Beethoven Sonatas - A Survey of Complete CyclesPart 5, 1996 - 1999

Incl: A.Ciccolini • A.DeGroote • M.Houstoun • G.Kladetzky • Lee • G.Pludermacher • J.B.Pommier • R.Sherman • K.Shimizu • R.Silverman • T.Sonoda II • R.Taub • Y.Yokoyama

	Takahiro Sonoda II 1993 - 1996- Evica Available in 12 individual volumes from Japan.
	Yaeko Yamane 1993 - 1996 - ADAM 10 discs and very complete, including the op.6 Sonata for Four Hands, Sonatas WoO 47 and 51, and the WoO 50 and Anh 5/1 & 5/2 sonatinas... Yaeko Yamane studied with Lazar Levy at the Paris Conservatory and continued her studies in Europe in Zurich, Berlin, and Moscow under Max Egger, Helmut Roloff, and Jacob Friier, respectively. In the 1970s she was one of the first Japanese pianists to perform the complete 32 Beethoven Sonatas in recital. Country / Label USA UK France Germany ADAM Ltd.Ed. Yes Yes Yes Yes
	Michael Houstoun 1994 - 1996 - Morrison Music Trust Kiwi-Beethoven on a Steinway D. Still available in four volumes from the Music Trust itself and sources in New Zealand (Triton Music Ltd.) Available internationally through digital distribution via iTunes music store, emusic.com and the Naxos digital music library. Country / Label USA UK France Germany Trust CDs No No No No
	Jean-Bernard Pommier 1991 - 1997 - Erato Availability: Country / Label USA UK France Germany Erato Yes Yes Yes Yes
	Russell Sherman 1993 - 1997 - GM Recordings Availability: Most of the five volumes are still available; the complete set isn't. Available used or imported outside the US. Country / Label USA UK France Germany GM R 1 - 2 - 3 4 - 5 1 - 2 - 3 4 - 5 1 - 2 - 3 4 - 5 1 - 2 - 3 4 - 5
	Robert Taub 1994 - 1997 - Vox Availability: In five volumes, spottily available. Volume four seems completely oop. Country / Label USA UK France Germany Vox partly 1 - 2 - 3 4 - 5 No No
	Kazune Shimizu 1995 - 1997 - Sony (Japan) Live recordings. Out of print as a set with individual copies hard to find at HMV.co.jp.
	Georges Pludermacher 1998 - Transart live Live recordings from the National Music Conservatory Reims on a Steinway with a fourth, "harmonic", pedal. Availability: Pricey on CDs but incredibly cheap ($16 for the 10 CD set) as mp3 downloads. Country / Label USA UK France Germany Transart Yes Yes Yes Yes mp3 Yes Yes Yes Yes
	Aldo Ciccolini 1985 - 1999 - Bongiovanni / Cascavelle Availability: Looks like it has already been discontinued outside Germany and France, just two years after re-issue. Country / Label USA UK France Germany Cascavelle No No Yes Yes
	Gotthard Kladetzky 19?? - 1998 - Koch Schwann Only in the UK do seem (some of) the individual volumes still be available on the used CD market.
	André DeGroote 1998 - Naxos (BeNeLux), Solal Availability: Originally recorded (at the Brussels Royal Conservatoire) for Naxos, but deleted when they closed their Benelux branch. Just now re-issued by Solal. Country / Label USA UK France Germany Solal (Yes) Yes Yes Yes
	Younwha Lee ( 이연화 ) 1994 - 1999 - Sony (Korea) Two volumes of 5 CDs each. Availability: Made for—and sold on—the Korean market. Country / Label USA UK Korea Germany Sony No No Vol.1 | Vol.2 No
	Yukio Yokoyama 1998- 1999 - Sony (Japan) Availability: Made for—and sold on—the Japanese market. Available used and as imports, though. Country / Label USA UK France Germany Sony (No) No No No
	Robert Silverman 1999 - Orpheum Masters Recorded 'into' and then reproduced from a Bösendorfer Reproducing Piano. Read about the process here. Availability: Country / Label USA UK France Germany Sony Yes No No No

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), Akihiro Sakiya (DPIC Entertainment), Martin Roscoe (Deux-Elles), James Brawn (MSR), Paavali Jumppanen (Ondine) [Completed & Added], Yusuke Kikuchi (Triton) [Completed & Added] et al. I will also add a selection of historically important attempted cycles that were never finished but include >20 >9 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). There are seemingly abandoned cycles that will not be included, such as those of  Giovanni Belluci,  Bruno Leonardo Gelber,  Yoshihiro Kondo, or  Per Tengstrand. There are cycles that are unworthy of discussion or outright fraudulent, i.e. not actual piano playing and/or of excrutiating quality and/or cobbled together from other performances. Most famously Joyce Hatto, but apparently also Vladimir Morrone, Giancarlo Andretti, Alicja Kot, and Claudio Colombo.**

* 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).

** Invaluable research on this end done by Todd, resident Beethoven-Sonata expert (and addict) at the Good Music Guide Forum.


The (Great) Incomplete Cycles
Part 1: 1935 - 1969
Part 2: 1967 - 1974
Part 3: 1977 - 1989
Part 4: 1990 - 1996

Part 6: 2000 - 2005
Part 7: 2006 - 2009
Ronald Brautigam Special
Part 8: 2010 - 2013
Part 9: 2014 - onward
Part 10: 2017 - ____

If you have additional information about recording dates, availability, cover art -- or corrections and additions -- your input is much appreciated. | Ed. 22/08/2014 Thanks to Mark Norton for finding the very well hidden US Amazon link to the Robert Silverman set!

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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