Beethoven The Last 3 Piano Sonatas

Soviet pianist Sviatoslav Richter is still regarded as one of the greatest pianists of all time. He was known for the depth of his interpretations, his virtuoso technique, and his vast repertoire. His career was truly launched with he won the Stalin Prize in 1949, leading to extensive concert tours across Russia, Eastern Europe, and China. For this release, which was recorded in Leipzip in 1963, he beautifully performs Beethoven’s final three piano sonatas, Op. 109, 110, and 111, as well as several of his other sonatas, including the “Appassionata” and “Der Sturm.”

There was not then & there is not now a more profound interpreter of the piano sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven than Artur Schnabel, & his 1930s recordings of them are now as they have always been & as they will always be the greatest recordings of the works ever made. Schnabel’s Waldstein Sonata is pure joy, his Appassionata is dark despair, & his Sonata in E minor is complete consolation. Schnabel’s Sonata in E major is radiant bliss, his Sonata in A flat is luminous ecstasy, & his Sonata in C minor is numinous spirituality. Generations of critics have carped at Schnabel’s technique &, in truth, he does lack the technique to play the closing movement of the Appassionata at tempo. But generations of listeners have heard Schnabel’s deep soul & his sublime musicianship & have therefore cheerfully disregarded any critical quibbles in gratitude for Schnabel’s transcendent performances. EMI’s remastering of the 1930s monaural originals is obviously antique but nevertheless clear enough to let the lucid light of Schnabel’s performances shine through. Anyone who values their immortal soul should listen to these recordings.

Large industrial complexes, built of solid brick tell the story of industrialization of 19th century Leipzig. Where spinning wheels once rattled, chimneys smoked and thousands of workers carried out their daily work, new life has moved in over the past few years. Today, former factories are home to artists' studios, galleries and manufactories.

This new release from MDG presents Beethoven's piano sonatas op. 109, 110 and 111, performed by pianist Jin Ju. Jin Ju is a hugely flexible and versatile pianist; her concert in the Vatican in front of Pope Benedict and an audience of 5,000, in which she played music from three centuries on seven different historical pianos, is almost legendary.

Pizarro's acclaimed second disc of Beethoven sonatas, beautifully played on a Blüthner piano. Beethoven's last three sonatas mark a culmination in the classical-romantic sonata form, and Beethoven's farewell to the genre. Pizarro explains: "Beethoven not only aesthetically and emotionally heralds the arrival of the Romantic Age in music but also profoundly alters what had been the accepted parameters of sonata form. Man has become the centre of the universe as can be heard through the outpouring of emotion, as human condition and the circle of human life is depicted in these three works.

Igor Levit makes his debut on Sony in the last six piano sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven, a part of the repertoire that is usually reserved for mature artists, not rising stars. Yet in spite of some signs of youthful enthusiasm, and a possible loss of objectivity from playing these pieces on a busy recital schedule, Levit has a good feeling for Beethoven's late style, and his 2013 release is a promising beginning for his recording career. The excessive use of rubato is something Levit should watch, because too much alteration of the tempo dissipates Beethoven's energy, and even though these sonatas have their moments of reverie and trance-like passages that can be interpreted as mystical experiences, too much elasticity can make them seem like idle daydreams, or worse, forgetfulness.