Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 16 in G major, Op. 31 No. 1

Markus Schirmer presents us with colourful and exciting performances played on a magnificent Fazioli grand piano.

The Canadian musician Glenn Gould was undoubtedly one of the greatest pianists of all time. To mark the 75th anniversary of his birth, and the 25th anniversary of his death, Sony BMG Masterworks presents this seminal artist’s vinyl recordings as re-mastered CDs, designed to replicate the exact artwork of the original gramophone records in miniaturised form. Already issued as part of an 80-CD box set (88697130942), these albums are now being made available individually.

‘A little more and I would have ended my life... only my art held me back’, says Beethoven in his ‘Heiligenstadt Testament’.

Partly contemporary with this key document of summer 1802, these three sonatas open up the ‘new paths’ that were to enable the composer to surmount the prospect of almost total deafness. Paul Lewis chose to inaugurate his complete recording of the sonatas by plunging into the heart of this Tempest.

“Riveting playing that draws favourable comparisons with Arrau and Pollini” was how The Gramophone described Stewart Goodyear’s previous release of Beethoven’s late sonatas (MARQUIS81507). This new release features some of the composer’s most popular sonatas, including those known as the “Moonlight”, the “Pastoral” and the “Tempest”.

A native of Toronto in Canada, pianist Stewart Goodyear is an accomplished young artist known for his musical imagination, elegant style and exquisite technique. He has performed with many of the major orchestras of the world including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, the Academy of St Martin- in-the-Fields, the Montreal Symphony, and the Atlanta Symphony. He has also formed a highly successful partnership with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and its long term Music Director, Paavo Jarvi with whom he has frequently appeared. His discography includes critically acclaimed performances of the concertos of Gershwin and Leroy Anderson on the best selling Telarc disc entitled “American Classics”.

The beginning of the 19th century marked a new phase in Beethoven’s development as an innovator. Each sonata from that period explores new and unexpected ways of approaching the sonata. The piano writing is more orchestral, expanding the role of the sonata from the living room to the concert hall. The virtuoso is born and the "middle" sonatas nurtured him.

Recorded: September 2002 (Op. 22 and Op. 31, No. 1), October 2006 (Op. 31, No. 2) in Brussels, Belgium

“To play Beethoven’s Piano Sonata in G major, op.31 no. 1 in front of and ‘in the shadow of’ Wilhelm Backhaus, on his 85th birthday, must certainly be the highest demand on a young interpreter. Idil Biret has taken up this challenge and brilliantly overcome it. Her playing is full of temperament and nerve, her technical skill as impressive as her sense of shape and nuances. When at the end of the concert Backhaus so cordially thanked his colleague, she was entitled to consider this as being ‘knighted’”. FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG

“Especially with Beethoven Idil Biret proved herself a great artist with breathtaking depth of expression and dramatic performing power…The big applause was fully deserved.” KURIER (Vienna)

This is the fourth and final volume of the Beethoven Piano Sonata series performed by Walter Gieseking.

Korstick’s Beethoven celebrated Beethoven cycle needs practically no introduction. The artist has remained faithful to Beethoven’s scores, and the numerous awards and superlative reviews which he has received for this series confirm that his approach leads to excellent performances.

Rare recordings made between 1931-1949