Beethoven: The Piano Sonatas, Opp. 101 & 106

On this CD:

1. Piano Sonata No. 28 in A major, Op. 101
Composed by Ludwig van Beethoven
Performed by Louis Lortie

2. Piano Sonata No. 29 in B flat major ("Hammerklavier") Op. 106
Composed by Ludwig van Beethoven
Performed by Louis Lortie

Tracks:

Piano Sonata No.28 in A major, Op.101: I Allegretto ma non troppo - L.V. Beethoven
Piano Sonata No.28 in A major, Op.101: II Vivace alla Marcia - L.V. Beethoven
Piano Sonata No.28 in A major, Op.101: III Adagio ma non troppo, con affetto - L.V. Beethoven
Piano Sonata No.28 in A major, Op.101: IV Allegro - L.V. Beethoven
Piano Sonata in B flat major, Op.106 (Hammerklavier): I Allegro - L.V. Beethoven
Piano Sonata in B flat major, Op.106 (Hammerklavier): II Scherzo (Assai vivace) - Presto - L.V. Beethoven
Piano Sonata in B flat major, Op.106 (Hammerklavier): III Adagio sostenuto - L.V. Beethoven
Piano Sonata in B flat major, Op.106 (Hammerklavier): IV Largo - Allegro - Allegro risoluto - L.V. Beethoven

Tracks:

Piano Sonata No. 27 In E Minor, Op. 90: I Mit Lebhaftigkeit und durchhaus mit Empfindung und Ausdruck - Beethoven
Piano Sonata No. 27 In E Minor, Op. 90: II Nicht zu geschwind und sehr singbar vorzutragen - Beethoven
Piano Sonata No. 30 In E Major, Op. 109: I Vivace ma non troppo - Adagio espressivo - Beethoven
Piano Sonata No. 30 In E Major, Op. 109: II Prestissimo - Beethoven
Piano Sonata No. 27 In E Major, Op. 109: III Tema (Andante molto cantabile ed espressivo) - Variazioni I - VI - Beethoven
Piano Sonata No. 31 In A Flat Major, Op. 110: I Moderato cantabile, molto espressivo - Beethoven
Piano Sonata No. 31 In A Flat Major, Op. 110: II Allegro molto - Beethoven
Piano Sonata No. 31 In A Flat Major, Op. 110: III Adagio ma non troppo - Fuga (Allegro ma non troppo) - Beethoven
Piano Sonata No. 32 In C Minor, Op. 111: I Maestoso - Allegro con brio ed appassionato - Beethoven
Piano Sonata No. 32 In C Minor, Op. 111: II Arietta (Adagio molto semplice e cantabile) - Variazioni I - IV - Coda - Beethoven

Customer Reviews:

A labor of love from Solomon........2000-11-15

I agree with the other reviewers that this set of Beethoven's late piano sonatas is extraordinarily good. And while the performance of the "Hammerklavier" is extremely good (every review I've ever read praises it to the skies), I just can't help quibbling with the tempo of the first movement. Beethoven's metronome marking is for an extremely fast tempo (in cut-time, one-half note = 138), and like almost all pianists, Solomon plays it too slowly. But he plays it faster than many. And his performance of the surpassingly beautiful slow movement is quite moving indeed.

The performances I like best on this set, however, are the lyrical sonatas: Opus 90, Opus 109, and Opus 110. I wouldn't be without them, and sometimes they are almost daily fare. This is late Beethoven at its best. Get this set. You can't go wrong. Incidentally, the late English pianist and accompanist, Gerald Moore, always used to praise Solomon lavishly. After listening to these recordings, you will understand why.

A Hammerklavier Like No Other.......2000-10-12

If your looking for a "Hammerklavier" to add to your library, you can't go wrong with this one. This release won Gramophone Magazine's award for remastering of historical material and justly so. I've listened to this one again and again over the past few years and I never grow tired of it. An excellent buy.

A Final Testament for Two..........1999-11-25

For those looking for the "Last Word" in solo piano repertoire: LvB's final half-dozen sonatas on his favorite instrument, recorded by British pianist Solomon (nee Cutner) between 1951-1956, just before his own career-ending stroke. To those who think Sviatoslav Richter's "TEMPEST" and Rudolf Serkin's "MOONLIGHT" and "PATHETIQUE" are definitive: so too are these. With only minor sound issues (a small edit blip towards the end of Sonata No.31 and Mono sound in general) these performances transfix more than all the others (Brendel, Kempff, Pollini, Hess) I have experienced. Listen to No.32 and... The End.

Simply breathtaking.......1998-09-11

Maurizio Pollini may have nailed every nuance of this music to technical perfection in his late '70s recordings for Deutsche Grammophon, but only the late British pianist Solomon imbues these sonatas with transcendent vision. The honor of listening to music this fine is akin to holy communion with Beethoven himself. Not to be missed.

Beethoven: Piano Sonatas, Opp.101 & 106 "Hammerklavier"

Average customer rating:

Beethoven: Piano Sonatas, Opp.101 & 106 "Hammerklavier"

Manufacturer: Polygram Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00000421B
Release Date: 1994-07-19

Beethoven: Hammerklavier Sonatas, Opp. 101, 106

Average customer rating:

Kuerti "At the summit" indeed
Kuerti's New Take on Two Late Beethoven Sonatas

Beethoven: Hammerklavier Sonatas, Opp. 101, 106

Manufacturer: Analekta
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Classical | Imports | Stores | Music
ASIN: B0002TNI8U
Release Date: 2007-04-03

Tracks:

Etwas Lebhaft Und Mit Der Innigsten Empfindung
Lebhaft, Marschmassig
Langsam Und Sehnsuchtvoll
Geschwinde, Doch Nicht Zu Sehr, Und Mit Entschlossenheit
Allegro
Scherzo: Assai Vivace
Adagio Sostenuto
Largo; Allegro Risoluto

Album Description

Anton Kuerti's interpretation of these great piano masterpieces is simply brilliant. Considered by many to be Canada's foremost active concert pianist, recent reviews have called him "one of the truly great pianists of this century," CD Review, and even "the best pianist currently playing," Fanfare. As a chamber musician, he has performed the major repertoire with such artists as Gidon Kremer, Yo-Yo Ma, Janos Starker, Barry Tuckwell, and the Cleveland, Guarneri, and Tokyo String Quartets. Kuerti is one of today's most recorded artists, having put on disc, to great critical acclaim, all the Beethoven concertos and sonatas and Schubert sonatas.

Customer Reviews:

Kuerti "At the summit" indeed.......2006-04-01

In a Gramophone magazine review of this recording last year by Bryce Morrison, the section in which the review appeared said at the top "Kuerti at the summit". That is a perfect summary of the magnificent playing on this disc. A lifetime of work, thought, and of uncounted performances inform a view of the music which is neither predictable nor usual. There is nothing "run-of-the-mill" about these performances. But neither is there eccentricity. Rather, it is some of the most deeply satisfying Beethoven playing on disc. I return time and time again for the deep satisfaction of Kuerti's Beethoven, especially his most recent recordings of the last sonatas. They will not disappoint.

I have played these pieces many times myself and find that Kuerti takes Beethoven's indications as the unalterable foundation, yet truly finds the depth of the music "behind the notes" as the saying goes. The is inspiring and deeply satisfying. That's says it all.

Kuerti's New Take on Two Late Beethoven Sonatas.......2004-09-24

Austro-Canadian Anton Kuerti, who is surely one of the great pianists playing today even though his renown is mostly confined to the North American continent, recorded all of Beethoven's sonatas back in 1974-1975 and they quickly became favorites of mine. I liked his almost microscopic attention to the detail of Beethoven's scores. He played with utmost technical control coupled with transparent emotionality. He has recently recorded several of the late sonatas; I didn't manage to catch the release earlier this year of the Opp. 109, 110, and 111, although on the basis of this release I'll have to see about getting it. This CD contains the immediately preceding sonatas, No. 28, Op. 101 in A, and No. 29, Op. 106 in B-flat, the 'Hammerklavier.'

Both performances are even more nuanced than his previous traversals. There are here a greater serenity and repose, where necessary, than before. Further, his piano tone is generally more rounded, less brutal (as in the two fugal movements, the finales of each sonata) than in 1975. This is not to say there is no drama--just listen to the opening measures of the Hammerklavier, one of the most technically fearsome passages in all the literature. Kuerti wrenches drama aplenty out of those dense chords intertwined with tendrils of tender melody. He also manages to show a playful side, as in the tiny Scherzo of the Op. 106, a necessary breather between the more serious first and third movements. In the first movement of the Op. 101 he manages to convey thoughtfulness in combination with a seeming nonchalance. As he puts it in his insightful booklet notes (adapted from those in his earlier complete set), this movement 'is exquisitely informal, as though roaming the hills with no appointments to keep.' His playing of the repeated unaccented off-beat chords that avoid the tonic lends a kind of timeless tranquility to the whole affair until that surprising A major chord resolution toward the end.

As exciting as the two finales are, I have to say that the soul of these sonatas lies in their lengthy slow movements. And here Kuerti displays not only considerable control of line and dynamics, but emotional tension between angst and repose in equal measures, building each movement to its inevitable climaxes and then releasing the tension in just the right degree. One is so caught up in Kuerti's playing of the 'Hammerklavier' Adagio that it simply doesn't seem possible that it has lasted 21 minutes!

These are only a few of the indications that Kuerti has that most wonderful combination in a pianist--scholarly attention to the score allied with an ability to translate that into a psychological landscape. There are those who take issue with Kuerti's seeming emotionality, but I'm not one of them because it is so obvious that his playing is underscored by deep study of the score's message and deeper thought about how to convey it.

There are a few moments of minor shrillness in the upper reaches of Kuerti's instrument in a couple of loud passages of the 'Hammerklavier.' Otherwise, the sound is quite good. Analekta chooses to label this CD 'Hammerklavier Sonatas,' which is confusing: there is only one 'Hammerklavier.' And then there's Op. 101.

An enthusiastic recommendation. These performances are individual and effective, and they are certainly not dry as in, say, Richard Goode's recording. They are not powerhouses, like Kovacevich's or Arrau's, perhaps, but they show us that Kuerti is a musician to be taken very seriously. Let's be honest, there aren't that many really great Beethoven players these days, but Kuerti is one of them.

TT=71:47

Scott Morrison

Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Opp. 90,101 & 111

Average customer rating:

A sublime performance of Beethoven's most profound Sonata
A great performance
A Great Opus 111
Following Schnabel's path?

Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Opp. 90,101 & 111

Manufacturer: EMI Records [All429]
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00000DNRM
Release Date: 2001-02-27

Tracks:

I. Mit Lebhaftigkeit Und Durchaus Mit Empfindung Und Ausdruck
II. Nicht Zu Geschwind Und Sehr Singbar Vorzutragen
I. Etwas Lebhaft Und Mit Der Innigsten Empfindung
II. Lebhaft, Marschmassig
III. Langsam Und Sehnsuchtsvoll
IV. Geschwinde, Doch Nicht Zu Sehr, Und Mit Entschlossenheit
I. Maestoso - (Allegro Con Brio Ed Appassionato)
I. Allegro Con Brio Ed Appassionato
II. Arietta. Adagio Molto, Semplice E Cantabile

Customer Reviews:

A sublime performance of Beethoven's most profound Sonata.......2003-03-31

I was pleasantly surprised to read the other reviews in which the listeners unanimously praised Kovacevich's performance of the great Sonata No. 32, Op.111, especially the Arietta. No one can express in words the profound, mystical beauty of this movement. Previously, my favorite performance was by Kempff, but the sound quality of this 60's recording leaves a lot to be desired now. I feel that I've been waiting impatiently for 40 years for someone to record this sublime masterpiece with contemporary recording technology in a way that does it justice as perhaps the most mind-boggling piece of piano music ever written. I'd like to add that every recording by Kovacevich of this nearly-complete collection of the 32 Sonatas has been extremely beautiful. (I think there are six left to go, including Les Adieux.) If you want to own a complete set of the Beethoven Sonatas, this is the one to buy.

A great performance.......2002-01-02

This is a wonderful and exciting performance of three of the greatest works in the piano repertoire. I have never heard the beautiful Arietta, last movement of Beethoven's last piano sonata op. 111, played in such a precise -every note can be heard- yet highly expressive way. One of the best records in my collection.

A Great Opus 111.......2001-10-30

This is one of the finest Late Beethoven performances I've heard. Of more than ten recordings of Op. 111, (including renditions by Schnabel, Horszowski, Serkin, Kempff, Backhaus, Arrau, Badura-Skoda, Michaelangeli), the Kovacevich is
my clear favorite. The first movement is solid, granitic, powerful, sonorous, and the technical demands are well met. The Arietta is the real jewel on this disk, however. Overall, this interpretation exceeds even the wonderful 1940's Schnabel recording that was released in Phillips Great Pianists series. It's near-impossible to describe this music, so I won't try. But this is a great way to hear it.

The other sonatas on this disk also are wonderfully performed. The first mov't of Op. 101 is an especially lyrical, sensitive, well-balanced interpretation. But I still enjoy Serkin's more granitic approach, and Kempff's sparkling performance of Op. 101 as well.

Following Schnabel's path?.......2001-04-19

This performance by Kovacevich announced the spirit of the other records that were to follow. Sonata No. 27 is exquisite and the first movement of Sonata No. 28 is a miracle of emotion (con intissimo sentimento). Second and fourth movements, on the contrary, suffer from a lack of nervosity and motricity (Pollini's interpretation is still the reference) As to No. 32, Kovacevich offers a combination of Youra Guller' sonority and Pollini's articulation while sensitivity is always present. In this repertoire, I prefer Kovacevich to, say, Kempf, Arrau, Richter and to Pogorelich who suprisingly gave a superb rendering of this masterpiece. Kovacevich has developed a coherent conception of these sonatas and his interpretation is to be considered as a cornerstone . When all the sonatas will be recorded (if this spirit is preserved), we might have an actualisation of Schnabel's legacy.

Beethoven: The Piano Sonatas, Opp. 101 & 106

Average customer rating:

A Beethovenian for our time

Beethoven: The Piano Sonatas, Opp. 101 & 106

Manufacturer: Chandos
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000000AYL
Release Date: 1996-03-19

Tracks:

Piano Sonata No. 28, Op. 101: Allegretto
Piano Sonata No. 28, Op. 101: Vivace
Piano Sonata No. 28, Op. 101: Adajio
Piano Sonata No. 28, Op. 101: Allegro
Piano Sonata No. 29, Op. 106 'Hammerklavier': Allegro
Piano Sonata No. 29, Op. 106 'Hammerklavier': Scherzo
Piano Sonata No. 29, Op. 106 'Hammerklavier': Adagio
Piano Sonata No. 29, Op. 106 'Hammerklavier': Largo

Customer Reviews:

A Beethovenian for our time.......2003-01-27

Louis Lortie's performance of these important late Beethoven Sonatas put him in exalted company. These are performances worthy of comparison to many of the great Beethoven performers, including Gilels, Kempf, Brendel, Barenboim and Arrau.

I first became impressed with Lortie after listening to his performance of a couple of Mozart concertos through a Musical Heritage Society disc. He plays with such exquisite taste, always demonstrating a respect for the period and the composer. I then heard his Ravel, which I reviewed on Amazon and gave a 5-star rating. Given the breadth of his repertoire, it is not surprising that he would bring such skill and sensitivity to playing Beethoven.

His playing is clean, incisive, brilliant, lyrical and always thoughtful. The Chandos sound is first-rate.

I highly recommend this recording. I very much look forward to hearing his entire survey of the 32 Sonatas.

Music Review: