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My favorite Beethoven piano sonata cycles

hvbias

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Beethoven's solo keyboard music is some of my absolute favorite not just for keyboard but all of classical. I figured I would write a bit about my favorite cycles and include ones that are incomplete since they are worth hearing. (i) for incomplete, and to make the list they had to have at least recorded a decent number of the 32 sonatas. Otherwise it would just be chaotically long.

Titans:
Andrea Lucchesini
Annie Fischer
Wilhelm Backhaus (earlier mono)
Rudolf Serkin (i)

Exceptional
Claudio Arrau (earlier analog recording on Philips)
Eric Heidsieck
Russel Sherman
Maurizio Pollini
Sviatoslav Richter (i)
Emil Gilels (i)
Solomon (i)

Worth hearing:
Wilhelm Kempff (earlier mono)
Bernard Roberts
Artur Schnabel

If sound quality is of paramount concern Claudio Arrau's is probably the most consistent; Philips recordings that sounds like they could have been recorded yesterday all digital. He also plays with a lovely warm tone which he is rightfully very proud of.

Annie Fischer- no one I have heard plays them with the sheer depth, beauty, and intensity. Really quite a rare thing to have someone so connected to Beethoven's music. I almost wanted to put her in a separate tier altogether. This recently came back into print by Hungaraton, it went out of print for over 10 years and commanded decent amounts when it did come up second hand.

Annie Fischer can currently be had for $12.50 for a FLAC download, wow! https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7974004--beethoven-piano-sonatas-nos-1-32

Also streamable on Tidal.

Backhaus- he was very old when he recorded a complete cycle the first time, yet there are no technical short comings even in the most demanding pieces. There is something I can't quite describe why I like this cycle so much, but it's like he constructs things as a whole instead of focusing your attention; but paradoxically he will also be a bit more elastic with the tempi allowing you to hear all sorts of things. Yeah :)

Rudolf Serkin- someone truly dedicated to Beethoven and only focused on a handful of composers through his very long career. He also brings tremendous intensity and depth with an angularity to his playing that sounds like he scaling Everest with no oxygen, and no hesitation. One note that he does occasionally "grunt", breath heavily and less commonly hums to the music (never to the extent of say Glenn Gould).

Friedrich Gulda- takes all the sonatas at a blistering speed and frequently omits repeats. I initially wrote him off since he didn't play the Moonlight and Pathetique to my taste which are cardinal sins to miss, but there is so much interesting in the rest of the sonatas. The best way I can describe it is since he plays with such speed the music simply flows like water (his legato); you will never hear any jaggedness or rarely any staccato. This might be one of the cheaper complete cycles to buy on the Brilliant Classics label.

Claudio Arrau- takes slower, deliberate tempi though never laboured and was very concerned about the beauty of music. His tone is to die for. Another one that Philips/Decca have kept in print since it was recorded so should be easy to find. You can hear him breathing through his nose which creates sort of a whistling sound and occasionally hear his fingernails on the keys (not that common on the Beethoven sonatas). I don't think he grunts much at all in the earlier Beethoven cycle. I know it was a bit more common in his later digital recording, which I don't find the performances to be as good as on the earlier one (I have only sampled key pieces from it).

Sviatoslav Richter- what to say about IMHO the greatest pianist that ever lived. Tremendous depth with his interpretations, but unfortunately usually in poor sound quality since he hated being able to see microphones and recorded most of his Beethoven live than in the studio. The Carnegie Hall 1960 series of recordings contains some of the best Beethoven I have ever heard, I can not imagine what it must have been like to by one of those New York audiences that got to hear it live.

Emil Gilels- great recordings as well, he has the same piano teacher as Richter and parallels can be drawn but he plays with a bit more reservation in the studio DGG recordings and sound quality is very good. I would only recommend his live recordings if you don't mind poorer sound quality, I prefer more of his live to studio.

Wilhelm Kempff- performances with clear punctuated lines and wonderful poetry in his playing. Not something I listen to that often, but there is greatness here.

Artur Schnabel- the first person to record a complete set of sonatas, these were done for the Beethoven Society. This set is well loved by many piano connoisseurs but I don't really find that much of great interest in his playing, I like it more for historical reasons.

Feel free to ask any questions, or even recommendations for individual works, at some point I plan to compile all my notes and do a detailed break down by sonata.

Edit updated 3/18/20
 
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pkane

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Thanks for the reminder about Annie Fischer. Heard her recordings years ago, and just went back for another listen. She's wonderful! The purity of tone and clarity of thought in her sonatas is incredible.

And completely agree with your assessment of Richter. An unrivaled talent.
 

Blumlein 88

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Thanks for this post.

I've heard three of those you wrote about. I agree with your assessments of those. Which means I'll look for those you wrote about I haven't heard. I'd have put Fischer and Serkin at the top of my list. I've also heard Wilhelm Kempff.
 

Guermantes

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I'd like to hear the Annie Fischer recordings. Are you the person who mentioned that she played Bösendorfer pianos?

Does Arrau wheeze or grunt in the Beethoven recordings? I have a Debussy disc by him where it is quite distracting unfortunately.
 
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hvbias

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I'd like to hear the Annie Fischer recordings. Are you the person who mentioned that she played Bösendorfer pianos?

Does Arrau wheeze or grunt in the Beethoven recordings? I have a Debussy disc by him where it is quite distracting unfortunately.

I probably have mentioned that she played a Bosendorfer somewhere.

Arrau might grunt occasionally, I don't recall him doing it often in the Beethoven sonatas (Serkin does it much more often) but it's common to hear him breathing through his nose which creates sort of a whistling sound. You can also hear his fingernails on the keys, but this is not that common on the Beethoven cycle, more common in the Mozart sonatas.

I will go back and add this to the first post in case this bothers anyone.

Edit: $12.50 for lossless FLAC download of Annie Fischer's cycle, this is just an insane deal!

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7974004--beethoven-piano-sonatas-nos-1-32

If you prefer physical media it is around $80 on Amazon, which I think is a very good deal as well. When it was out of print I used to see it listed for $200-300.
 
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amirm

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Annie Fischer can currently be had for $12.50 for a FLAC download, wow! https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7974004--beethoven-piano-sonatas-nos-1-32
Wow, 10 hours of music! Fortunately it is on Tidal so I am streaming it for free. :)

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Thanks for the suggestions!
 

Blumlein 88

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Wow, 10 hours of music! Fortunately it is on Tidal so I am streaming it for free. :)

View attachment 16664

Thanks for the suggestions!
Is that with or without MQA on the streaming?

I'm one of the few people who's internet would have trouble streaming Tidal's CD res much of the day. So I'm going to go to the local restaurant with good wifi and download the 10 hrs of music for that terrific price as I don't have that much of Ms Fischer's music.
 
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hvbias

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Wow, 10 hours of music! Fortunately it is on Tidal so I am streaming it for free. :)

View attachment 16664

Thanks for the suggestions!

Excellent! I would be interested in hearing what you think as well as the sound quality. Fortunately Hungaraton is a small music label so there should be no reason for that stream to be anything less than CD resolution. The only reason I would promote purchasing the download if you like it is if these streaming services are like Netflix where a contract might expire, not get renewed, etc then the music is taken off the service. But I don't have much experience there as I don't stream that often.

I was hesitant to write too much about sound quality for Fischer since I imagine people that listen to many audiophile recordings have high standards, for that reason Arrau was the only one I was comfortable commenting on sound quality wise. For my ears I think Fischer's recording sounds fabulous (though a significant portion of piano recordings I like would have been older recording techniques, transfers from 78s, recording to magnetic tape before it was really perfected, etc) and the Bosendorfer is a very unique sounding piano that I love the sound of.

I'll add to the OP that this can be streamed on Tidal.
 
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ChrisH

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No love for Ronald Brautigam and his cycle on BIS? He plays them on copy of a Graf fortepiano from 1819. This gives the sonata's a much different personality. Excellent sound, too. If you haven't checked them out, it's worth your time.
 
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hvbias

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No love for Ronald Brautigam and his cycle on BIS? He plays them on copy of a Graf fortepiano from 1819. This gives the sonata's a much different personality. Excellent sound, too. If you haven't checked them out, it's worth your time.

Brautigam is not bad, but I could have added dozens of names to that category. I like his recordings of Kraus much more.

I must preface this by saying I have no strong preference for HIP, period authenticity, etc when it comes to solo instrumental music. I like to have HIP performances for symphony (not Beethoven), choral and chamber music. As such I greatly prefer works like JS Bach's keyboard music played on piano instead of harpsichord, though I still prefer non-romanticized performances (ie Murray Perahia would not be one of my top choices for JS Bach even if he is a great pianist).

Is that with or without MQA on the streaming?

I'm one of the few people who's internet would have trouble streaming Tidal's CD res much of the day. So I'm going to go to the local restaurant with good wifi and download the 10 hrs of music for that terrific price as I don't have that much of Ms Fischer's music.

Those DXD downloads must be brutal ;)
 
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hvbias

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amirm

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Is that with or without MQA on the streaming?
It is without. MQA content will have an indicator after the specs under the album cover. You can see that in one of the albums I was recently listening to:

index.php
 

NorthSky

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I'm a Claudio Arrau's fan, so it was refreshing to read the very first post of this thread.
His music recordings on Philips are exquisitely played and recorded, a maestro.
_____

Did anyone here see this movie, Immortal Beloved? It's very very good.
_____

* Bonus:

immortalbeloved.jpg
 
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hvbias

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You guys on Tidal should check out Andrea Lucchesini, exceptional performances and recording quality. It's recorded live and there is great spontaneity and energy to his playing with great degree of interpretive depth and knowledge. One of the better live piano recordings I've heard, during very loud fortissimo markings you can "hear" the venue light up. The audience is also very well behaved so you will almost never hear anything besides applause in the final movements.

After I have had some time to listen to it a few times I'll see where it places in my reference rankings.

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VMAT4

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Thanks for the post and information.

Although my preferences for classical music are for compositions from Bruchner's era to the present, I'll be looking into these sonatas and pianists tonight through the weekend!
 

JJB70

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I like the Wilhelm Kempf recordings best.
 
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hvbias

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Not related to Beethoven, I did manage to see Andrea Lucchesini that I mentioned in post 16 live. One of the best piano recitals I've ever attended. His performance of Schubert's D959 in particular is one I will remember for decades. Such poetry, intensity and freedom in his playing, I do hope he records this at some point, preferably in a live setting like he did with the Beethoven sonata cycle.

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Columbia's microphone setup:
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I was also very pleased that he was very humble and gracious and we spent some time talking about his recordings. I bought the Berio, Scarlatti, Schubert, Widman CD at the recital. The Beethoven CD was my oldest from him.

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A view from the climb up Morningside Park:
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hvbias

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I've now had a chance to listen to Lucchesini's cycle a few times and I'm going to move it in to my very highest tier. I would be interested what people think if they have had a chance to hear it- it's on Spotify and Tidal.

I can suggest the Op. 7 sonata as one of the highlights from it.

I've heard another cycle by Eric Heidsieck that is also exceptional. I'll update this thread when I get a chance.
 
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