beethoven appassionata

[rohansahai]

Hey,
      Whose recording of the appassionata you think is the best? I would go for Gilels but i've only heard it in bits and pieces. Anyone got a complete one by him??
Regards,
Rohan.

[comme_le_vent]

gilels and richter are the best ive heard. i would get both.
i also heard serkin's interpretation a while ago, and it certainly brought out the violence in the music.

[Beet9]

I would say that the Gilels recording is by far the best, and I've heard tons.  But that's just my opinion.

[dinosaurtales]

Never even heard of Gilels (?)  It really will depend on your personal taste combined with your vision of Beethoven.  I have Alfred Brendl and Ian Hobson.  Although my teacher says the Brendl one is more *correct* as reference, I personally think Ian plays the way Beethoven would have wanted it.  I also heard (but don't own) Murray Perhia's and it's a good version too.  I am currently workiung on this piece, so I am getting to know what I like when I hear it!

[zhiliang]

I will say definitely Richter and Beckhaus.

[anda]

Never even heard of Gilels (?)  

only one of the best performers on mozart or beethoven - i have all 5 beethoven concertos with him, and it's pretty impressive!

on appassionata - brendl, of course, and i also like barenboim's version (even though he was only 20 years old when he recorded all beethoven sonatas)

[steinwaymodeld]

what about Solomon?

I have his video playing it, awesome tempo and emotion control.

[Noah]

Myra Hess

[bernhard]

I will not say who the best is, because I can never decide. They all seem good to me. albeit in different ways. So, to add to the ones already mentioned (all excellent):

Wilhelm Kempf
Claudio Arrau
Arthur Schnabell

[e60m5]

My personal favourite is still Gilels.

[trunks]

Emil Gilels gave a fine account on the DG label. Regrettably he didn't live to complete the set of 32. Never forget Wilhelm Kempff, also on DG.

Of course there are Artur Rubinstein on RCA and Alfred Brendel on Philips. Theses two pianists are most definitely my ultimate references (and preferences) on any Beethoven.

Daniel Barenboim gave a rather slow rendering of the entire set on DG. Curiously the acoustics of the hall was a bit on the hollow side, otherwise I would have kept Barenboim's CD box-set.

Pianists to AVOID on Beethoven:

1. Artur Schnabel. I could never figure out how he became one of the authorities on Beethoven, but his rendering was so mechanical I simply couldn't bear hearing one more note from him.

2. Vladimir Horowitz. Forgive me but I avoid his EVERYTHING save alone Russian music.

[faulty_damper]

I also heard (but don't own) Murray Perhia's and it's a good version too.  I am currently workiung on this piece, so I am getting to know what I like when I hear it!

I heard Perahia's recording, too.  I liked it.  Then there's a section in the middle where the tempo changes to a tad slower.  Actually, that tempo change wasn't intentional - throughout the piece, his tempo was a metrenome!  Then when the tempo slowed down (ever so slightly) it completely ruined it!  Each note was clearly articulated - from his years of playing Bach.  He had me sold on it - until the (unintentional) tempo change.  A bit disappointing as that was the only flaw to the recording.  The flaw wasn't very noticeable at all because it came after that part (I can't remember) right before the slow down but it was pretty obvious to me the first time I heard it.

But, the way he played it could have been a computer playing the notes on a MIDI - it was that steady. :-/

[steinway88]

Giesking