Beethoven: Complete Piano Sonatas Vol 4 / Lewis

Album Summary
Notes & Reviews
Also Purchased
Works Details

Album Summary

Beethoven, Ludwig van : Sonata for Piano no 5 in C minor, Op. 10 no 1

Beethoven, Ludwig van : Sonata for Piano no 6 in F major, Op. 10 no 2

Beethoven, Ludwig van : Sonata for Piano no 7 in D, Op. 10 no 3

Beethoven, Ludwig van : Sonata for Piano no 15 in D, Op. 28 "Pastorale)

Beethoven, Ludwig van : Sonata for Piano no 19 in G minor, Op. 49 no 1

Beethoven, Ludwig van : Sonata for Piano no 20 in G major, Op. 49 no 2

Beethoven, Ludwig van : Sonata for Piano no 26 in E flat major, Op. 81a "Les Adieux"

Beethoven, Ludwig van : Sonata for Piano no 30 in E major, Op. 109

Beethoven, Ludwig van : Sonata for Piano no 31 in A flat major, Op. 110

Beethoven, Ludwig van : Sonata for Piano no 32 in C minor, Op. 111

Performer

Paul Lewis (Piano)

Composer

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827)

Notes & Reviews:

Young British pianist Paul Lewis - a student and protege of Alfred Brendel - has been hailed as one of the great new talents of the century. Preceded by a worldwide recital tour, his recording cycle of all the Beethoven piano sonatas for Harmonia Mundi has received phenomenal notices in the press. Both of the first two volumes were named Editor's Choice in Gramophone magazine, while Volume 1 was praised by The Times of London as "a triumph of both passion and intellect."

Gramophone Classical Music Guide
Only an extended essay could do justice to the fourth and final volume of Paul Lewis's Beethoven sonata cycle... You may well cherish your beloved sets by Schnabel, Kempff and Brendel (to name but three), but Lewis surely gives you the best of all possible worlds; one devoid of idiosyncrasy yet of a deeply personal musicianship.

Where else can you hear Op 10 No 2's madcap finale given with such unfaltering lucidity and precision? Try Op 28's finale for an ultimate pianistic and musical finesse or the opening Allegro where Lewis makes you conscious of how the music's gracious and mellifluous unfolding is momentarily clouded by mystery and energised by drama. In such hands the final pages of Op 111 do indeed become 'a drift towards the shores of Paradise' (Edward Sackville-West) and throughout all these performances you sense how 'the great effort of interpretation' (Michael Tippett) is resolved in playing of a haunting poetic commitment and devotion. Such playing is hardly for lovers of histrionics or inflated rhetoric, but rather for those in search of other deeper, more refreshing attributes, for Beethoven's inner light and spirit.

Somehow Lewis's quiet and distinctive voice can lift even the most familiar phrase on to another sphere and his playing throughout, shorn of accretion, makes all these sonatas shine with their first radiance and eloquence. Admirably recorded, this three-disc set is crowned with a scholarly and illuminating essay by Jean-Paul Montagnier.

The Times
At times in the towering final sonatas Lewis perhaps holds too much in reserve. Greater firepower could only enhance Beethoven's visionary thinking, even when the marking for No 30's finale indicates "mezza voce", a half-voice. But this reserve also leads to masterful moments. There's No 15's balm and calm, plus the fluent grace in the Op 49 duo - pedagogic trifles for which any overkill would be fatal...buy Lewis's Beethoven with confidence, and listen and explore for many years to come.

Gramophone Magazine
Somehow, Lewis's quiet and distinctive voice can lift even the most familiar phrase on to another sphere.

BBC Music Magazine
Appropriately enough this final volume ends with the last sonata triptych of Opp. 109-111. Lewis plays all three works with characteristic warmth and beauty of tone, and you're not likely to hear them more sensitively and intelligently done.

Reviews

There are currently no reviews, be the first one!

Also Purchased

Works Details