Prices shown exclude VAT. (UK tax is not payable for deliveries to United States.)
See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  |
Recording dates: 1952 (No. 29 - mono recording) 1958 (Nos. 8, 14, 21, 23) 1961 Nos. 15, 26, 30, 32) 1963 (Nos. 1, 5, 6, 7, 12, 17, 18, 25, 28, 31) 1966 (No. 4) 1968 (Nos. 2, 9, 10, 11, 19, 20) 1969 (Nos. 3, 13, 16, 22, 24, 27) | 
| | Decca - 4672582 (CD - 8 discs) Normally: $65.75 Special: $52.50 |
| | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
|
|
| |  | (excluding Nos. 19 and 20 - Op. 49)
Recording and performing the complete cycle of Beethoven Piano Sonatas has long been the reserve for the Grand Master or Mistress, a reward for expert hands, following long and storied careers. Here, in a bold and controversial new recording project, the 24 year-old HJ Lim will prove that she is ready now. Lim, who has already performed the sonatas in critically acclaimed 8-day concert series in France, Germany and Japan, will release the complete sonatas in a deluxe, 8-CD slipcased edition. “I view these sonatas by Beethoven as the most intense diary, in which genius expresses, or even illustrates, all the facets of a life that is sometimes sublimated, and idealized, and often deeply moving by its realism. To perform Beethoven's sonatas is not just to interpret music, but is also an attempt to understand the multi-faceted psychology of a human being. It is, in any case, an attempt to bring to light one's own truth. If Beethoven's music can help us understand the human being that he was, so can entering Beethoven's life help us understand his music.” “All these reflections would not be valid without a source coming from Beethoven himself or from one of his close contemporaries, the many accounts from his close relations that we have, also the letters and personal notes are therefore very important. It does indeed help us place ourselves within the composer's lifetime and cancel as much as possible of the distance that separates us from him. As Beethoven's music is profoundly human, we can today still understand it with our hearts. And yet there is a crucial element that as an interpreter we must urgently work on, which is to "re-actualize" the impact and shock that this music could create at the time. Each sonata should be conveyed with all the freshness and innovatory inspiration it could produce in the eyes of Beethoven's contemporaries. This is the difficult role and heavy responsibility of the interpreter. All composers need the indispensable assistance of interpreters in order to survive and communicate their ideas to a larger number, and for that their "divinity" could be transmitted to the public. However, I feel that I, as interpreter, I am not only serving the composer, but I am using myself in my turn, composers as my intermediary, as the interpreters of the divinity, to get myself closer to the Muse.” HJ Lim NB Lim has chosen to omit the two small Op. 49 sonatas on the grounds that Beethoven didn't intend them for publication “When her idiosyncratic pianism is consumed in bulk, one seems method in her madness, as with Glenn Gould's. As the finale of her Hammerklavier attests, Lim is blessed - and cursed - with amazing technical dexterity; the fact that this movement is near-flawless is offset by the way the music coalesces into a frantic blur at moments of peak intensity...In her opening Allegros she possesses the touch of a true Beethovenian.” BBC Music Magazine, September 2012 **** “[Lim] takes chances, and the vibrant yet quirky characteristics in her playing I observed in my review of Vol. 1 continue to rampage throughout the remaining works...Lim's liberties convince the most when they intensify the music's inherent character...In sum, even at her most wrong-headed, Lim's strong personality and obvious Beethovenian affinity bode well for her mature remarks 20 years from now.” Gramophone Magazine, September 2012 “[The Hammerklavier] stands as a representative of Lim’s strengths...Without picking over every sonata, I would say that you can find great enjoyment with HJ Lim, but even with gruff Beethovenian directness, tremendous verve and some remarkably expressive moments and passages, this is not a set which will dislodge the great names” MusicWeb International, July 2012 “Her romantic approach, full of impulsive accelerations, would be perfect for Liszt, and might please listeners in search of a Beethoven pushed further into the 19th century than history made possible.” The Times, 25th May 2012 *** | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
|
|
| |  |
| | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
|
|
| |  |
| | | Usually despatched in 8 - 10 working days. |
|
|
| |  |
| | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
|
|
| |  | (Recorded 1951-56)
“Wilhelm Kempff was the most inspirational of Beethoven pianists. Those who have cherished his earlier stereo cycle for its magical spontaneity will find Kempff's qualities even more intensely conveyed in this mono set, recorded between 1951 and 1956. Amazingly the sound has more body and warmth than the stereo, with Kempff's unmatched transparency and clarity of articulation even more vividly caught, both in sparkling Allegros and in deeply dedicated slow movements. If in places he's even more personal, some might say wilful, regularly surprising you with a new revelation, the magnetism is even more intense, as in the great Adagio of the Hammerklavier or the final variations of Op-111, at once more rapt and more impulsive, flowing more freely. The bonus disc, entitled 'An All-Round Musician', celebrates Kempff's achievement in words and music, on the organ in Bach, on the piano in Brahms and Chopin as well as in a Bachian improvisation, all sounding exceptionally transparent and lyrical. Fascinatingly, his pre-war recordings of the Beethoven sonatas on 78s are represented too. Here we have his 1936 recording of the Pathétique, with the central Adagio markedly broader and more heavily pointed than in the mono LP version of 20 years later.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
|
|
| |  |
Maria Grinberg’s performances of the Beethoven Piano Sonatas are still benchmark recordings and are here released for the first time as a 9 CD box set. | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
|
|
| |  | Beethoven: The Sonata Legacy
Recorded live at the Semper Opera, Dresden across 7 concerts during Buchbinder’s 2010-2011 residency with the Staatskapelle Dresden this recording is Buchbinder’s second complete Beethoven cycle, the first being a studio version from 1981 and is his first live version. "With this new complete Beethoven cycle, I was first and foremost concerned with its musical spirit“ explained Rudolf Buchbinder whilst talking about the special character of his new recording. "It only appears when the musician is making music right there live in front of the audience. When you record in the studio, you are less nervous, you play in a more controlled way and are more focussed on other issues than when you perform on the concert platform“. His intense focus on the works of Beethoven as well as the second recording of the complete Beethoven cycle has also influenced Rudolf Buchbinder’s concert schedule, performing his works in over 40 cities, including Vienna, Munich, Hamburg, Zurich, Buenos Aires, St Petersberg and Milan. “The new Waldstein is at once oracular and masterly, while the new Hammerklavier maintains a balance between emotional restraint and furious abandon. And I have never heard the conclusion of Op. 110 sound so convincingly 'right' as it does here...the new versions - though you might quarrel with specific interpretations - deserves a place among the great Beethoven recordings of all time.” BBC Music Magazine, February 2013 ***** | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
|
|
| |  | Beethoven - Piano Sonatas
Beethoven: | Piano Sonata No. 2 in A major, Op. 2 No. 2 Eroica Variations, Op. 35 Piano Sonata No. 3 in C major, Op. 2 No. 3 Piano Sonata No. 4 in E flat major, Op. 7 Piano Sonata No. 5 in C minor, Op. 10 No. 1 Piano Sonata No. 6 in F major, Op. 10 No. 2 Piano Sonata No. 7 in D major, Op. 10 No. 3 Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13 'Pathétique' Piano Sonata No. 10 in G major, Op. 14 No. 2 Piano Sonata No. 11 in B flat major, Op. 22 Piano Sonata No. 12 in A flat major, Op. 26 'March Funebre' Piano Sonata No. 13 in E flat major, Op. 27 No. 1 'Quasi una fantasia' Piano Sonata No. 14 in C sharp minor, Op. 27 No. 2 ‘Moonlight' Piano Sonata No. 15 in D major, Op. 28 'Pastorale' Piano Sonata No. 16 in G major, Op. 31 No. 1 Piano Sonata No. 17 in D minor, Op. 31 No. 2 'Tempest' Piano Sonata No. 18 in E flat major, Op. 31 No. 3 'The Hunt' Piano Sonata No. 19 in G minor, Op. 49 No. 1 Piano Sonata No. 20 in G major, Op. 49 No. 2 Piano Sonata No. 21 in C major, Op. 53 'Waldstein' Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57 'Appassionata' Piano Sonata No. 25 in G major, Op. 79 Piano Sonata No. 26 in E flat major, Op. 81a 'Les Adieux' Piano Sonata No. 27 in E minor, Op. 90 Piano Sonata No. 28 in A major, Op. 101 Piano Sonata No. 29 in B-flat major, Op. 106 'Hammerklavier' Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109 Piano Sonata No. 31 in A flat major, Op. 110 Piano Sonatas WoO 47 'Kurfürsten Sonatas' Nos. 1 & 2 |
| | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
|
|
| |  |
Regis presents classic recordings of the complete Beethoven sonatas at an exceptional price. Wilhelm Kempff’s mono set is often regarded as superior to his later stereo set and appears here, newly transferred and organised sequentially, in a beautifully packaged 9-CD wallet box. | | | This item is currently out of stock at the UK distributor. You may order it now but please be aware that it may be six weeks or more before it can be despatched. |
|
|
| |
|
Penguin Guide