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Beethoven late sonatas-- Your favorite interpreters

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#21 ·
#29 ·
I have a few gaps to put it mildly, I have only heard Ronald Brautigam, Daniel Barenboim and one by Claudio Arrau.

Brautigam is presently my favourite by a margin - I especially enjoy the fortepiano here (as in his Haydn & Mozart), but I also enjoy Barenboim's EMI set. I need to hear more Arrau but I really enjoyed the Sonata I heard.

On my to listen list at some point are Murray Perahia, Alfred Brendel and Rudolf Serkin.
 
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#30 · (Edited)
silentio said:
While I try to avoid the 29th, I do adore the Adagio sostenuto though. Schnable is amazing there.
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The Hammerklavier is a masterwork from beginning to end in my books. I agree with Schnabel on the slow movement, his opus 109 3rd movement is particular moving too.
 
#31 · (Edited)
arnerich said:
The Hammerklavier is a masterwork from beginning to end in my books. I agree with Schnabel on the slow movement, his opus 109 3rd movement is particular moving too.
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I hate hate hate Gould in Beethoven's late sonatas! Should I repeat that to make it clearer?

Nonetheless, he nails the slow movement of the Hammerklavier. Who'd have thought it?

An icy mausoleum of our collective sorrows. How could a human being possibly have written this stuff?
 
#32 ·
If I try to really narrow it down to a single recording for each:

#28 - Kempff (DG)
#29 - Arrau (Philips)
#30 - Fischer (EMI)
#31 - Goode (Nonesuch)
#32 - Pollini (DG)

For a single performer, in general I like Arrau for the late sonatas. Serkin is also a favorite. I like Brendel, Kempff and Goode. I think Ashkenazy is underrated in Beethoven and does well in the late sonatas.
 
Discussion starter · #35 ·
Animal the Drummer said:
Agree about Ashkenazy. He's not always my favourite interpreter (for example I find his Mozart concertos over-personal too often) but I like him in Beethoven. I especially enjoy his Op.110.

My ideal in these sonatas is Solomon. I so wish he'd recorded the whole cycle.
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I must add that his Schubert is surprisingly good too.
 
#37 ·
Schnabel was a towering figure. He could play "flawlessly", as Arrau and others, regularly reported in the 20s.

He disliked the recording process though, and felt very nervous about it. Many of his mistakes are splashes of notes, that, while not correct, do not detract from the flow and structure of the music at all for me, (and many millions of others in the last century).
As a greater pianist than me once said: "I'll take Schnabel's wrong notes, over most other pianist's right ones."
 
#38 ·
#28 - Igor Levit (2013)
#29 - Annie Fischer (1977-1978)
#30 - Alfred Brendel (1962-1964) [Vox Box]
#31 - Alfred Brendel (1962-1964) [Vox Box]
#32 - Maurizio Pollini (1977)

I'm not sure if I'll ever find better interpretations of #29, #30 and #32 than those I've listed here (I've searched and searched... but of course always open to suggestions). The other two (of #28 and #31) are beyond superb but I've invested a little less energy in listening to as many other renditions of them, so I'm not as convinced (yet?)
 
#39 ·
^^^ Whoops, the Brendel I listed for #31 is the incorrect recording. It must be one of his later ones. I'll look into it and update my selection, or choose another interpreter (Goode would probably be my next choice, or even my top choice).
 
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