Appassionata
I'm looking for a good recording of Sonata 23. Any recommendations?
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This is the topic that sets this forum alight more than any other - recommended recordings! I'll offer you several in a bid to be impartial - on modern pianos : Jean-Bernard Pommier Vol. 3, Sonatas 21-27: 3 CDs, Erato 4509-91727-2 (1994) or Richard Goode. On period fortepiano : Paul Komen
Sonatas 21-23, Globe GLO 5118 (1994)
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'Man know thyself''Man know thyself' -
My advice would be to keep looking. Pick out a recording at random when you're in a store, and then take it home to listen too. As you listen to more and more, you begin to have some idea of what you like and dislike.Originally posted by Jin:
I'm looking for a good recording of Sonata 23. Any recommendations?
Bob
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I am not a number, I am a free man!Some have said I am ripe for the Madhouse. Does that make me Beethoven? No, but it is interesting.Comment
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I can recommend a disk by Melvyn Tan on the fortepiano (EMI, with op53 and op81a).Originally posted by Jin:
I'm looking for a good recording of Sonata 23. Any recommendations?
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"If I were but of noble birth..." - Rod CorkinComment
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I should say (on modern pianos, sorry Rod !!!) CLaudio ARRAU (in a good day), Wilhelm BACKHAUS (maybe) RUBINSTEIN... and others ! Try to listen a lot of versions to get your own taste filfulled....
Each people has his own taste (it is like to prefer spaghetti to maccaroni !!!)
Claudie
(My man Jean MICAULT use to play it in concert wonderfully, really, but he recorded it a long time ago and it is not anymore to find. I do not say that because he is my man : it is the whole public taste and also the critics are delighted of his Appassionata !)
ClaudieClaudieComment
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Has anyone heard Daniel Barenboim's recording of the Allegro ma non troppo? To me it sounds uncommonly fast, the notes almost blurry. Maybe it's just a "side-effect" of his youth at the time?Comment
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Normally I like very much Daniel BARENBOIM, but not in Appassionata : yes it is a little bit too fast.... You are right, he was young at this time.
When conducting he is much more "a tempo".
Claudie
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ClaudieClaudieComment
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I have to say he isn't one of my favourite musicians when it comes to Beethoven! Hasn't he recently recorded the complete Beethoven Sonatas?Originally posted by Claudie MICAULT:
Normally I like very much Daniel BARENBOIM, but not in Appassionata : yes it is a little bit too fast.... You are right, he was young at this time.
When conducting he is much more "a tempo".
Claudie
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'Man know thyself''Man know thyself'Comment
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Don't know about that, he did so in the 80's however. They also televised him playing each of the sonatas in a grandiose setting. I remember it on TV, they played the whole 32 on BBC 2 much as they currently do with Bach's 48. It was the first time I heard a lot of the sonatas. I doubt they would do this now, though, B's stuff is too long for the schedule, the 48 are very short and good for filling in a few minutes when the programmers know nobody will be watching.Originally posted by Peter:
I have to say he isn't one of my favourite musicians when it comes to Beethoven! Hasn't he recently recorded the complete Beethoven Sonatas?
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"If I were but of noble birth..." - Rod CorkinComment
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Yup...in the 60s. I liked the recording of Chopin's Nocturnes, so I thought he'd be alright, but guess not.Originally posted by Peter:
I have to say he isn't one of my favourite musicians when it comes to Beethoven! Hasn't he recently recorded the complete Beethoven Sonatas?
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I've made the point before here but a good Chopin player rarely makes a good Beethoven player and vice-versa!Originally posted by Jin:
Yup...in the 60s. I liked the recording of Chopin's Nocturnes, so I thought he'd be alright, but guess not.
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'Man know thyself''Man know thyself'Comment
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Believe it or not, Arthur Rubinstein was my favourite of the older pf players. He had a certain sparkle and colour to his performance that is very rare.Originally posted by Claudie MICAULT:
I should say (on modern pianos, sorry Rod !!!) CLaudio ARRAU (in a good day), Wilhelm BACKHAUS (maybe) RUBINSTEIN... and others ! Try to listen a lot of versions to get your own taste filfulled....
Each people has his own taste (it is like to prefer spaghetti to maccaroni !!!)
Fastest Appasionata recording I've heard was by Richter, he rockets through the whole piece with super-metronomic inflexibility. I struggled to listen to it.Originally posted by Claudie MICAULT:
(My man Jean MICAULT use to play it in concert wonderfully, really, but he recorded it a long time ago and it is not anymore to find. I do not say that because he is my man : it is the whole public taste and also the critics are delighted of his Appassionata !)
Claudie
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"If I were but of noble birth..." - Rod CorkinComment
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Could one say that Chopin is more prototypically Romantic? And what exactly are the characteristics of that period?Originally posted by Peter:
I've made the point before here but a good Chopin player rarely makes a good Beethoven player and vice-versa!
This comment hardly warrants a completely different topic, so I'll bring it up here. In my reading I came across the sentence: "other possibilities sounded with as little effect as a trio of penny whisltles might sound in a Wagner overture." Might the measure of a piece of music be how easily it is disrupted by extraneous sounds?
Music would, perhaps, be so much more interesting if listeners had never laid eyes on the instruments making the sounds.Comment
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by Jin:
Could one say that Chopin is more prototypically Romantic? And what exactly are the characteristics of that period?
This goes without saying - Chopin definitely belongs to the Romantics. One of the characteristics of the Romantics in the 1830's is a lowering of tension after the opening, unlike the Classical period which raised the tension to the centre of the work. There is also a weakening of the tonic-dominant relationship as well as an increase in chromatic harmony which lessens the importance of individual keys. Much greater rhythmic freedom is also apparent with a wide use of rubato.
This comment hardly warrants a completely different topic, so I'll bring it up here. In my reading I came across the sentence: "other possibilities sounded with as little effect as a trio of penny whisltles might sound in a Wagner overture." Might the measure of a piece of music be how easily it is disrupted by extraneous sounds?
Not really - that would make John Cage's 15 mins of silence the greatest piece ever written!
Music would, perhaps, be so much more interesting if listeners had never laid eyes on the instruments making the sounds.
With CD's today of course that is quite possible, however I don't agree - at the very first lesson with a new pupil I always show them the insides of the piano and explain how the sounds are produced - I think this is very important. Surely it is far more enjoyable to be present in the concert room and see as well as hear a symphony orchestra in action - just to see all the bows of the strings moving as one is a wonderful sight!
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'Man know thyself'
[This message has been edited by Peter (edited 08-10-2001).]'Man know thyself'Comment
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