Goodyear's hammerklavier fugue - does the fugue deserve its praise?

[emrysmerlin]

Hi,
I'm new to this forum. I am a huge admirer of Alkan and Beethoven (referring to piano music). I also like music by Bach, Busoni, Mozart, Chopin and Liszt. I just want to start off by getting people's attention to this particular recording of the fugue of Beethoven's hammerklavier. The fugue, played at a tempo almost close to Beethoven's suggested one, if one would notice, sounds very empty at most times, and whenever motive C begins, the piece sounds exceptionally empty. The transitions sound almost sickening to me, and the ending sounded...incomplete. If this is what the hammerklavier would've really sounded like (intended, almost), does the fugue really deserve its acclaim? (I do recall Horowitz making some comments on the tempo one should play the hammerklavier on.)

[Edit: apparently the youtube icon doesn't work as well as I have expected]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgZ8z7Ztn10