BaL 11.02.23 - Beethoven: Piano Sonata no. 23 in F minor "Appassionata"

[Ein Heldenleben]

Its a great piece but the final pages are so often played so fast they sounds comical, as though they should accompany a silent-movie chase sequence.

Good point - I don’t think I’ll ever be able to listen to it again now without that Keystone cops image . I wonder if Iain will get into the thorny question of the fingering of the tricky finale opening theme. It’s like a torture.
Bizarre factoid : the opening six notes of the first movement are the same as the The Star Spangled Banner but in the minor.
The Appassionata- the work that starts in Maryland and ends , all too frequently , in Hollywood.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I wonder if Iain will get into the thorny question of the fingering of the tricky finale opening theme. It’s like a torture.

.
My university piano teacher convinced me that this was the best fingering, and that the quick sideways hand shift was a good long term way of avoiding injuries in the longer term.

Bizarre factoid : the opening six notes of the first movement are the same as the The Star Spangled Banner but in the minor...

Clearly Beyoncé was a Beethoven fan, as she also changed the US anthem into quadruple time.

[Ein Heldenleben]

.
My university piano teacher convinced me that this was the best fingering, and that the quick sideways hand shift was a good long term way of avoiding injuries in the longer term.



Clearly Beyoncé was a Beethoven fan, as she also changed the US anthem into quadruple time.

Tovey in the old AB edition has 1243 for the first five notes (C, F Aflat middle C, Dflat ) but that never sounds legato to me. This is Von Bulow’s fingering says Tovey and suits small hands.

Hansen in Henle Urtext has 12353 which throws the accent on a different note the Dflat

I’ve experimented with both and my very own 12354 with 4 curling over a bit .

Still can’t get it.

[MickyD]

I have no intention of searching out how many different recordings of this work I have. Let's just say they are many and various. I would, however, be delighted to find that Iain Burnside picks a recording new to me. The recording which grabbed my attention most strongly on first hearing was that by Malcolm Binns, played on an instrument built by Louis Dulcken c. 1785. Though now officially deleted from the catalogue, it is still available, new or used, in:



The recording is also available in a Japanese CD set of the complete piano sonatas and can also be found in mp3 or FLAC format as a download but I have not checked the legitimacy of the sites offering it as such.

Maybe I ought to get hold of this set - I have the original Binns recordings on LP as well as and CDs 42 and 49, never released singly on CD.

[jayne lee wilson]

I would be hard pushed to go beyond Olga Pashchenko, with virtuosity to burn. For added authenticity, performed on an original Conrad Graf in Bonn!

Absolutely!
I was just about to say - cut to the chase, this is the one to hear if you know Op.57 well and want to startle your responses into new life...!
This of all Musical Miracles needs new performers, new recordings, renewing its intensities.

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/beethoven-piano-sonatas-21-23-26-olga-pashchenko/cktfqdqeqn6ob

Stunning album in every respect....

The Appassionata is Beethoven at his greatest & most innovative - structurally, musically; emotionally at the extremity of risk.
Thankfully I've never suffered from any bizarre associative distractions. Pure and towering masterpiece often "somewhere in the back of my mind" which can haunt me for days after a hearing. With me all my listening life. One of my Musical Icons.

[Barbirollians]

Brendel's 1970s recording coupled with the Moonlight and Pathetique was one of my first LPs and is rather imprinted on me.

I only otherwise have Gilels , Solomon and Schnabel. All outstanding unless, there is an Appassionata in the Paul Badura Skoda box I have not got to yet.

[visualnickmos]

Its a great piece but the final pages are so often played so fast they sounds comical, as though they should accompany a silent-movie chase sequence.

It's not only me then, who thinks this laterally!

[Bryn]

Maybe I ought to get hold of this set - I have the original Binns recordings on LP as well as and CDs 42 and 49, never released singly on CD.

I backed up my set from the Classical and Early Romantic box to CD-Rs and housed them in envelopes within the LP sts' boxes. So good to have the original booklets that came with the LPs. I wonder whether it might be worth waiting to see if Universal/Decca follow the Japanese lead and issues the Beethoven Sonatas as a separate set. The Classical and Early Romantic box was always advertised as a limited edition. A recall that the best price I could find for it in advance of its release was from amazon.it. That was before that damned 'Brexit', of course.

[Mandryka]

I have no intention of searching out how many different recordings of this work I have. Let's just say they are many and various. I would, however, be delighted to find that Iain Burnside picks a recording new to me. The recording which grabbed my attention most strongly on first hearing was that by Malcolm Binns, played on an instrument built by Louis Dulcken c. 1785. Though now officially deleted from the catalogue, it is still available, new or used, in:



The recording is also available in a Japanese CD set of the complete piano sonatas and can also be found in mp3 or FLAC format as a download but I have not checked the legitimacy of the sites offering it as such.

Did you ever hear Rzewski play it?

[Bryn]

Did you ever hear Rzewski play it?

Sadly no. Mendelssohn is the earliest composer whose music I heard him play, as far as I can recall.

[Darloboy]

I have tyhe following, all in complete Beethoven sonata sets - Brendel (1990s digital recording), Buchbinder x2 (the live 2014 Salzburg performances plus the early 1980s studio set) and Badura-Skoda on fortepiano. I play the Badura-Skoda and the live Buchbinder more than the others.

It is a pity that once again we are getting well-known pieces for review. There are 32 Beethoven piano sonatas to choose from, and while I do remember a BAL on op7 a few years back, mostly the familiar ones are chosen. How about opp10 (all), 28, 31 (all) or 101? I doubt if many people looking to buy their first Appasionata will be listening. Having said that, it is one of my favourite Beethoven pieces so I will listen with interest - I suspect that of my versions only Brendel will appear in the programme!

This is actually the first time this sonata has featured on the programme since June 1999, but I take your point as it’s generally it’s nos. 8, 14 and 29-32 which are featured.

Incidentally, Julius Drake chose Pletnev in June 99, with Perahia as mid-price choice; Tan as fortepiano recommendation; and Schnabel as historic choice.

[richardfinegold]

Absolutely!
I was just about to say - cut to the chase, this is the one to hear if you know Op.57 well and want to startle your responses into new life...!
This of all Musical Miracles needs new performers, new recordings, renewing its intensities.

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/beethoven-piano-sonatas-21-23-26-olga-pashchenko/cktfqdqeqn6ob

Stunning album in every respect....

The Appassionata is Beethoven at his greatest & most innovative - structurally, musically; emotionally at the extremity of risk.
Thankfully I've never suffered from any bizarre associative distractions. Pure and towering masterpiece often "somewhere in the back of my mind" which can haunt me for days after a hearing. With me all my listening life. One of my Musical Icons.

[MickyD]

I backed up my set from the Classical and Early Romantic box to CD-Rs and housed them in envelopes within the LP sts' boxes. So good to have the original booklets that came with the LPs. I wonder whether it might be worth waiting to see if Universal/Decca follow the Japanese lead and issues the Beethoven Sonatas as a separate set. The Classical and Early Romantic box was always advertised as a limited edition. A recall that the best price I could find for it in advance of its release was from amazon.it. That was before that damned 'Brexit', of course.

Yes, I wouldn't want to be without those original booklets. I didn't realise that a separate set had been issued in Japan. I wonder who it is in their supposed wisdom makes these decisions? Still, I could go for the Brautigam cycle on CD.
The Classical and Early Romantic box is currently available for about 2 euros per disc, but I really don't need all those duplications.

[Bryn]

Yes, I wouldn't want to be without those original booklets. I didn't realise that a separate set had been issued in Japan. I wonder who it is in their supposed wisdom makes these decisions? Still, I could go for the Brautigam cycle on CD.
The Classical and Early Romantic box is currently available for about 2 euros per disc, but I really don't need all those duplications.

For me, one of the continuing attractions of the Binns set is the range of instruments used, all of them original, though well maintained. The Brautigam survey is both more complete (it also has the WoO 47 Kurfürstensonaten) and uses a smaller range of modern reproduction instruments. I would not wish to be without it, nor the PB-S, come to that. The Bilson and former students set on Claves is more variable but well worth exploring, especially at the QOBUZ price, (£3.99 for CD quality!). Damn it, although I already had the CD boxed set, I also got the QOBUZ download a while back to save all the hassle of ripping the CDs for portable playback via pocket players.

[vinteuil]

For me, one of the continuing attractions of the Binns set is the range of instruments used, all of them original, though well maintained.

... yes : as with the Paul Komen set
.