the age of 15 or so after he suggested
he play some Beethoven for the panel ? !!

[Lordgeous]

Yes, I believe so. The Piano Man by Charles Beauclerk I found most interesting, and moving.

[BBMmk2]

With so many new sonata-cycles out this year, complete or ongoing (after Levit there's Fazil Say, Scherbakov, Melodie Zhao, HJ Lim, Minsoo Sohn....I've dipped into and enjoyed several of these, Scherbakov especially) we really need a Beethoven 2020 Survey on the sonatas and other cycles, from BaL or the Gramophone....

BaL has in the past included single-composer surveys, such as Dutilleux or Gubaidulina, so why not something like this? How on earth can you choose a "106 for today" without such references?

I do hope Gramophone do. This would be a most interesting read.

[verismissimo]

Instead of listening to several Hammerklaviers from my collection (my usual process), I decided on this occasion to revisit end to end Friedrich Gulda's 1967 cycle. Magical. So full of life and with little of the Holy Beethoven that seems to inhabit so many pianists …

I'll get to op 106 in due course.

[rauschwerk]

I listened yesterday to the first movement in Brautigam's version and was immediately struck by the way he takes the initial leap slightly under tempo. If Beethoven had seen him do that, would he have shouted, "Chicken!" or words to that effect?

[Bryn]

Instead of listening to several Hammerklaviers from my collection (my usual process), I decided on this occasion to revisit end to end Friedrich Gulda's 1967 cycle. Magical. So full of life and with little of the Holy Beethoven that seems to inhabit so many pianists …

I'll get to op 106 in due course.

And to think it got hammered[sic] in The Gramophone at the time for its recorded sound quality. That did not put me off from purchasing the LP boxed set when I could afford it.

[silvestrione]

Instead of listening to several Hammerklaviers from my collection (my usual process), I decided on this occasion to revisit end to end Friedrich Gulda's 1967 cycle. Magical. So full of life and with little of the Holy Beethoven that seems to inhabit so many pianists …

I'll get to op 106 in due course.

I have his 1953 cycle on Orfeo, which is marvellous I think. The Hammerklavier is full of verve and energy, and in the first movement he makes the beginning of the exposition repeat a hugely dramatic moment (possibly some octave doubling!), and then underplays the 'fanfare' at the beginning of the recapitulation, where the falling figure in the left hand is prominent. As in the Brendel, the remarkable B minor version of the fanfare had a tragic force (though perhaps more so in the Brendel, who in his occult ability to convey the whole structure makes this a key dramatic moment or turning point), and then the astonishing octave passage that takes us into the coda is followed by a last tender, delicate version of the third theme...

He doesn't quite have the inwardness of a Schnabel or Solomon in the slow movement, IMHO.

[rauschwerk]

A passage in this sonata that has always fascinated me begins at bar 27 of the Adagio, when the melody is played over a waltz-like accompaniment notated as semiquavers separated by semiquaver rests. In my old ABRSM edition there is no pedal mark, though Tovey tells us that there were such marks in early editions: however, he advises that pedalling should be avoided on the modern piano. Some pianists avoid pedal altogether, which sounds too dry to my ears, and some use a lot of pedal which leads me to wonder why Beethoven would have bothered to write all those rests!

Brautigam, equipped with an appropriate instrument, shows exactly how to use the pedal here. You can tell that he is really listening carefully to what his left hand is doing. I wasn't sure if his copy of an 1819 Graf could produce a big enough tone for this piece but after one hearing I was absolutely convinced. What a musician Brautigam is!

[silvestrione]

A passage in this sonata that has always fascinated me begins at bar 27 of the Adagio, when the melody is played over a waltz-like accompaniment notated as semiquavers separated by semiquaver rests. In my old ABRSM edition there is no pedal mark, though Tovey tells us that there were such marks in early editions: however, he advises that pedalling should be avoided on the modern piano. Some pianists avoid pedal altogether, which sounds too dry to my ears, and some use a lot of pedal which leads me to wonder why Beethoven would have bothered to write all those rests!

Brautigam, equipped with an appropriate instrument, shows exactly how to use the pedal here. You can tell that he is really listening carefully to what his left hand is doing. I wasn't sure if his copy of an 1819 Graf could produce a big enough tone for this piece but after one hearing I was absolutely convinced. What a musician Brautigam is!

Fascinating, thanks! I have now downloaded the Brautigam....

[Pulcinella]

A passage in this sonata that has always fascinated me begins at bar 27 of the Adagio, when the melody is played over a waltz-like accompaniment notated as semiquavers separated by semiquaver rests. In my old ABRSM edition there is no pedal mark, though Tovey tells us that there were such marks in early editions: however, he advises that pedalling should be avoided on the modern piano. Some pianists avoid pedal altogether, which sounds too dry to my ears, and some use a lot of pedal which leads me to wonder why Beethoven would have bothered to write all those rests!

Brautigam, equipped with an appropriate instrument, shows exactly how to use the pedal here. You can tell that he is really listening carefully to what his left hand is doing. I wasn't sure if his copy of an 1819 Graf could produce a big enough tone for this piece but after one hearing I was absolutely convinced. What a musician Brautigam is!

The old Liszt edition mentioned in post #11 has pedal markings.
Bar 27 (denoted D) says tutte le corde, with no pedal indication.
Then there is a sequence of markings of pedal for a whole bar or half a bar, so two in a bar.
If I denote these as 1 and 2 respectively (so representing the number of pedal markings in a bar, not the number of beats the marking lasts for!) the sequence is 1121222222 and then it stops.

[shadybarkis]

"Solomon was Historic Choice." This category is now history, (with a rare exception last week) ever since Andrew started editing/echoing the presenter's comments. I feel that the next BAL will be a lottery giving the presenter carte blanc to indulge in idiosyncrasy, iconoclasm or, perhaps even worse, zealous proselytizing to give the laurels to a pianist nobody has heard of!

[Ein Heldenleben]

A passage in this sonata that has always fascinated me begins at bar 27 of the Adagio, when the melody is played over a waltz-like accompaniment notated as semiquavers separated by semiquaver rests. In my old ABRSM edition there is no pedal mark, though Tovey tells us that there were such marks in early editions: however, he advises that pedalling should be avoided on the modern piano. Some pianists avoid pedal altogether, which sounds too dry to my ears, and some use a lot of pedal which leads me to wonder why Beethoven would have bothered to write all those rests!

Brautigam, equipped with an appropriate instrument, shows exactly how to use the pedal here. You can tell that he is really listening carefully to what his left hand is doing. I wasn't sure if his copy of an 1819 Graf could produce a big enough tone for this piece but after one hearing I was absolutely convinced. What a musician Brautigam is!

The Urtext has no pedal markings other than tutte le corde at bar 27 ( like the Liszt mentioned by Pulcinella) - the opening bars having been marked una corde ( though it’s usually two on a modern piano I think ) The first three second inversion f# minor chords at bar 27 and low f# minor are marked staccato which implies no pedal as sustained pedalling masks the staccato - Maybe . At least that’s my theory but does any one play it staccato?