BaL 6.07.13 - Beethoven's Piano Sonata no. 32 in C minor Op. 111

[rauschwerk]

Paul Lewis gets ideal sound. I listened with a score and in the first movement raised my eyebrows once or twice over his reading of the text. The slow intro is very slow and quite free - not sure if it's quite my idea of Maestoso. There is no break at all between movements - Lewis holds the last chord of the first movement with the pedal until the first chord of the Arietta. I have very little adverse comment on this movement, though perhaps Kempff has the technical edge in or two details such as the long trills. Lewis's usual vocalisations are hardly in evidence here, I'm glad to say. Highly recommended.

[Tapiola]

On my shelves:

Schnabel 1932
Schnabel 1942
Richter (live, from Historic Russioan Archives box)
Gulda 1967
Rudolf Serkin

Forced to choose one, it would have to be the 1932 Schnabel. Second choice would be Serkin.

[verismissimo]

And the winner is...

(Sorry to post this earlier than intended, but I'm off to London to see Kevin Spacey's Richard III at the Old Vic and won't be back at my computer till mid-morning tomorrow.)

[Pianorak]

And the winner is...

Alas, not Wilhelm Backhaus.

[rauschwerk]

And the winner is...

Er ... how can a winner be picked before we have even agreed a decision process? (Stop yawning at the back there!)

[french frank]

Er ... how can a winner be picked before we have even agreed a decision process? (Stop yawning at the back there!)

Well, I know, but I'm gonna have to hurry you. We'll be needing a new BaL tomorrow...

[rauschwerk]

Rosen's playing is magisterial and he gets good sound. He observes the score more precisely that Lewis - only in detail, but that is what I look for when comparing performances at this level. Like Lewis, he does not allow silence between movements. The reason he takes so long over the variations is that, unlike other pianists, he keeps an iron grip on his chosen tempo. Audio purists will want to know that the sound is not quite consistent throughout. It would seem that 2 slightly different mic setups were used, and the sound suddenly changes from time to time. I could only detect this in headphones, however.

Mark Obert-Thorn, in his notes to the Naxos reissue of Schnabel's 1932 set, refers to the difficulty of getting consistent sound quality given that the recording was made at four sessions spread over five months. This is noticeable, and so is the surface noise.

So for historic choice I prefer Kempff (1952) over Schnabel (1932). My front runner from stereo recordings is Rosen, but I have yet to hear Pollini.

Has no-one else anything to contribute, apart from lists and favourites chosen with no supporting argument?

[rauschwerk]

Pollini gets my vote from the modern recordings I have (the others being Brendel 1995, Rosen, Lewis). He has one of the qualities I admire in Kempff's playing, namely the ability to obtain different shades of pianissimo. He is excellently recorded and his playing is very moving.

One or more of you must surely have Kempff (1952) and Pollini. Any chance of comparisons with other recordings in your own collection(s)? Without that, this is not really a BaL at all, is it?

[BBMmk2]

Barenboim or Gilels for me!

[amateur51]

One or more of you must surely have Kempff (1952) and Pollini. Any chance of comparisons with other recordings in your own collection(s)? Without that, this is not really a BaL at all, is it?

Strewth Watson! - we've been rumbled!

[Barbirollians]

The last Brendel recording , Gilels and Solomon .

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

i have much enjoyed this thread thanks to all ...

a thought on 'the winner is ...' why? practically no one has less than five versions! [me too] why not the best three or some such .... and the joy is in the differences of the performances that are in the zone of delight ...

and has Melvin Tan been mentioned? i very much enjoy his Beethoven on forte piano, a dear friend persuaded me to hear him in Glasgow in the mid 80s to considerable delight, and later i scored his box set for one of those ridiculous sale prices in HMV on Oxford Street [ a past pleasure browsing there alas]

[silvestrione]

Has no-one else anything to contribute, apart from lists and favourites chosen with no supporting argument?

Well, you realise just how time-consuming this business is. I've only managed to compare my 3 Arrau recordings so far. I don't have the EMI one. The best is live in Lugano in 1963. Great weight in the Introduction, and passion and power in the main Allegro, but the development section done lightly, almost playful at first. And he luxuriates in Beethoven's invitation to linger over the second theme in the recapitulation, with real poetry, whereas the Phillips version is a little forced here. The theme is rather slow, a little ponderous, but wonderfully lived through, and the variations build with appropriate inevitability to the 'jazzy' first climax, which is overwhelming, with themes and motifs going in all directions together, visionary (the Phillips lacks fire here). The rest of the movement from there on i think of as an Arrau speciality (I heard him play this sonata live 3 times, New Zealand, Bedford, London), rapt, exploring extraordinary regions, the sounds he gets from the piano amazing, the pulsing chinking chords sounded from a different universe. The Phillips again not nearly so inspired.

But live...so there are untidy moments, so not a library choice I guess.

My other live Arrau is New York in 1975, the older Arrau more ponderous, less in control, not so much fire.

Now I might try Pollini. Only one recording there!

[Alison]

Pogorelich: in the words of Richard Osborne 'wayward yet fascinating'

Craig Sheppard is the dark horse here.

[Colonel Danby]

Although I love Kempff to bits and pieces in Op111, I really go for Sviatoslav Richter in the Beethoven: in fact I saw him live just once in Birmingham, in Symphony Hall. There was no prior notice that he was going to turn up, and no indication about what he would play: the hall was blacked out on his orders, and was half full, but full of musical celebrities (Rattle and his wife etc etc). What an amazing concert: Bach and Brahms as I remember.

Gurnemanz, did you study at Durham too? I was there 1985-1988. Which college were you in? I was in Castle, and read History: one of my subjects was 'German Culture and Politics 1900-33' taught by the formidable Dr Orde. We had to study Thomas Mann's 'Doctor Faustus' which I loved, but I preferred 'The Magic Mountain' which I consider the best novel of the 20th century.