Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 29 in B-flat major, Op. 106 'Hammerklavier'

A legendary 'Hammerklavier' from the genius of Richter; who reduced the audience to holding their collective breath, to avoid missing the last largo evolving into an irresistible allegro risoluto.

Live recordings: June 2 1965 [No. 27]; May 18 1986 [No. 28]; June 1975 [Hammerklavier] reissued from PR254022 authorised by Richter in 1996.

The Russian pianist Sviatoslav Richter (1915–1997) was one of the greatest interpreters of the 20th century, along with his compatriots Emil Gilels, David Oistrakh and Mstislav Rostropovich. As Richard Osborne says of Richter’s playing in his booklet note, “Bravura technique matched to high intelligence and a richly developed musical imagination is a rare combination of qualities in any instrumentalist.”

Richter made his debut in the West in 1960 with Beethoven’s Piano Sonata op.2 no.3 at a recital in New York. Beethoven’s ‘Hammerklavier’ Sonata was one of the main features of Richter’s programming in the summer of 1975 in Prague, London and Aldeburgh, the latter performed one week prior to London and recorded on BBC Legends.

Richter’s live recitals catch him at his very best compared to the confines of the studio. The 1975 recital in London was considered a landmark, one of the greatest that Richter gave in this country. Richard Osborne has written in the booklet notes, “As Richter’s performance vividly attests, the ‘Hammerklavier’ is from first note to last a work of extraordinary lucidity and clear-sightedness.” The Beethoven Piano Sonata No.3 op.2 no.3 and the three Bagatelles op.126, which formed the other works played in all the 1975 concerts, attest to Richter’s great understanding of Beethoven.

This is the first time that this London recital has been issued commercially on CD in an authorised version and it is remastered here in excellent stereo.

The brilliant 24-year-old Korean pianist HJ Lim, who signed an exclusive contract with EMI Classics in September 2011, has recorded her first project for the label, an ambitious traversal of the Complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas. Lim, a Yamaha exclusive artist, recorded the sonatas on a Yamaha CFX concert grand piano in July and August 2011, grouping them into eight themes. The recordings will be released as four 2-CD sets over the course of 2012 with a complete deluxe box set to be available at the conclusion of the project.

Pianists who record the Beethoven sonatas cycle usually do so at the peak of long and storied careers. With this bold and controversial recording project, HJ Lim aims to prove that at the age of 24 she is ready to record the Beethoven sonatas now. She has the intelligence and artistic vision and her powerful performances have been captivating both traditional and new audiences. She has already performed complete Beethoven sonatas cycles over eight days each in France, Germany and Japan.

The great German pianist, Wilhelm Backhaus (1884–1969), made his first concert tour at the age of sixteen. He toured widely throughout his life, making his U.S. debut in 1912 (his final concert there took place in 1962 when he was 78!). Backhaus was well known for his interpretations and recordings of Beethoven, Mozart and Brahms and was also much admired as a chamber musician.

His 1909 abridged recording of the Grieg Concerto was not only the first recording of that work, but the first time any concerto had ever been recorded. Apart from this, he was also the first pianist to record the Chopin Études in 1928. He became a Swiss citizen in 1930 and reached the age of 85. The Times praised Backhaus in its 1969 obituary for having upheld the classical German music tradition of the Leipzig Conservatory.

These recordings have never been issued before on CD, and are in excellent sound for the period. This 1959 concert gives us a rare experience of hearing Backhaus caught ‘live’ in the Beethovenhalle in Bonn in a typical programme of Schubert and Beethoven.

The CD contains a great performance of Beethoven’s monumental ‘Hammerklavier’ Sonata. According to the pianist and Beethoven specialist Stephen Kovacevich, Backhaus was the only pianist to have understood the work.

The booklet notes have been written by the distinguished musicologist and writer Bernard Jacobson, who draws comparisons through Backhaus’s playing of the Schubert Impromptu in B flat major and Beethoven’s earlier sonata op.10 no.2 with his interpretation of the ‘Hammerklavier’.

Andreas Haefliger’s provocative and trend-setting Perspectives series – juxtaposing the seminal sonatas of Beethoven within the context of works by other composers – reaches its fifth volume with two titans of the piano literature: the groundbreaking Hammerklavier Sonata, and Book One of the Swiss ‘Years of Pilgrimage’ by Franz Liszt, this year widely celebrated on the bicentenary of his birth.

Haefliger’s critically and commercially successful Perspectives series mirrors his live recitals, and vivid memories linger in audiences who have heard his numerous performances of these works throughout Europe and the USA.

As both composer and performing virtuoso, the piano was central to Beethoven's life. However, his relationship with the instrument turned out to be a love-hate affair, and few, if any models satisfied him. He wrote to the piano manufacturer Johann Streicher that 'the pianoforte is still the least studied and least developed of all instruments'. On the other hand, could the pianos of Beethoven's time withstand the elemental power and dynamism of his home grown keyboard technique and passionate, uncouth performing style? By all accounts Beethoven took to the piano as a tornado descends upon a modest frame house, frequently leaving behind a trail of broken strings and stuck hammers, and shaking up his colleagues in the wake.

The two sonatas featured on this release charted unprecedented paths of sonority and virtuosity, although the musical and pianistic aims radically differ. Ashkenazy re-recorded them both, the 'Hammerklavier' for his complete Beethoven sonata cycle, and the 'Waldstein' as a digital remake for a separate CD. The rare and much sought-after 1967 recording of the 'Hammerklavier' - Ashkenazy's first of any Beethoven sonata for Decca - is sharply delineated and full of tensile energy, the fugal finale's gnarlier sequences more incisively articulated than his later remake.

"the most totally satisfying pianist of his generation. Even in this immense and sprawling score he succeeds (as few have done) in making every note [of the 'Hammerklavier'] a moment of passage, every phrase an urging toward the next" Alan Rich, New York magazine