Wilhelm Kempff. very nice.
I love Beethoven's Sonata's and have listened to the following artists play them:Richter - IncredibleHorowitz - GoodAshkenazy - Very GoodGould - Very GoodWho's your favorite?
Hi BAYou give me joy for your excitement about the Beethoven sonatas. Together with Bach's 48, they are the Old Testament of the piano literature.I have good news for you. You will discover them to be much more beautiful than what you are understanding and feeling at the moment. Three of the four pianists you mentioned are simply ghastly in their Beethoven performances. Richter had his moments.Here is a short list of pianists I think you should try to listen to in addition to Kempff (who is very good, but somehow was always so old - in the best of ways, but old nonetheless).GoodeGilelsBadura-SkodaAndras SchiffHokansonFor reference you should also make yourself familiar with the Brendel sets (I think he recorded three times); Barenboim (two sets, very different from each other); and Schnabel.here, to get you started:Gilels, some of th emost phenomenal music making ever. Op. 106 is out of this world.https://www2.deutschegrammophon.com/cat/result?COMP_ID=BEELU&sort=newest_rec&ALBUM_TYPE=&SearchString=&IN_SERIES=&ART_ID=GILEM&IN_XXAWARDS=&PRODUCT_NR=4532212&start=0&IN_XXSERIES=&IN_XXPQ=&MOZART_22=0&GENRE=&per_page=10Goode's set, the best hundred bucks ever spent:https://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=1567The earlier Barenboim set, can beat the price.https://www2.deutschegrammophon.com/cat/result?SearchString=&ART_ID=BARDA&COMP_ID=BEELU&ALBUM_TYPE=&IN_XXSERIES=&x=34&y=6The later one.https://www.emiclassics.com/releasetracklisting.php?rid=11977Brendel's late onehttps://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/1169462/a/Beethoven:+The+Complete+Piano+Sonatas+%2F+Alfred+Brendel.htmAnd an earlier onehttps://www.hbdirect.com/album_detail.php?pid=17405and the early one, with a whole bunch of other stuff (there are some who think he is dull (as in Brendull) but i find him very worthwhile: a poetry that is a little dry but ultimately nurturing and true).https://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/Namedrill?album_group=1&name_id=14576&name_role=2And Badura-Skoda's. this is special:https://www.studio52.gr/info_en.asp?infoID=00000mve
I just bought the 14 disc Claudio Arrau complete sonatas and concertos set. I've only listened to it once through so far, but it's quite good, at least to my ear.
I just found out that the great Valentina Lisitsa is currently working on the complete Beethoven Sonata's. She is probably the greatest pianist of our modern times and it should be incredible.
Arrau takes 2 days just for the Waldstein.
And I love Radu Lupu's performances of Moonlight, Pathetique, and Waldstein.
Me to and i think it was the first classical record i ever bought.I have nearly worn it out.Thal
What makes a "good" Beethoven player? As opposed to LIszt or Schonberg, for example. Are we talking about a Beethoven style? Because many of the pianists mentioned certainly don't conform to a "typical" Beethoven interpretation. Even Kempff, who was considered THE Beethoven specialist, used to play around with him. (LIsten to the Waldstein in the old DG recording, and you'll hear a trill(!) in the last movement in the descending left hand at a certain point) Every one of his performances was different and individual. Michelangeli, who was probably my all-time favorite, played a very disappointing 111. Very dry and monotonous. The recording is much better. But still, could you really consider him a Beethoven interpreter? What the heck IS a Beethoven interpreter?!
I have a live recording of Argerich from Venice in 1969 playing Op. 101. Like all of Martha's Beethoven -- and I mean the first two concerti principally -- the salient point of the performances, and what makes them memorable and astonishing, is Martha's imposition of her own genius onto Beethoven.
She's just incomparable in so much of the literature, and, yes, I would give my right walnetto to have her "Waldstein," etc.
Glen gould?? in my opinion he is certainly one of the worst Beethven Performers ive ever heard.. Terrible! Hits most notes but has to speed every piece up.never sticks to the tempo.. i listened to his version of beethoven op 109 last week, and i honestly didnt enjoy 1 bar of it.. the 2nd movement (prestissimo) was conplete rubbish..as for good performers.. Brendel,barenboim arrau they are my favourite.. but kempff, giles ,murray periaha sokolov are great..
Okay, you're a newbie, so I won't be as caustic as I might be.Glenn Gould? You actually go public with this uninformed, embarrassing criticism of Glenn Gould? For your information, Gould was easily one of the greatest pianists of this last century and his legacy his immeasurable. He was an astonishing artist. His Beethoven is revelatory. I just listened to his "Eroica Variations" and was dazzled all over again.Get some education, friend. Then, revisit Gould's legacy. He was a genius. Are you?
This thread is in relation to the Beethoven sonatas... when most say who they deem the best performer of the sonatas,his name RARELY comes up.. why? simply because his recordings are not great.. Moonlight 3rd Mov Tempest 3rd Op 109 2nd mov And yes all the critics who have viewed and commented are no genius either but they almost ALL see how bad they are respectively.. They are obviously seeing what your missing. or is your opinion all that matters?
Did a hear a gauntlet fall on the floor?I agree Gould was a genius. Provocative. Neurotic. Self-absorbed. Very relevant as an artist, is spite of his taste.Other than in his Brahms, I invariably find Gould misunderstood the legacy of the composers whose music he played.He was a visionary, and his relevance as an artist resides precisely in his concept that his projection of a work of art was not dependent of the composer's conception, much less so in the tastes prevalent in the composer's time, or ours.I think it is quite obvious that Gould's insight about, and performance of, Beethoven's Op. 110, or anything else, has less to do with Beethoven and more to do with Gould. It is a gift that should not be understimated that we can listen to Gould's performance, for they always have something to say. But Beethoven's message suffers the enormous interference of Gould's genius. Other suffer even more (Mozart).
I did not have breakfast with Beethoven this morning. But one of the wonderful things about both Beethoven and I being humans is that having learned to read it, and having heard many others who have as well, I simply need to open a score of Op. 110, and therein lies a world of human emotion that we share.If you want to spend your time focusing on the fact that we are incaple of "knowing" that Beethoven meant chair when he wrote chair, you should go ahead. Freedom is one of the virtues of being human. But if you are tired, and you need a chair, musing that it could really be a beach ball is a waste of an opportunity.
Gould uses his gifts to re-think Beethoven's basic intentions, all within the ambiguity that musical notation affords artists. To dismiss him as "neurotic," is counter-productive and, I think, incorrect. I think the best we can say, when we disagree with his interpretations, is that we don't resonate with his choices.
A trained ear can recognize the (musical) chaff from the wheat, and to dismiss Gould whole-scale, IMHO, betrays an inexperienced impatience.
An uncut piece of wood understands Beethoven better than Gould.An empty cup more capable of learning something.There is no chaff, just wheat and spoiled wheat.Were I so lucky to lack the experience.With you certainly no more patience.I'll go play Haydn now.And hum along.As I play.
When I was a young private in the US armed forces in Southern Germany in 1958, I bought a ticket to a piano recital in Stuttgart. I didn’t recognize the pianist as I had, thus far, never been to any musical event in Europe. The pianist was Wilhelm Kempf.The first half of the program began with the very short Mozart G major Sonata K273, and continued with the Beethoven Pathetique Sonata. The Pathetique began with all seriousness and after the ultra slow funereal introduction the pianissimo drive seemed to herald a oncoming whirlwind. Tempos were strict and unrelenting and pauses were short but decisive. The 2nd movement was like an ever so slow soaring love song - you could hear a pin drop in the large audotorium. Very impressive.However I was quite surprised at the mood of the Finale. It began very playfully and continued in that manner. It seemed as though Kempf was ready for a light hearted fanciful ride and that he (or even Beethoven) didn’t have a worry left in the world. The Pathetique sonata as a whole had tremendous contrast and variety among the 3 movements. Not a dull moment throughout.The recital ended with the Franz Schubert Sonata in A minor D 845. I can’t remember much about the Schubert except that Kampf produced the softest playing I have ever heard.Theodore
Wonderful! Thanks for the memories.
Aye, we should appreciate that. A wonderful post. Cheers!
Other than in his Brahms, I invariably find Gould misunderstood the legacy of the composers whose music he played.
Topic: Who is the best Beethoven Sonata Interpreter? 