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Ludwig van Beethoven

Piano Sonatas: An Overview of Selected Recordings


By Ron Drummond


Any complete recording of a cycle as diverse as Beethoven&#39s is going to be uneven, period. You will not find a be-all end-all. Nevertheless, I do think it&#39s useful to have a complete recording by one artist, for the insights a single, refined sensibility can bring to Beethoven across the full range of his sonatas. But one should also consider supplementing a complete recording with additional recordings of individual sonatas by various performers.


Of complete sets, I highly recommend Richard Goode on Elektra/Nonesuch. Goode has been praised in almost all quarters as perhaps the finest surveyor of Beethoven&#39s sonatas since Schnabel. He has all the chops and a wealth of feeling and insight to convey. The recording is state of the art. Though superb throughout, Goode is at his best in Sonatas 12-18.

Another cycle which alas is not yet complete is Jean Bernard Pommier&#39s on Erato. Three multi-disc volumes (of an eventual four) have been released so far, and I for one am eager to have that last volume! Where Goode takes a Romantic approach to Beethoven, Pommier achieves an almost ideally Classical equipoise. He is fleet, sensitive, flexible, and very expressive. The recorded sound is among the best I&#39ve heard in piano recordings. Pommier is at his best in the first ten sonatas (works which I have a particular fondness for), but the later works are wonderful as well.


Jenõ Jandó on Naxos is quite decent - if budgetary considerations are paramount, you won&#39t go wrong getting his set. Like Pommier, Jando takes a classical approach, though at times he can be cold. While overall not as fine as either Goode or Pommier, Jandó need make no apologies, and he even occasionally beats the competition: his "Les Adieux", for example, is better than Goode&#39s, much warmer. Jandó may not be the last word in these works, but again, as I said above, there is no last word. (A nice bonus in this set is the inclusion of Beethoven&#39s three earliest sonatas, published in 1783 when the composer was 12.)

A word about Artur Schnabel. He was the first pianist to record all 32 sonatas, back in the 1930s. To this day, his performances are considered by many to be definitive. They are the yardstick against which all new performances are measured. Certainly, for anyone whose love for these works becomes a passion, Schnabel must eventually be encountered and reckoned with. The problem for me and for many of you will be the recording quality: tinny, noisy, 1930s mono. I finally broke down and got Volume 1 of the complete sonatas on the Pearl label. (Multiple CD remasterings of Schnabel have been released on a variety of labels; the experts all agree that Pearl is the one to get.) Frankly, I&#39m glad I came to Schnabel only AFTER getting to know the sonatas through other performers. I have a good sense of the range of interpretive stances that are possible in Beethoven, and that sense of range helps me to hear Schnabel better, to discern what&#39s unique to his vision of Beethoven&#39s works. After just a taste, I can say that I look forward to getting to know these recordings. There&#39s a rough-hewn quality to Schnabel&#39s fast movements that is quite charming; his insights are sometimes startling. But he takes those fast movements very fast, and I miss many of the insights I&#39ve heard elsewhere. His slow movements, however, are ravishingly beautiful, limitlessly fecund. Is Schnabel the be-all end-all, as so many claim? Of course not. But he is one of the finest, a groundbreaker, a pathfinder. My recommendation, especially if you&#39re just getting into the sonatas? Save Schnabel till later.

As for supplemental recordings:

Murray Perahia&#39s new Sony recording of Beethoven&#39s first three sonatas (Opus 2) was an instant favorite for me. I love Opus 2, and Perahia plays these works with loving devotion, with enormous wit and generosity of spirit. On first hearing, I kept gasping at his many small felicities of emphasis and expression. Yes!

Another cherishable disc of early sonatas comes from Louis Lortie on Chandos. The Opus 7 sonata (Beethoven&#39s longest prior to the Hammerklavier) had been largely opaque to me before I heard Lortie; he brings it home. Lortie is like a river: smooth, clear, unstoppable. The disc is coupled with ebullient readings of the two Opus 14 sonatas, and pianist Helene Mercier joins Lortie for the rare Sonata for Piano Four Hands, Opus 6, delightful fluff.

Ivan Moravec is one of the great Beethoven players. To those in the know, he is revered almost as highly as Schnabel. The audiophile label VAI has released two discs of Moravec&#39s recordings from the 1960s, in demonstration-quality stereo sound. Volume 2 contains the most famous of Beethoven&#39s sonatas - if you&#39re looking for a first disc of these works, this is the one to have. And even if you already have several recordings of the standard warhorses, Moravec is essential.

For the late sonatas, get the Charles Rosen set of the last six on Sony Essential Classics. Recorded in the early 70s in excellent sound (right around the time Rosen&#39s classic book The Classical Style was winning the National Book Award), these are deeply insightful readings, and the two-disc set sells for the price of one.

Lovers of the Hammerklavier Sonata should add Ursula Oppens&#39 recording on Music & Arts to their collections. Do I really need to sing her praises? She is a pianist for the ages.

I love pianos from all periods in the instrument&#39s relatively brief history. One thing many folks don&#39t realize about "period" pianos is that every one sounds different - the design didn&#39t become standardized until the 1870s. Before that, virtually every maker had their own design, their own variation on the relevant mechanisms. Many, if not most, fortepiano recordings are done on Anton Walter fortepianos, originals or copies - hence it&#39s understandable that people make the mistake of thinking that because they&#39ve heard one fortepiano, they&#39ve heard them all. Not so. The sounds of some fortepianos take longer getting used to than others, but the variety of textures and sounds are fascinating to me, and hence a subtext of my collecting involves getting recordings of as many different makes of pianoforte as I can. This is a secondary consideration, coming after repertoire and performer in my considerations, but still something I&#39m very aware of when I buy Classical Era CDs.

I do believe that it is essential to hear Beethoven performed on fortepianos. Not the be-all end-all, mind you - but an absolutely essential supplement for anyone wishing open-mindedly to plumb the depths of these works in all the many ways they can afford. But again, I am one who believes that no single performance can exhaust the riches of any one of these masterpieces, and many fine performances can inter-illuminate one another in ways that are richly rewarding.

Of the current crop of Beethoven Sonatas on fortepiano, these thoughts:

Avoid Melvyn Tan. His popularity confounds me. I find his playing to be stiff, awkward, and unimaginative to a fault.

I wish Elektra/Nonesuch would release Malcolm Bilson&#39s early-80s recordings of Beethoven sonatas on CD. I heard Bilson play live a few months ago, and his performance of the d minor sonata is the best I&#39ve yet heard, even with a few flubbed notes. It seemed he had absorbed the music into his deepest being, merged himself with it, and when he played it, the notes sang out from him - I swear, he played as though he&#39d humbly offered up his spirit to the spirit of the work, to the spirit of Beethoven, and the two joined and the music poured out, a single soul in sound. It made me want to cry.

I have mixed feelings about Paul Badura-Skoda&#39s cycle on Astree - a sign in its favor, actually. Worth a listen.

Alexei Lubimov on Erato has released an excellent disc of Beethoven&#39s sonata warhorses (Pathetique, Moonlight, Waldstein).

The best fortepiano recordings of Beethoven that I&#39ve heard are all on the Globe label, a superb record label based in Utrecht:

Ronald Brautigam has recorded two discs: early piano variations, and the first piano sonatas (opera 2 & 49). He plays a 1790s Walter. Full of life and sparkle, but searching where called for (the slow movements of Opus 2 positively sing).

The biggest find here, however, is Paul Komen. He&#39s recorded three discs of Beethoven sonatas for Globe, a disc of the three Opus 31 sonatas, a disc of Opera 53, 54, & 57, and a disc of the last three sonatas, Opera 109-111. He uses a different fortepiano on each recording, and in each case one that is roughly contemporary with the dates of composition of the works in question. The man&#39s amazing. I find in his playing an ideal balancing of the many positive but in some hands mutually exclusive qualities that are traditionally cited in discussions of piano performance. Komen is alive to the deepest implications of this music, and has the skill and the touch in spades to bring it out. All three discs are just urgently recommended.


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RECOMMENDED RECORDINGS

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Modern Pianos:
Richard Goode
Piano: unspecified
Sonatas 1-32
10 CDs, Elektra Nonesuch 9 79328-2 (1993)


Jean-Bernard Pommier
Piano: Steinway & Sons
Vol. 1, Sonatas 1-10: 3 CDs, Erato 2292-45598-2 (1991)
Vol. 2, Sonatas 11-20: 3 CDs, Erato 2292-45812-2 (1992)
Vol. 3, Sonatas 21-27: 3 CDs, Erato 4509-91727-2 (1994)

Jenõ Jandó
Piano: unspecified
Vol. 1, Sonatas 8, 14, 23: Naxos 8.550045 (1988)
Vol. 2, Sonatas 17, 21, 26: Naxos 8.550054 (1991)
Vol. 3, Sonatas 1-3: Naxos 8.550150 (1991)
Vol. 4, Sonatas 30-32: Naxos 8.550151 (1988)
Vol. 5, Sonatas 5-7, 25: Naxos 8.550161 (1988)
Vol. 6, Sonatas 9, 10, 24, 27, 28: Naxos 8.550162 (1988)
Vol. 7, Sonatas 12, 16, 18: Naxos 8.550166 (1988)
Vol. 8, Sonatas 4, 13, 19, 20, 22: Naxos 8.550167 (1988)
Vol. 9, Sonatas 11, 29: Naxos 8.550234 (1989)
Vol. 10, Sonatas 28; WoO 47/1-3, Anh. 5 Nos. 1-2, WoO 51: Naxos 8.550045 (1989)

Murray Perahia
Piano: unspecified
Sonatas 1-3
Sony Classical SK 64397 (1995)

Louis Lortie
Piano: unspecified
Sonatas 4, 9, 10
Sonata for Piano Four Hands, Opus 6 (performed with Helene Mercier)
Chandos CHAN 9347 (1995)

Ivan Moravec
Piano: unspecified
Vol. 1: Piano Concerto No. 4, with Martin Turnovsky conducting The Orchestra of the Vienna Musikverein;
Sonata 27; 32 Variations in C Minor, WoO 80
VAI Audio VAIA 1021 (1963, 1966, 1992)
Vol. 2: Sonatas 8, 14, 23, 26
VAI Audio VAIA 1069 (1962-1970, 1994)


Ursula Oppens
Piano: Steinway Model D Concert Grand Piano #499072
Fantasia in G Minor/B Major, Opus 77; Sonatas 11, 29
Music & Arts CD-734 (1992)

Charles Rosen
Piano: unspecified
Sonatas 27-32
2 CDs, Sony Essential Classics SB2K 53531 (1971, 1994)

Period Pianos:
Ronald Brautigam
Fortepiano: Paul McNulty, Amsterdam 1992, after Anton Walter, Vienna 1795
Early Piano Variations, WoO 66, 68-73, 75: Globe GLO 5095 (1993)
Sonatas 1-3, 19, 20: Globe GLO 5100 (1994)


Alexei Lubimov
Pianoforte: John Broadwood & Son, 1806
Sonatas 8, 14, 21
Erato 4509-94356-2 (1994)

Paul Badura-Skoda
Pianoforte: Caspar Schmidt, Prague c. 1810
Vol. 5: Sonatas 15-17
Astree E 8695 (1988)

Paul Badura-Skoda
Pianoforte: Georg Haska, Vienna c. 1815
Vol. 6: Sonatas 18, 24-27
Astree E 8696 (1989)

Paul Komen
Pianoforte: Salvatore la Grassa, Viennese school c. 1815
Sonatas 16-18
Globe GLO 5136 (1995)

Paul Komen
Pianoforte: Johann Fritz, Vienna 1825
Sonatas 21-23, Globe GLO 5118 (1994)

Paul Komen
Pianoforte: Conrad Graf, Vienna c. 1830
Globe GLO 5106 (1993)

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