Greetings. Looking for recommendations for complete cycle of Beethoven piano sonatas on CD. Any suggestions greatly appreciated. (Apologies if this is posted in the wrong section)
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There'll be countless recommendations. Listening at the moment to the cycle by Stephen Kovacevich I would recommend this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Piano-Sol...tas+Kovacevich
I am especially fond of his take on the early sonatas.My life, each morning when I dress, is four and twenty hours less. (J Richardson) -
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Welcome! Great to have you.
To be honest, I don't think you can go wrong with any of the 'big names' such as Brendel, Richard Goode or Paul Lewis. Daniel Barenboim's set from his early days is pretty good too.
Perhaps a better answer is who you should avoid! In that case H.J. Lim should have best be passed over, especially since her set is both incomplete and can be found very cheaply!
It might also be worth going to your local library and borrowing random discs and see whose approach you like best.
Happy hunting.Last edited by pastoralguy; 09-07-17, 22:13.Comment
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Claudio Arrau or the stereo DG Wilhelm KempffComment
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Indeed!Originally posted by pastoralguy View Post
Not only is that set from the 1960s very good, it's also one of the least expensive:Daniel Barenboim's set from his early days is pretty good too.
... there are a great many excellent sets (I don't think that any can be described as "the best"), but this Barenboim is amongst the best, and most of the others are at least a tenner more than this. (£130 more if you opt for the Kovacevich!!!
He's very good, but probably better to wait until that set is reissued at a cheaper price.)
[FONT=Comic Sans MS][I][B]Numquam Satis![/B][/I][/FONT]Comment
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If it be Kempff (and it really has to be at some point), always listen to the 1950s mono set first. I bought the stereo box after immersing myself in the DG Dokumente (1995 release, early 50s) and - I hardly ever listen to the stereo set now. Even at first comparison the 1965 Stereo set (CDs, Complete Beethoven Edition, DG) sounded less appealing: the piano tone itself rather shallow, less warm and full, the articulation less keen, that expressive individuality somehow reduced or repressed in the service of a less inspired fidelity. The 1950s mono cycle is far more compelling to the musical mind and ear. In fact the main appeal of the Stereo Box is the concise analytical notes to the sonatas; otherwise (with a few individual exceptions) both sound and performance are overshadowed by Kempff's first mono traversal.
Beyond that - try to round up as many of Richter's individual Beethoven Sonata recordings as you can, but especially his Op.2 and Op.7, his Op.22 and Op90, perhaps above all: live performances of the last three sonatas, Op. 109 - 111: best I've heard is the one on Parnassus, if you can find it.
On all sorts of labels really... It was ever thus with Richter. But look out for those on BBC Legends or Regis, and snap them up if fairly priced. You'll learn much from them.
As for Schnabel (truly legendary as well as legendarily legendary) well.... at some point you really have to go through, rather than round; for the best sound seek out the Pristine Audio transfers.
Richter the Philosopher, Kempff and Schnabel the Poets: Fill your ears and mind with those three for...a while, a few months, a year.... you'll be better placed to appreciate more recent pretenders.Last edited by jayne lee wilson; 10-07-17, 03:57.Comment
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Everyone has their own preferences in this field. I would say:
- avoid the Kempff 1960s stereo set for the reasons JLW stated, as well as because Kempff's technique was not as good by that time
- avoid Glenn Gould, who is usually bizarre for no reason except that he feels like it
- avoid HJ Lim for the same reason (honestly she's not that bad, but definitely bizarre).
- Schnabel would be an ideal first stop, with some caveats: mostly that there are a lot of mistakes because the recording process of the time didn't allow for them to be fixed, and technique was never his strong point anyway. Also they very much sound their age. Interpretation though is exemplary
- seek out, if you can find a copy, Paul Badura-Skoda's cycle on pianos from Beethoven's lifetime on Astrée/Naïve. Very well played and interpreted, and the original instruments sound radically different from modern-day Steinways. Usually expensive, though.
- if looking for a recording by Daniel Barenboim, seek the earliest available one; his later ones are boring (imo)
- ditto Alfred Brendel
- also check out András Schiff's series of lectures on the Beethoven sonatas, on YouTube
- many of the best sonata performances are on individual discs rather than part of cycles, e.g. Peter Serkin's recording of the last 6 piano sonatas on a Graf fortepiano, the above-mentioned Richter recordings, Alexei Lubimov's fortepiano recordings on Alpha & Zig-Zag (obviously my interests are definitely on the side of period performance), or the first volume of Paavali Jumppanen's cycle presenting the Op. 2 piano sonatas in a semi-historically accurate ornamented style, something he did not repeat in any subsequent volumes unfortunately
- what I'm currently listening to and would recommend: Yusuke Kikuchi (possibly the best modern-day cycle? at least by my standards of preferring high drama and high energy. I haven't gotten through all of it yet though); Daniel-Ben Pienaar (also wilfully bizarre but in ways that seem much more justified by the text...); Maria Tipo's only commercially recorded Beethoven CD (sonatas 3, 21 and 30—all "best in class" or very close to it, wish she'd recorded more); Maria Yudina (unconventional but probably essential).Last edited by kea; 10-07-17, 05:48.Comment
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The SK set is a treasure and is often in my player. Happily, it is to be reissued in August at an affordable price.Originally posted by Pianorak View Post
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Originally posted by kea View Post
... I should coco!
The period-instrument Badura-Skoda cycle seems hard to come by.
There are other good period-instrument sets - Paul Komen, Ronald Brautigam ...
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A lot depends on how important sound quality is to you. While Schnabel and Kempff (mono) may offer much in terms of interpretative wisdom, they have been outclassed sonically (and at least matched artistically) by the likes of Gilels and Pollini (70s vintage) on DG, with their burnished sound. If you want to hear Beethoven as Atlas carrying the world on his shoulders, then Arrau's 60s Philips cycle is a must.Originally posted by Andy2112 View PostComment
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Originally posted by Pianorak View Post
A set few people have a bad word to say about is that by Bernard Roberts, nicely summarised in an Amazon review hereHe was I think the first pianist to record a full set of the sonatas direct to disc. But looking at some of the other sets on offer it's not particularly competitively priced, at nearly £30.Roberts' approach to the works is anything but flashy or extrovert: this is just intimimate music-making by a real master, in the tradition of Wilhelm Kempff. Some might wish for more 'individuality' here and there; but others will be grateful that he eschews interposing himself between the music and the listener.
I have lived with these performances for many years, and they continue to grow on me. One might prefer to hear a more famous pianist in this work or that; but taken as a whole, the set has an integrity which is greater than the sum of its parts.
But - having first seen him play Beethoven sonatas in 1969 (4 early ones on that day), and so many times since, it's Brendel for me.Comment
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I eventually managed, over the decades, to acquire a full set of PB-S Beethoven sonatas, with second recordings of one or two on different instruments. However, my introduction to these sonatas played on historic instruments was provided by Malcolm Binns. He made recordings of them all on instruments from the Colt collection in the late 1970s using fortepianos he found most appropriate for each sonata. After some decades of having to rely on my boxed sets of LPs, later supplemented by an "Explore" double CD album of the late sonatas, the whole survey was eventually included in the L'oiseau-lyre "Classical and Early Romantic" box. Though I have added surveys by Brautigam and the Claves box of recordings by Bilson and his students, I still return with great pleasure to that Binns set.Originally posted by vinteuil View Post... I should coco!
The period-instrument Badura-Skoda cycle seems hard to come by.
There are other good period-instrument sets - Paul Komen, Ronald Brautigam ...
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By the way, the Komen survey was sadly incomplete, though those he did record are worth seeking out. Oh, and don't forget to include the Eroica and Diabelli Variations and Op. 126 Bagatelles in your library of recordings.
I am somewhat surprised that Levin has not recorded these sonatas (though he has recorded the piano and cello, and piano and horn sonatas plus the Quintet for Piano and Winds (these latter two have member 'Tony' as the natural horn player). His recordings of the concertos and Choral Fantasy are among my favourites.Last edited by Bryn; 10-07-17, 08:52.Comment
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