The ultimate Appassionata

[cygnusdei]

Let me know who else should be on the list!

[opus10no2]

Fiorentino has a wikid finale, and Rubinstein's finale(in an early recording) is the fastest I've ever heard, thrilling!

[jre58591]

youre forgetting pierre-laurent aimard. he has the best ive heard, even better than all those people on the list.

[arensky]

Let me know who else should be on the list!

Artur Schnabel, please. 

[jakev2.0]

Schnabel, definitely.

But imo the Russians own this sonata...Gilels and Richter all the way.

[cygnusdei]

I love Yahoo! music for the fact that I can listen to a handful of Appassionatas in a row.

The third movement is like a sift that separates the wheat from the chaff The music is so simple (tonality- and harmony-wise) and the texture so transparent, yet even masters like Horowitz and Edwin Fischer somehow managed to undistinguish themselves with perfunctory executions (others may disagree).

I haven't cast my vote yet, but Andre Watts seems to succeed in realizing the contrast between the sober Allegro ma non troppo and the scintillating Presto. I still need to listen to Gieseking, Perahia, and Aimard.

[mike_lang]

I like Serkin...

[soliloquy]

Serkin.  No contest.