Ludwig van Beethoven, Richard Goode - Beethoven: The Complete Sonatas
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Free Music Notes for Beethoven: The Complete Sonatas
Free Music Review: a classic
Hit: 5 Stars
I recommend this set without hesitation to anyone considering a complete cycle of Beethoven's piano sonatas. Goode delivers powerful, thoughtful, sophisticated, assured performances across the board here. Furthermore these readings strike an excellent balance between subject and object, style and substance; and the architecture, the structure and form of the music is thoroughly understood and incorporated into Goode's interpretations (one of the most difficult tasks of classical musicians).
These discs make for an excellent benchmark in any collection, then. That is to say, while you will certainly want to hear other readings of certain of these sonatas---Pollini's almost religious combination of majesty and a sense of inner peace in the late sonatas, for example, or Kempff's indulgent elan in the better-know, "named" sonatas---Goode delivers outstanding, balanced performances that are as effective in the early, Haydn-esque sonatas as they are in the mysterious, ethereal late works.
These works take pride of place amongst humanity's very greatest acheivements; in music of such sublime depth there can of course be no final word or "definitive" interpretation. Nevertheless you can't go wrong with Goode's set. What a treasure!
Free Music Review: Easily the reference set of Beethoven sonatas
Hit: 5 Stars
There is no way that I could tell you about each of the performances in this set individually, but I can tell there wasn't one that I did not enjoy. For a long time now, Brendel's set has been the has been the one against which all others are compared, Goode has put an end to that. Richard Goode has officially produced the best all around set of Beethoven sonatas ever. The reason is simple. He doesn't go into the sonatas with a concept of how he's going to play them. He treats them all as they should be, different. He plays everything that Beethoven wrote, and then adds to it which is something that is becoming less popular in piano performance. He plays all of the composer's ornaments, articulations, and dynamic changes exactly as they are written, and then adds his personal touch. The result is a consistently beautifully played Beethoven set where the performer is playing masterfully but never getting in the way of the music. In this set we get the most intense Beethoven (He plays the Hammerklavier like no other) as well as the most meditatively serene. Shop around for different ones, but eventually I guarantee you will come back to Goode. Highest RecommendationFree Music Review: Vile...
Hit: 1 Stars
...truly vile.
I've had this set for over five years. Sometimes I return to it, thinking it can't possibly be as bad as I remembered. I usually find it's worse. It's boring, unemotional, empty, pedestrian rubbish. Having forked out for it, after reading some 'reviews' (ha ha) from supposedly authoratative sources, I tried so hard to like it...but I just can't. There's just nothing here except the notes. The recorded sound is suffocatingly close, the piano tones hard and ungiving. Was the set recorded in a telephone booth by any chance?
I guess the best performances are the ones of the late sonatas. The wonderful op.90 sonata in E minor is ok as is the tremendous 'Hammerklavier', op.106, even if the opening movement is under-powered. The fugue is a wild ride but compared with Gilels for example, there's no intricacy here. No thought.
Oh well. Buy it at your peril. I've got a set for sale...
Free Music Review: Psychopathic
Hit: 1 Stars
That is honestly the best word I can think of to describe this playing. It really is a crime againt Beethoven. There is simply no feeling or meaning anywhere; the complete lack of musical empathy is shocking. Ignore the critical hype; there's plently of "technique" to listen to, but no substance. If you want Beethoven that means something, look to Alfred Brendel.
Free Music Review: Wow and meh...all in one boxed set
Hit: 4 Stars
Thus far, I have not yet found a cycle of the Beethoven piano sonatas that I could call definitive. As a result, I'm tempted to say that to own "definitive" Beethoven sonatas one needs two sets: Wilhelm Kempff's and this, Richard Goode's.As an earlier, melodramatic reviewer pointed out, Goode can get a bit too caught up in technical mastery. I agree to an extent; while certain moments are breathtaking in their precise delivery, occasionally I feel there's meat in the music that Goode ignores. This is particularly true of the Appasionata, and...well...most of the later ones, to be honest. It is for this reason that having Kempff's recording is particularly helpful - he, not Goode, knows how to play the later sonatas.
However, Goode's take on the earlier sonatas is absolutely spectacular. They are buoyant, lively romps that are an absolute joy to hear. My personal favorite is the Moonlight - I feel too many players get overly dramatic to the point of just dripping with sap. Not Goode. His take brings out the fun other movements, and allows the first movement to be simply a beautiful, serene picture (with some darker undertones). You get the idea.
Again, this isn't perfect. And as the price of Kempff's set is so low, it is probably worth buying both. But for the early sonatas, it's hard to do much better than this.