Beethoven Sonatas - A Survey of Complete Cycles
Part 2, 1967 - 1975
Incl: D.Barenboim I • P.Badura-Skoda I • D.Ciani • C.Frank • M.Grinberg • Gulda II • E.Heidsieck • A.Kuerti • R.Riefling • T.Sonoda I • D.Zechlin
  | Maria Grinberg 1964 - 1967 - Melodiya This was available only in individual volumes, and spottily at that, until recently... Now the recordings have been re-released by Melodiya in a convenient box earlier this year (2013)! Availability:
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   |  Friedrich Gulda II 1967 - Amadeo / Decca Friedrich Gulda's second set came at the very height of his technical facility and blew the (perceived) cobwebs off the 'heroic' Beethoven sonatas. It is a marvel of consistency and wondrous for the speed with which Gulda breezes through these works with a sense of joy and occasionally irreverence. Although I have other favorites for about every individual sonata (save the Moonlight) this is my go-to and reference set (even as Backhaus II remains my favorite). More intense than Kempff, never lumbering like Kuerti, nor professorially sincere like Schiff, consistently more engaging in the late Sonatas than Ashkenazy, more flexible than Backhaus, not as patricianly flowing as Arrau, Gulda somehow manages to combine a highly personal reading with a compromising stance that appeals to the many rather than offending most. It could be argued that the "fresh" approach isn't necessary anymore and that Gulda has a tendency toward the superficial, but to my ears that does not detract from this astonishing achievement. This cycle is part of what makes Brilliant's Complete Beethoven Edition so attractive and I've written a bit about it for WETA. [Links dead.] Availability:
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 | Dieter Zechlin 1960 - 1969 (?) - Eterna / Berlin Classics Availability:
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  | Daniel Barenboim I 1965 - 1969 - EMI Daniel Barenboim is one of the few pianists who have recorded the complete cycle trice (Twice on CD, once on DVD). Quantity doesn't necessarily make up for quality, though, and I have yet to truly appreciate either of his two first surveys or even watch his third. Availability:
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 | Robert Riefling 1960 - 1970 (?) - Valois Robert Riefling, 1938 Queen Elizabeth Competition winner, studied with Kempff and Edwin Fischer, among others. Not currently available and to my knowledge never issued on CD. | ||||||||||||||||||||
 | Claude Frank 1967 - 1969 - RCA Victrola Availability:
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 | Takahiro Sonoda I 1968 - 1969 - Denon Apparently one of the grand figures in Japanese music and someone of whom I hitherto, somehow, knew nothing. He is to have recorded the complete Beethoven sonatas three (!) times, as only Barenboim and Brendel have (so far). I cannot track down the third (there may be confusion on this point, as he also issued an edition of the Beethoven sonatas as scores), but this one on Denon can still be found. Availability:
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  | Paul Badura-Skoda I 1969 - 1970 - Gramola Paul Badura-Skoda's "Viennese" Beethoven survey on a Boesendorfer Grand. Overshadowed at the time by the more famous to have come just before him and those who would come just after him, but a connoisseur's Echt-Austrian cycle. The cycle had been released previously on Intercord on LP and I presume (unless I find out otherwise) it is identical to the one that appeared on the Musical Heritage Society's recordings for Beethoven's bicentenary in 1970. Gramola has internationally re-released the set in late last year (Nov. 2012), so it should have become more readily available. Availability:
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 | Dino Ciani 1970 - Dynamic Recorded live, and notably so, in October & November of 1970. Comment from Todd: "Horrid sounding amateur recording; the worst sounding cycle of all." Availability:
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  | Eric Heidsieck 1967 - 1973 - EMI France Availability:
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 | Anton Kuerti 1974 - 1975 - Analekta One of the first complete sets of the Sonatas I had, and ever declining in my estimation. Wherever Kuerti is very slow (which he is very often), the speed does not seem to be justified by an equivalent increase in musicality, lyricism, or other notable facet. And where Kuerti isn't very slow, he does not impress with the polished technique that many of the competitors display. Interesting, but hardly essential. Availability:
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This listing of all Beethoven Sonata Cycles will continue as more sets reach completion or as I find more information about sets already completed.* There are certainly plenty sets under way that should or may reach completion soon: Among them Angela Hewitt (Hyperion), Igor Tchetuev (Caro Mitis), Jonathan Biss (Onyx), Paavali Jumppanen (Ondine), Yusuke Kikuchi (Triton) et al. I will also add a selection of historically important attempted cycles that were never finished but include >20 sonatas. That would add Rudolf Serkin (CBS, 10 sonatas missing), Bruce Hungerford (Vanguard / Piano Classics, also 10 sonatas missing), Emil Gilels (DG, opp.2/1, 14/1, 54, 78, 111), and Glenn Gould (CBS/Sony, opp.7, 22, 49, 53, 79, 81a, 90 missing, op.106 separate, opp.7 [partly], 49/1, 101 available on CBC recordings).
* If you count, as I did, Backhaus II and Arrau II as complete, despite one and two (respectively) missing sonatas. I do not count Walter Gieseking (tapes of 4, 5, 7, 20, 22 for a radio cycle are lost, a studio cycle for EMI was missing seven sonatas when he died), Wilhelm Kempff "0" (Polydor, opp.2/3, 22, 27/1, 28, 31/2, 101 missing).
The (Great) Incomplete Cycles
Part 1: 1935 - 1969
Part 3: 1977 - 1989
Part 4: 1990 - 1996
Part 5: 1996 - 1999
Part 6: 2000 - 2005
Part 7: 2006 - 2009
Ronald Brautigam Special
Part 8: 2010 - 2013
Part 9: 2014 - 2016
Part 10: 2017 - 20__
If you have additional information about recording dates, availability, cover art -- or corrections and additions -- your input is much appreciated.
This survey is meant to list all complete sets of Beethoven's Piano Sonatas and their availability in different markets, not to review them.
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12 comments:
Uniquely on this site ..this sequence of pieces re Beethoven is inconsequential and ... rather pointless.An element of compression or brevity would obviously be part of such a review but to me much of it seems a sequence of brief insulting responses to artists trying to interpret some of the musical peaks of Western civilisation. Some receive no "review"I am bemused ...
Perhaps a misunderstanding causes your response to this.
This survey is not intended to be a review, it is merely to list all Beethoven Piano Sonata Cycles made -- as well as their availability. Comprehension is only claimed to the extend that I am trying not to miss any cycles, not that I heard them all and can say something meaningful about each one.
The brief comments on those releases I know well enough are just that: comments.
As for the "Moonlight" I've been after EMI for years to release Christoph Eschenbach's recording of the work. Have you heard it? The opening movement has to be the slowest ever recorded and I find it absolutely gripping. I convinced the folks there to release that 2CD slim double a few years ago, but it frustrates me to no end that three more sonatas (the "Moonlight" included) have never been released on CD.
As for complete cycles, don't forget Robert Taub's excellent cycle on Vox (preferable to his first foray on Harmonia Mundi).
Taub's on my list (which is ~70 cycles strong, now) and will be part of the fourth or fifth installment.
I've not heard Eschenbach's LvB. I think I may have the gEMIni double disc of the late sonatas, but as you say, it wouldn't include op.27/2, anyway.
Recently I bumped into a cheap second-hand Dieter Zechlin Beethoven box. I admit I never heard of him before, but it has been a pleasant discovery, really worth listening. If you like a wit and straightforward approach, he can be an interesting option to the usual cup of tea.
Luca
Thanks Luca. Say, you wouldn't have a confirmed date on the last recording in that set at hand, would you? Best, jfl
One set that you missed out on: Eduardo del Pueyo, on the Belgian label Pavane. Seemingly never issued (in its entirety) on CD.
See
https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!searchin/rec.music.classical.recordings/beethoven$20complete$20belgian$20sonatas%7Csort:relevance/rec.music.classical.recordings/SEZ8j45LmSA/nLG3dbquxBsJ
I'm shocked that I see no mention of Solomon's cycle, unfinished because of his stroke in 1956. It was the preferred cycle of Charles Rosen and others, and includes wondrous performances, notably the Op. 2/3, Moonlight, Waldstein, Les Adieux, Hammererklavier, and others.
Dear Mr. Amos,
sorry for the late reply (I am not notified of comments) and thanks for the comment. I hope you shock has since subsided on -- hopefully -- finding the section with unfinished cycles here: Beethoven Sonatas - A Survey of Complete Cycles
The Great Incomplete Cycles. But your comment does remind me of the fact that I do need to link to this from these posts.
Thanks & best,
Jens
p.s. Oh, wait, they ARE linked above. But perhaps not visibly enough.
Dear Mr. Lekens,
the Pueyo cycle has, at last, been added! Thanks again for pointing it out!
I may be mistaken, but hasn't the Claude Frank been reissued - perhaps on Naxos?
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