...So, in my quest to find the best performer for each individual sonata, I want to open up this question to all of you: even if you might prefer the complete set from someone else, who's done the best Waldstein? The best Hammerklavier? And all the rest!
In your
opinion of course
I play several Beethoven sonatas, though I would not rank near the very worst performer I've heard on record.
I have complete sets by Barenboim (3 different recordings) and Brendel, and additional recordings by Rubinstein, Pollini, Gilels, Richter, Ashkenazy, Kempff, Horowitz, Schnabel, Serkin, Maria-Joao Pires, Annie Fisher, Edwin Fischer, and many many others. Most of the performances I own are on vinyl, and it is worth the effort to find someone with an excellent record playing system and a good collection, to realise just how much realism is lost in most transfers to or recordings on CD.
The predominance of Barenboim recordings will tell you that I have a particular affinity to his approach to Beethoven, though that does not mean I consider all his performances to be preeminent. To me, Barenboim does three things riight every single time:
- Barenboim performs without any technical errors even though, right from the beginning, he almost never did retakes - a very difficult ask in many of these sonatas
- Barenboim recognises that a musical line can be much longer than just a few notes, and has the ability to voice that long line better than anyone else I've heard
- Barenboim sounds distinctly like himself and no other pianist, without sounding quirky or just plain weird (like say Glenn Gould or Roger Woodward). Far too many pianists have a sound which could be any of 100 or a 1000 others - it should be as easy to tell that a specific pianist is playing as it is to recognise Heifetz, Stern, Grumiaux or Oistrakh on the violin. So it is with Barenboim, Arrau, Horowitz, Janis, Pollini, Rudolph Serkin, etc. Most recently, Paul Lewis presents superb new insights into Beethoven's music, and establishes a sound which is uniquely his.
One thing that Barenboim has, which is a two-edged sword, is subtlety. The sense of sudden and real drama which is so apparent in performances by say Arrau, come across as measured and a little less spontaneous with Barenboim. Some pianists imbue Beethoven with a sense of brutality and agression, which Barenboim clearly does not accept, preferring to establish the power of the music with a great deal of control. Having listened to Arrau, Woodward, Barenboim, Lupu and a host of other pianists playing Beethoven on the concert stage, there is much to be said for that unbridled passion that Arrau displayed in his Beethoven, but the subtle intensity of Barenboim is my preference.
Here are my favourites from among Barenboim's first set on EMI/HVM (Angel?) released in 1970 - these are my favourite performance by ANY performer I've heard:
Pathetique Sonata Opus 13 - Barenboim's very slow introduction to the first movement was a revelation to me, and completely changed my understanding of the movement. I now play it that way (even though Barenboim's more recent performances take a somewhat faster pace). I wish I had the technique at 54, to play the rest of the movement with the same ease he showed in his teens. His tremelo in this movement is incredibly lovely with just enough menace to build great tension throughout. The right hand run down the keyboard just before the recapitulation is, on its own, miraculous. 2nd movement is beautiful. 3rd movement is delightful and perfectly balanced with the rest of the sonata.
Moonlight Sonata Opus 27 No 2 - The most recorded sonata on earth, and Barenboim's is NOT perfect, but I often experiment by playing one that I really like, and then follow it immediately by this Barenboim recording. Within seconds, I have dumped the previous interpretation in favour of Barenboim's (And doing it the other way is an excruciating experience). The last movement especially I find totally satisfying in a way that other performances don't.
Pastorale Sonata Opus 28 - This "relatively" easy sonata sounds dull or clumsy in almost everyone's hands. In Barenboim's it invariably sounds sublime, and, for me, he got it just right in this recording.
Tempest Sonata Opus 31 No 2 - Possibly my favourite Beethoven sonata (depending on my mood maybe), and, for my hands, manageable but very very difficult, Barenboim takes the 2nd and 3rd movements slower than just about anyone else, and does it perfectly. The third movement in particular is romantic Beethoven idealised. Exquisite.
Walstein Sonata Opus 53 - Fiendishly difficult sonata to play badly, let alone well. The last movement sounds deceptively easy (most of it anyway), but is quite a trial right from the very start, and requires a technique well beyond mine once you get to the pianissimo glissando octaves. Barenboim unifies this sonata is a way that no one else does. Whether you listen to Gary Graffman, Brendel, Arrau, Schnabel, the sonata sounds more like a series of connected exercises than a set of 3 movements, let alone the feeling I get with Barenboim of a single piece of music. His amazingly slow last movement is wonderful.
Opus 54 - This 2-movement sonata, which sits like a small child between the giants of the Walstein and Appassionata, is played very very badly by most interpreters. The first movement tends to be very bangy if it isn't handled with care, and the second movement ends up sounding like one of Czerny's more musical exercises! Barenboim's ability to extend an impossibly long musical line is what makes this performance so much better than anyone else's. In the 2nd movement in particular, the line in some respects extends from the beginning all the way to the coda! It is really quite magic.
That will do for now.
EXCEPT...
I need to mention a recording which is outside your request, but is so much better than its rivals that it needs to be promoted: There are a few recordings of Beethoven's own transcription for Piano and Orchestra of the Violin Concerto in D Major, Opus 61. Most of these (in fact all but one that I have heard) sound like a pianist and orchestra playing a transcription of a violin concerto. That one exception is Daniel Barenboim directing the English Chamber Orchestra on DGG. It alone sounds like the work could have been written for Piano and Orchestra, so superbly is it portrayed. I actually like it almost as much as the Violin Concerto itself!
Cheers,
Warren in Sydney, Oz