Beethoven; the complete piano sonatas

[BBMmk2]

This great ouevre of piano music, throughout his composing life, is quite an astonishing achievement, not equalled, imo, by any other composer si nce!

Though, pianists do play these works so diffenrently,m tfrom one another, there is no one standard recording of a true way of playing these great works.

I have Emil Gilels and Daniel Barenboim as conplete cycles.i was wondering though, re individual sonatas, what do boarders here reccomend, especially the later ones?

[verismissimo]

As a cycle, BBM, I'm devoted to Gulda, now inexpensive on Brilliant.

[Roehre]

....
I was wondering though, re individual sonatas, what do boarders here reccomend, especially the later ones?

op.101-111: Pollini on DGG 2CD-set.

I concur with verismissimo: The Gulda complete set (Decca/Brilliant) is not to be sniffed at.

[rauschwerk]

I compared the six versions of Op.111 from my shelves a year or so back and considered Pollini to be superior to Rosen, Lewis, Brendel (last recording) and Schnabel. My 'historic' choice was Kempff (mono from 1950s). Perahia must surely be worth considering - his coupling of sonatas 7/23 and 17/18/26 are excellent and he has recorded many more. Solomon's Les Adieux, the version I was brought up on, is magnificent. He actually makes the finale sound easy!

[BBMmk2]

Okey doke! Domne!! What other recordings are there that boarders here like?

[Madame Suggia]

Steer well clear of the early Kempf cycle on Regis, I come a cropper with this.

The performances are wonderful but the dynamics are atrocious in places.

[JFLL]

Apart from the usual suspects (Schnabel, Brendel, Schiff, Pollini), I particularly like Eschenbach in the late sonatas.

[gurnemanz]

I agree on Gulda. He's the one I am most likely to take off the shelf. Latest acquisition is the marvellous Lubimov on Zigzag in the final three. They are special and individual performances on an instrument similar to Beethoven’s last piano and I really do have the feeling it takes me towards to what the composer was actually hearing in his head.

[richardfinegold]

Richard Goode's cycle is very satisfying.
In the Moonlight and Pathetique &Op 31/3 I cherish Rubinstein. In the last 3 Sonatas Richter. Appassionata and Waldstein Horowitz or Annie Fisher.

[Julien Sorel]

Late sonatas - Charles Rosen (Sony), Maurizio Pollini (DG), Alexei Lubimov (Zigzag, fortepiano). 'Cycles - Arthur Schnabel (Naxos), Friedrich Gulda (various), Annie Fischer (Hungaroton), Ronald Brautigam (BIS, fortepiano), Rudolph Buchbinder (RCA 'live' recordings made in Dresden). Various sonatas on Globe played by Paul Komen on several period pianos are very good. Pollini's DG recordings of most (?) of the sonatas on individual CDs. Sviatoslav Richter (various labels / sonatas / locations).

[amateur51]

Steer well clear of the early Kempf cycle on Regis, I come a cropper with this.

The performances are wonderful but the dynamics are atrocious in places.

Very sorry to hear this Madame Suggia because it's a wonderful cycle - it's available still from DGG

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Beethoven-Piano-Sonatas-Wilhelm-Kempff/dp/B0000012XC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1360929761&sr=8-1

Also wonderful and ultra-cheap is the first (1960s) Brendel cycle on Brilliant, which gets a good review for the transfers as well as for the performances

http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/B003XKDEXO/ref=dp_db_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

[amateur51]

Late sonatas - Charles Rosen (Sony), Maurizio Pollini (DG), Alexei Lubimov (Zigzag, fortepiano). 'Cycles - Arthur Schnabel (Naxos), Friedrich Gulda (various), Annie Fischer (Hungaroton), Ronald Brautigam (BIS, fortepiano), Rudolph Buchbinder (RCA 'live' recordings made in Dresden). Various sonatas on Globe played by Paul Komen on several period pianos are very good. Pollini's DG recordings of most (?) of the sonatas on individual CDs. Sviatoslav Richter (various labels / sonatas / locations).

i find that Pollini's brilliant pianism results in his missing the element of struggle overcome that I find so telling in the recordings of the later sonatas by Solomon.

Are the Naxos Schnabel transfers a good thing, Julien Sorel? I like very much the results that Andrew Rose has achieved for Pristine Classics

[Barbirollians]

I compared the six versions of Op.111 from my shelves a year or so back and considered Pollini to be superior to Rosen, Lewis, Brendel (last recording) and Schnabel. My 'historic' choice was Kempff (mono from 1950s). Perahia must surely be worth considering - his coupling of sonatas 7/23 and 17/18/26 are excellent and he has recorded many more. Solomon's Les Adieux, the version I was brought up on, is magnificent. He actually makes the finale sound easy!

You need Solomon's Op111 !

[Barbirollians]

I don't have a full set but have the sonatas covered by a mixture of Paul Lewis, Perahia,Brendel, Gilels , Uchida and Solomon and am pretty happy with them . Solomon in particular is masterful and although the recording is ropey the Gilels Op 106 is stupendous .

[pastoralguy]

One of the first CDs I ever bought was Ashkenazy on Decca playing the popular 'named' sonatas. I've always had a real affection for it and it never fails to hit the spot.