Beethoven: Piano Sonatas, Vol. 4

Beethoven: Piano Sonatas, Vol. 4

Beethoven: Piano Sonatas, Vol. 4
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CD Details

Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven
Performer: Paul Lewis
Edition: Music CD
Format: Import
CD Release Date: 2008-05-13
Music Label: Harmonia Mundi Fr.
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
  1. Piano Sonata No. 5 in C minor, Op. 10/1: 1. Allegro molto e con brio
  2. Piano Sonata No. 5 in C minor, Op. 10/1: 2. Adagio molto
  3. Piano Sonata No. 5 in C minor, Op. 10/1: 3. Finale. Prestissimo
  4. Piano Sonata No. 6 in F major, Op. 10/2: 1. Allegro
  5. Piano Sonata No. 6 in F major, Op. 10/2: 2. Allegretto
  6. Piano Sonata No. 6 in F major, Op. 10/2: 3. Finale. Presto
  7. Piano Sonata No. 7 in D major, Op. 10/3: 1. Presto
  8. Piano Sonata No. 7 in D major, Op. 10/3: 2. Largo e mesto
  9. Piano Sonata No. 7 in D major, Op. 10/3: 3. Menuetto. Allegro
  10. Piano Sonata No. 7 in D major, Op. 10/3: 4. Rondo. Allegro
Music CD 2
  1. Piano Sonata No. 15 in D major ('Pastoral'), Op. 28: 1. Allegro
  2. Piano Sonata No. 15 in D major ('Pastoral'), Op. 28: 2. Andante
  3. Piano Sonata No. 15 in D major ('Pastoral'), Op. 28: 3. Scherzo. Allegro vivace
  4. Piano Sonata No. 15 in D major ('Pastoral'), Op. 28: 4. Rondo. Allegro ma non troppo
  5. Piano Sonata No. 19 in G minor, Op. 49/1: 1. Andante
  6. Piano Sonata No. 19 in G minor, Op. 49/1: 2. Rondo. Allegro
  7. Piano Sonata No. 20 in G major, Op. 49/2: 1. Allegro ma non troppo
  8. Piano Sonata No. 20 in G major, Op. 49/2: 2. Tempo di menuetto
  9. Piano Sonata No. 26 in E flat major ('Les Adieux'), Op. 81a: 1. Adagio - Allegro ("Les Adieux")
  10. Piano Sonata No. 26 in E flat major ('Les Adieux'), Op. 81a: 2. Andante espressivo ("L'Absence")
  11. Piano Sonata No. 26 in E flat major ('Les Adieux'), Op. 81a: 3. Vivacissimamente ("Le Retour")
Music CD 3
  1. Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109: 1. Vivace ma non troppo / Adagio espressivo
  2. Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109: 2. Prestissimo
  3. Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109: 3. Andante. Gesangvoll mit innigster Empfindung, mezza voce
  4. Piano Sonata No. 31 in A flat major, Op. 110: 1. Moderato cantabile molto espressivo
  5. Piano Sonata No. 31 in A flat major, Op. 110: 2. Allegro molto
  6. Piano Sonata No. 31 in A flat major, Op. 110: 3. Adagio ma non troppo - Allegro ma non troppo (Fuga)
  7. Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111: 1. Maestoso - Allegro con brio ed appassionato
  8. Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111: 2. Arietta. Adagio molto semplice e cantabile

Music reviews of Beethoven: Piano Sonatas, Vol. 4

Music Review: Only average at best
Rating: 3 Stars

Conscientious, technically competent, no lapses in judgement -- that's the best that can be said here. Sound is surprisingly boomy (perhaps overpedalling?) which cannot help [no match for, say, Goode, or even the far older Kempff/DG].

Repeated listening to this album fails the ultimate test (for me) -- does it recreate the music in a personal, unforgettable, or original way? Not for me. I find the peaks and valleys shaved, the zing and ping of the earlier sonatas deleted, and there's no compensation with the last 3 sonatas. Schnabel made you feel, live the struggle and the roar and the awkwardness of the opening of Op111 -- it really was ungainly! But this is LvB at his extreme in creative destruction...you'd hardly know it with Lewis. OTOH, Michelangeli was like a god here in the purity of his detached classicism; the joinery and the combat which under Schnabel was highlighted, is subsumed in Michelangeli by an incredible abstraction analogous to a Greek classical sculpture -- you felt it was the only way that the form of the piece could read.

With Lewis, you recognize everything, all is very familiar and quite comfortable. The struggle and passion are there, but at a very human level. Like the earlier reviewer, the Gramophone gets kind of crazy with certain British artists -- rather like pushing Tim Henman as the next Wimbledom champion. Unfortunately, the British record of turning out supreme pianists is...kind of blank (except perhaps Curzon in the Liszt sonata comes closest). The reserve and conscious good taste of British artists is the rule, which the extraordinary exception of Janet Baker only proves.

Please do comparative listening before buying these discs. You may eventually feel you are missing something here if you should accidentally here (blind) another rendition by an artist of greater vision and temperament.

--- an ex-pianist

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