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

The critically acclaimed recording by Gerhard Oppitz of the 32 Beethoven Piano Sonatas (previously only available separately) is now available as a boxed set. Piano News wrote: "Oppitz approaches the opening of the ”Waldstein” Sonata at exactly the correct speed and with the correct colouring: precise but not detached, passionate but always transparent……”

On the wake of the box-set featuring some live and studio recordings of Dino Ciani (CDS 413/1-6), which has met with great success, Dynamic releases another publication dedicated to the artistry of this fine pianist, who died tragically and prematurely almost thirty years ago.

This new set of nine CDs holds the entire cycle of Beethoven’s thirty-two piano sonatas which Ciani performed at the Unione Musicale in Turin in eight concerts, from 4th October to 29th November 1970, which were recorded but never published before. Listening to these recordings from over thirty years ago we clearly perceive the wealth, complexity and, in many ways, the novelty of Dino Ciani’s approach as a performer. With impressively profound introspection, Dino Ciani follows the extraordinary journey that leads him from opus 2 on to opus 111. It is perhaps in the last Sonatas that Ciani gives of his best. In a sort of ecstasy of sound, he exalts and savours the cantabile element in these compositions. Then he abandons himself unguardedly as he unleashes a musical force that seems to create itself out of nothing and to find its rules and justification in itself alone. Extraordinary are also Ciani’s encores: the Finale of the Hammerklavier Sonata, with dizzying counterpoint passages, and the entire Moonlight Sonata, opus 27 n. 2.

The enclosed booklet contains unpublished photos.

The pièce de résistance of Deutsche Grammophon’s Liszt 200th anniversary celebration is a 10-CD box that brings together five great piano virtuosos of the past in a staggeringly display of virtuosity and “old-style” pianism – quite unlike anything else on offer in Liszt Year.

The artists – Claudio Arrau, Alicia de Larrocha, Raymond Lewenthal, Benno Moiseiwitch and Egon Petri - can be regarded as Liszt’s heirs for their astounding virtuosic command, for having created a repertoire of their own, or for having studied with Liszt’s own pupils or grand-pupils. The excellent booklet essay by Jed Distler sets out the very convincing rationale behind the choices.

The box draws exclusively on recordings from the American Decca and Westminster labels, most of which have never been released on CD, and, in the case of Claudio Arrau, are now being released for the very first time.

Painstakingly restored, the recordings, from the 1950s and early 1960s, both mono and stereo, have come up wonderfully well. Arrau plays previously unreleased Beethoven (five favourite sonatas) and Chopin; De Larrocha offers pristine accounts of her core repertoire of Granados, Turina and Mompou; Lewenthal has scintillating Scriabin, an incandescent programme of Toccatas and Encores; Moiseiwitch, in his last recorded sessions (New York, 1961), ranges from Beethoven and Schumann to Mussorgsky; and Petri unfolds an unforgettable programme of Liszt and Busoni. Each artist has two CDs to display his or her powers. A summary of content is below.

PACKAGING

The capbox cover is based on one of the original Westminster LP covers, and the 32-page colour booklet replicates several of the original LP covers

Paul Lewis performed all the Beethoven piano sonatas on tour in the USA and Europe between the 2005 and 2007 seasons, in parallel with this complete recording of the cycle for harmonia mundi, now available as a boxed set for the first time.

(Volume 4 of the Sonatas received two Gramophone Awards in 2008 for Recording of the Year and Best Instrumental Recording.)

"one of the most highly prized recording marathons of recent years…an unmissable benchmark."Gramophone