Beethoven Sonatas - A Survey of Complete Cycles
Part 3, 1977 - 1989
   | Alfred Brendel II 1970 - 1977 - Philips (analog) Not long after Brendel had finished these recordings, digital became the new thing in the recording industry and so he would go about it for a third time shortly thereafter, recording what is--at least on CD--his most prevalent cycle. Availability: Update: This cycle has now been re-issued as part of bringing the Philips recordings into the Decca fold... and include Brendel's first cycle of the Beethoven concertos with Haitink and the LPO (76/77). The Eloquence re-issue of the 70s cycle (in the mildly controversial AMSI-ambience remastering) meanwhile includes the Chicago/Levine Concerto recordings.
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 | Malcolm Binns 19?? - 1977 (?) - L'Oiseau-Lyre Played on different period instruments. Never issued on CD. Availability of last 5 Sonatas:
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 | Annie Fischer 1976 - 1978* - Hungaroton These performances were recorded phrase by phrase with retakes, cutting, pasting, and editing taking place as late as 1992 and even beyond Fischer's death. Has its (cult?) following. Availability: (Also available on individual discs)
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 | John Lill 1975 - 1980 - ASV (Brilliant, Sanctuary) Availability:
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 | Vladimir Ashkenazy 1971 - 1981 - Decca My first Beethoven Piano Sonata cycle of which especially the early sonatas hold up very well while I've become rather indifferent to much of the rest. Availability:
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 | Rudolf Buchbinder 1979 - 1981 - Telefunken / Telarc Live? Buchbinder is one of the worlds most avid Beethoven sonata edition collectors with over 18 complete editions in his library. (Interviews here & here) Availability:
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 | Daniel Barenboim II 1981 - 1984 - Deutsche Grammophon Barenboim, Take Two. Now for Deutsche Grammophon. Availability:
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 | Tatiana Nikolayeva 1984 - Melodiya (Olympia (UK), DS Berlin, Scribendum) What little I've heard about (but not of) this cycle, it must be uncompetitive in every regard. Recorded during a series of Moscow recitals over a few months in very early 1984. Availability:
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 | Bernard Roberts 1981 - 1984 - Nimbus Availability:
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  | Michael Steinberg 1981 - 1986 - Elysium LPs Michael Steinberg (no relation to the music critic) and his Beethoven cycle were hard to track down. (Many thanks to Richard Winton, cousin of the recordings' producer, for essential information!) Steinberg, a graduate of Yale University and Juilliard School of Music, long time pianist-in-residence at the Villa San Michele (Anacapri, Italy), taught in the Music Department of the University of Delaware. He made these recordings in 20 sessions in the Beethoven Halle, of Hannover's Stadthalle. Originally on 12 LPs, the set was briefly re-issued in the US as three box sets of three CDs each, but is now hopelessly out of print.
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   | Paul Badura Skoda II 1978 - 1989* - Auvidis Astrée Once available on 9 individual CDs. Not currently available in any form**. Played on seven different fortepianos and Hammerklaviers, ranging from a 1790 Schantz PF to a 1824 Conrad Graf HK. (*Not 1993, as I had previously thought. Hence the 'wrong' inclusion in Part 4 at first, instead of here.) Edit: The set has just been re-released on XRCD24s in Japan (where else). **It can be found used, albeit only for a pretty penny, on European Amazon sites.
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 | Jenő Jandó 1987 - 1989 - Naxos Naxos' pianist for all seasons seems to have recorded the complete-anything. Some Haydn I have of his is very amiable stuff, but the little I've heard of his Beethoven is too bland for making me explore it further. Availability: On individual discs. (Two 5-disc sets containing the cycle have since been discontinued.)
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Part 1: 1935 - 1969
Part 2: 1967 - 1974
Part 4: 1990 - 1996
Part 5: 1996 - 1999
Part 6: 2000 - 2005
Part 7: 2006 - 2009
Part 8: 2010 onward
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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