Beethoven: Piano Sonatas | Ludwig van Beethoven, Artur Schnabel

Beethoven: Piano Sonatas | Ludwig van Beethoven, Artur Schnabel | No Musician Will Ever Whine About Recording Quality

classical music:

Beethoven: Piano S...

	Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Ludwig van Beethoven, Artur Schnabel EMI Classics, 1991 average customer review:based on 18 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

No Description Available.
Genre: Classical Music
Media Format: Compact Disk
Rating:
Release Date: 19-MAR-1991

Superior Sonic Alternative to Naxos or Pearl's Sizzle-Hissy "Authenticity"

Maybe I'm alone in this, but I am supremely pleased with this EMI set. I've owned the Pearl for many years and could no longer put up with the "authentic" sizzle of the 78s burying the piano in a sonic sandstorm. Emboldened by reading the many praises of the Naxos CDs, I bought one to sample and was stunned to still hear half of the Pearl "sizzle" still crackling (as well as a significant loss of low-end in the piano). After hearing the low-res samples of the EMI set at Amazon and hearing a "sizzle" reduction, I took a chance and am now a very happy Schnabel/Beethoven owner. For what it's worth, I don't hear a muffled or "boxy" quality to these remasterings. In fact, the piano sounds as full, robust and true to its acoustic space as could be expected from these ancient discs. The only small quibble I have is that, unlike the Naxos versions, the movements do a quick-fade out at the end.

for more information click here

No Musician Will Ever Whine About Recording Quality

...Because, simply put, it is enough that the recording exists. No one plays piano today like the greats did. To hear Schnabel, Richter, Gould, Horowitz, Friedman, et. al., is to understand that this is what it would sound like if Beethoven himself, Chopin himself, Liszt himself, were able to record their playing. Can you learn to see from the blind? Even though modern releases promise to teach you how to "see" this music with a clean recording, many of today's performers seem blind. I imagine most of the reviewers complaining about transfer quality would probably be happier with an immaculately recorded "Piano Is For Lovers" or "Piano In The Moonlight" or some other such nonsense. No, you cannot learn to see from the blind.

Besides, when you buy a performer like Schnabel, you get delicious, sweet clarity, though it sounds like maybe a Kristallnacht is being conducted in the recording room. That's all there is to it. One nanosecond of Schnabel's Beethoven beats a whole collection of most modern pianists' Beethoven. With a guy like Schnabel, you get the authentic experience. You get the intimate, guided tour. And if you don't like the hissing (it's not really that bad--listen to the Amazon sampler...any true fan of serious music is probably accustomed to far worse), just close your eyes, listen with your heart. If you're truly one of the "fair-hearing", then the hiss will not bother you. You'll pick up what needs to be picked up.

That simple.

I can hear more in this sizzling, aged recording than many could hear in a perfect, modern recording.

for more information click here

Get the NAXOS Set Available At Amazon.UK

This Schnabel set of Beethoven's Sonatas is essential to any fan of the works but equally important is finding a version with decent sound quality. Jeffrey Lipscomb recommends Dante, but they seem to be either OOP or just extremely difficult to find. I did some searching and found a set from Naxos at Amazon.UK. The reviews were good, especially on sound quality, so I bought them and I can confirm they are likely the best available right now. According to what I read apparently they actually sought out the best source material and eliminated most all of the audio defects. They're also moderately priced, currently at just under 5 British Pounds a piece in 9 volumes (There's also two additional volumes of other Beethoven piano works by Schnabel such as Eroica Variations and Bagatelles) which translates to about 45 BPs or $70 USD which is certainly not bad for the highest quality version of what is perhaps the highest quality cycle of Beethoven's Sonatas.

for more information click here

Interpretation? Maybe. Sound? No.

"Schnabel is the greatest Beethoven interpreter" or something like that you will be told along the way. "Seminal" and "belonging in every serious collection".

I bought into that - listened to them - was appalled - gave my set away. I reconsidered - listened to them - and finally was ready to grasp what might be great about them.

Schnabel's is _not_ a set for those who are looking for an intro to Beethoven and is not for those who demand perfect playing or good sound. The sound in none of the many transfers of these performances can be called 'good'. They merely vary between 'god-awful' and 'acceptable'. And that, too, differs according to your predilections.

If you want insight into Beethoven performance practice; want to hear Schnabel play these works; are prepared to leave the Maurizio-Pollini-standard-of-technical-perfection far, far behind you and if you don't mind sound that reminds you of war-reels, you ought to hear Schnabel in this.

That being established (or not, as it were), the question comes up as to which transfer of these performances. The first answer can easily be had: NOT the EMI transfers. They are probably the worst(except for some excerpts on a Philips collection of these pieces) I have heard. Neither really clean nor realistic, they will offend most anyone.

If you can't stand surface noise, hiss, hickups and speckle you will be best off with the DANTE transfers. Very little noise but also rather thin... some will argue that the life has been sucked out of them. But on the surface (literally), they are the least offensive.

If you rather have general hiss, noise and whatnot... but can't stand a 'veil' over the playing and want to hear the fullest piano sound (apart from that white noise)... i.e. if you want your brain to filter it out rather than have it be done for you by a computer (which usually means quicker listening-fatigue), you might want to go for PEARL's "natural" transfers.

If you don't want either extreme, go for the well and fairly balanced NAXOS recordings which M.Obert-Thorn put together very well. Best of both worlds - perhaps... but probably still too much noise for the noise-sensitive and maybe not enough realism for those who want to hear as much as they can, even if that means hearing it through the densest, spottiest fire of cracks and plucks and hisses.

If the main objective is to save money, you can give TIM your money... their transfers are on the noisy side, have less volume than Pearl (or even Naxos) - but are better (or at the very least the equal) of the EMI's and much less expensive.

(I have not heard any of the Arkadia or Arabesque transfers.)

for more information click here

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

Tracks
Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 2/1: Allegro | Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 2/1: Adagio | Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 2/1: Meneutto, Allegretto | Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 2/1: Prestissimo | Piano Sonata No. 3 in C major, Op. 2/3: Allegro con brio | Piano Sonata No. 3 in C major, Op. 2/3: Adagio | Piano Sonata No. 3 in C major, Op. 2/3: Scherzo, Allegro | Piano Sonata No. 3 in C major, Op. 2/3: Allegro assai | Piano Sonata No. 4 in E flat major ('Grand Sonata'), Op. 7: Allegro molto e con brio | Piano Sonata No. 4 in E flat major ('Grand Sonata'), Op. 7: Largo, con gran espressione | Piano Sonata No. 4 in E flat major ('Grand Sonata'), Op. 7: Allegro | Piano Sonata No. 4 in E flat major ('Grand Sonata'), Op. 7: Rondo, Poco Allegretto e grazioso | Piano Sonata No. 2 in A major, Op. 2/2: Allegro vivace | Piano Sonata No. 2 in A major, Op. 2/2: Largo appassionato | Piano Sonata No. 2 in A major, Op. 2/2: Scherzo, Allegretto | Piano Sonata No. 2 in A major, Op. 2/2: Rondo, Grazioso | Piano Sonata No. 5 in C minor, Op. 10/1: Allegro molto e con brio | Piano Sonata No. 5 in C minor, Op. 10/1: Adagio molto | Piano Sonata No. 5 in C minor, Op. 10/1: Finale, Prestissimo | Piano Sonata No. 6 in F major, Op. 10/2: Allegro | Piano Sonata No. 6 in F major, Op. 10/2: Allegretto | Piano Sonata No. 6 in F major, Op. 10/2: Presto | Piano Sonata No. 7 in D major, Op. 10/3: Presto | Piano Sonata No. 7 in D major, Op. 10/3: Largo e mesto | Piano Sonata No. 7 in D major, Op. 10/3: Menuetto, Allegro | Piano Sonata No. 7 in D major, Op. 10/3: Rondo, Allegro | Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor ('Pathétique'), Op. 13: Grave - Allegro di molto e con brio | Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor ('Pathétique'), Op. 13: Andante cantabile | Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor ('Pathétique'), Op. 13: Rondo, Allegro | Piano Sonata No. 9 in E major, Op. 14/1: Allegro | Piano Sonata No. 9 in E major, Op. 14/1: Allegretto | Piano Sonata No. 9 in E major, Op. 14/1: Rondo, Allegro comodo | Piano Sonata No. 10 in G major, Op. 14/2: Allegro | Piano Sonata No. 10 in G major, Op. 14/2: Andante | Piano Sonata No. 10 in G major, Op. 14/2: Scherzo, Allegro assai | Piano Sonata No. 11 in B flat major, Op. 22: Allegro con brio | Piano Sonata No. 11 in B flat major, Op. 22: Adagio con molta espressione | Piano Sonata No. 11 in B flat major, Op. 22: Menuetto | Piano Sonata No. 11 in B flat major, Op. 22: Rondo, Allegretto | Piano Sonata No. 13 in E flat major ('Quasi una fantasia'), Op. 27/1: Andante - Allegro | Piano Sonata No. 13 in E flat major ('Quasi una fantasia'), Op. 27/1: Allegro molto e vivace | Piano Sonata No. 13 in E flat major ('Quasi una fantasia'), Op. 27/1: Adagio con espressione - Allegro vivace | Piano Sonata No. 14 in C sharp minor ('Moonlight'), Op. 27/2: Adagio sostenuto | Piano Sonata No. 14 in C sharp minor ('Moonlight'), Op. 27/2: Allegretto | Piano Sonata No. 14 in C sharp minor ('Moonlight'), Op. 27/2: Presto agitato | Piano Sonata No. 15 in D major ('Pastoral'), Op. 28: Allegro | Piano Sonata No. 15 in D major ('Pastoral'), Op. 28: Andante | Piano Sonata No. 15 in D major ('Pastoral'), Op. 28: Scherzo, Allegro assai | Piano Sonata No. 15 in D major ('Pastoral'), Op. 28: Rondo, Allegro ma non troppo | Piano Sonata No. 18 in E flat major ('Hunt'), Op. 31/3: Allegro | Piano Sonata No. 18 in E flat major ('Hunt'), Op. 31/3: Allegretto vivace | Piano Sonata No. 18 in E flat major ('Hunt'), Op. 31/3: Meneutto, Moderato e grazioso | Piano Sonata No. 18 in E flat major ('Hunt'), Op. 31/3: Presto con fuoco | Piano Sonata No. 19 in G minor, Op. 49/1: Andante | Piano Sonata No. 19 in G minor, Op. 49/1: Rondo, Allegro | Piano Sonata No. 12 in A flat major ('Funeral March'), Op. 26: Andante con Variazoni | Piano Sonata No. 12 in A flat major ('Funeral March'), Op. 26: Scherzo, Allegro molto | Piano Sonata No. 12 in A flat major ('Funeral March'), Op. 26: Marcia funebre sulla morte d'un Eroe | Piano Sonata No. 12 in A flat major ('Funeral March'), Op. 26: Allegro | Piano Sonata No. 16 in G major, Op. 31/1: Allegro vivace | Piano Sonata No. 16 in G major, Op. 31/1: Adagio grazioso | Piano Sonata No. 16 in G major, Op. 31/1: Rondo, Allegretto | Piano Sonata No. 17 in D minor ('Tempest'), Op. 31/2: Largo - Allegro | Piano Sonata No. 17 in D minor ('Tempest'), Op. 31/2: Adagio/ Allegretto | Piano Sonata No. 20 in G major, Op. 49/2: Allegro ma non troppo | Piano Sonata No. 20 in G major, Op. 49/2: Tempo di Menuetto | Piano Sonata No. 21 in C major ('Waldstein'), Op. 53 | Piano Sonata No. 21 in C major ('Waldstein'), Op. 53 | Piano Sonata No. 22 in F major, Op. 54: In tempo d'un Menuetto | Piano Sonata No. 22 in F major, Op. 54: Allegretto | Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor ('Appassionata'), Op. 57 | Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor ('Appassionata'), Op. 57 | Piano Sonata No. 24 in F sharp major ('A Thérèse'), Op. 78: Adagio cantabile - Allegro ma non troppo | Piano Sonata No. 24 in F sharp major ('A Thérèse'), Op. 78: Allegro vivace | Piano Sonata No. 25 in G major ('Cuckoo'), Op. 79: Presto alla tedesca | Piano Sonata No. 25 in G major ('Cuckoo'), Op. 79: Andante Vivace | Piano Sonata No. 26 in E flat major ('Les Adieux'), Op. 81a | Piano Sonata No. 26 in E flat major ('Les Adieux'), Op. 81a | Piano Sonata No. 28 in A major, Op. 101: Etwas lebhaft, und mit der innigsten Empfindung, Allegretto ma non troppo | Piano Sonata No. 28 in A major, Op. 101: Lebhaft, marschmabig, Vivace alla Marcia | Piano Sonata No. 28 in A major, Op. 101: Adagio ma not troppo / Allegro | Piano Sonata No. 29 in B flat major ('Hammerklavier'), Op. 106: Allegro | Piano Sonata No. 29 in B flat major ('Hammerklavier'), Op. 106: Scherzo, Assai vivace | Piano Sonata No. 29 in B flat major ('Hammerklavier'), Op. 106: Adagio sostenuto, Appassionato e on molto sentimento | Piano Sonata No. 29 in B flat major ('Hammerklavier'), Op. 106: Largo, Allegro risoluto / Fuga | Piano Sonata No. 27 in E minor, Op. 90: Mit Lebhaftigkeit und durchaus mit Empfindung und Ausdruck | Piano Sonata No. 27 in E minor, Op. 90: Nicht zu geschwind und sehr singbar vorgetragen | Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109: Vivace, ma non troppo | Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109: Prestissimo | Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109: Andante molto cantabile ed espressivo, Gesangvoll, mi innigster Empfindung | Piano Sonata No. 31 in A flat major, Op. 110: Moderato cantabile molto espressivo | Piano Sonata No. 31 in A flat major, Op. 110: Allegro molto | Piano Sonata No. 31 in A flat major, Op. 110: Adagio ma non troppo / Fuga, Allegro ma non troppo | Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111: Maestoso / Allegro con brio ed appassionato | Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111: Arietta, Adagio molto semplice e cantabile

products you might be interested in