Ludwig van Beethoven, Richard Goode - Beethoven: The Complete Sonatas
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Free Music Notes for Beethoven: The Complete Sonatas
Free Music Review: Beauty of Form and Substance
Hit: 5 Stars
There is a brief scene in the film 'Amadeus' where Salieri, enviously but in sublime awe, comments on the exquisite perfection of a musical phrase composed by Mozart. He could just as well have been describing the sonatas of Beethoven, time shifts aside. I have been listening to Richard Goode's set over and over, and while my personal taste firmly resides in the Romantic school with Mahler at the pinnacle, this set is a revelation, an epiphany of the brillance of Beethoven in a way I had not fully grasped before.Goode may not play at times with the emotional energy or pathos of other interpreters, but what he does so superlatively is illuminate Beethoven's profound understanding and mastery of musical structure and relationships, and above all, to make a phrase or embellishment seem utterly perfect. This is emotion of a different kind - the emotion from sheer beauty of musical architecture, as so wondrously exemplified in the simple, poignant Adagio of Opus 31, No. 1. Goode's approach is made even more compelling by his crisp, impeccable technique and a recording that gives the piano great immediacy with a rich, full sound. In even the most rapid runs, every note remains distinct and live.
It borders on folly to assert one set of sonatas as the best - it depends on personal taste, on mood, on one's level of tolerance to the limitations of older recording technology, but if you wish to gain a deeper appreciation of Beethoven's genius and be moved at the same time, you will be amply rewarded by Richard Goode.
Free Music Review: Transparent, consistent and beautifully recorded
Hit: 5 Stars
My favourite interpreter of these works remains Daniel Barenboim and his first complete cycle, though I have had much pleasure over the years from Mr Arrau and Mr Brendel. With Barenboim I found a joy and energy so why Mr Goode? I find that Mr Goode seems to bring less "personality" to his interpretation in that he seems to intrude less between the music and the listener and I get the impression the music is speaking directly to me. This may be a nonsense as I am not a musician myself, nor have I studied music. In addition, I believe the piano on this recording sounds sweeter, and more round with no idiosynchratic effects emphasised by recording techniques. I use a Meridian 506 CD player through a quality Australian made Hi Fi system. Finally, I find there is a satisfying constency of excellence between the early and late sonatas even though there will be times where I might prefer Mr Brendel's playing of, for example, Opus 109, though I find Mr Goode's playing of Opus 2 Number 3 perhaps beyond compare - again, a matter of taste. Let me just say in concluding, I cannot imagine being without Mr Goode's Beethoven sonatas after living with them over the past year.An essential purchase.
Free Music Review: my favorite beethoven sonatas and what they make me think of
Hit: 5 Stars
Sonata no. 8 in C minor, op. 13 (Pathétique)- Adagio: cantabile
My favorite of his sonatas, to me it evokes the silent calm of the very pale, slightly bluish face of a young woman lying on a slab in the busy morgue of a large city - perhaps Cincinnati? Around her, people walk back and forth holding cups of cold coffee and faint classic rock can be heard from a radio on a faraway desk.
This piece was used prominently in the coen bros film, The Man Who Wasn't There.
Sonata no. 14 in C-sharp minor, op. 27, no. 2 (Sonata quasi una Fantasia)
- Adagio sostenuto
I don't know why this is called the moonlight sonata - he didn't call it that. Some marketing guy working for the king must have been behind it. This first piece of the 14th suggests an operating theater, seen from above, bathed in white light. Around an unconscious patient, silent figures in green scrubs move with shiny instruments. At one end of the operating table, the chief surgeon delicately probes at the patient's exposed brain and goes about his job with almost religious dignity and reverence for the human body.
- Allegretto
A brighter piece, i imagine a Southern California mall before it opens to the public. the teenage retail clerks arrange the displays, log into the register, and roll up the security gates. the sunlight streams through overhead skylights onto green ferns around a small artificial stream in the nature diorama at the center of the mall, and an overweight guard can be seen trying to flirt with the 16 year old sales associate at Cracker Barrel.
- Presto agitato
A very fast tempo creates an atmosphere of a freeway cloverleaf, filmed in time-lapse and viewed at high speed. Details in the music suggest various cutaways to watch a hyperfast Cal Trans worker picking up orange cones around one exit, while the constant centipede-like stop and go of the daily morning commute continues behind him.
Sonata no. 15 in D major, op. 28 (Pastoral)
- Andante
Like clockwork, the rhythms repeat and overlap, much like the circuits on a computer board, as manufactured in a large room full of old asian women wearing white static-free paper garments over their clothing, and white static-free hair covers and gloves. Lined up in rows, each with the same detached look, they solder the various resistors and diodes in place with simple efficient movements. During the playful intermezzo (2:10), we go outside to see a young man leaning against the wall behind the building, taking a cigarette break. Then, back inside for hours more of the intensely detailed, but very repetitious, work.
- Scherzo: Allegro vivace
A heavy downpour at night has cleared the streets. Reflecting the red, green and blue lights of the surrounding stores and traffic signals, water collects around a gutter drain. Large yellow waxen leaves float and turn in circles as the shiny sidewalks are cleaned of litter and detritus. It's a cold and wet, but very peaceful, moment.
- Rondo: Allegro ma non troppo
A children's birthday party! Kids run in circles, laughing and clutching toys to their chests. A few men sit on wooden lawn chairs, satisfied, watching and gradually getting drunk while two happy mothers with messy hair try to corral the kids into the next party game. Little girls and boys, treating each other as equals, blind to gender for perhaps the last time in their lives.
The rest are [fair].
Free Music Review: Never Knew Beethoven Could Be That Dull....
Hit: 2 Stars
All right -- he CAN play. But if he is "correct" in how he plays Beethoven -- especially the middle sonatas -- then Richter, Horowitz, Schnabel, Serkin, Ashkenazy, and even Brendel are wrong. So you make the call....Worse, it's dull listening. There is little spaciousness to the recording quality, and no atmosphere.
Beethoven can be SO exciting -- but you'd never know it from these recordings.
Pedestrian is the right word.
Free Music Review: excellent set especially as the first one in your collection
Hit: 5 Stars
this set is the best overall digital set. the level of playing is consistently high - if u look very carefully u will find a better performance for almost each sonata elsewhere, but they will be scattered around many sets, most of have some failures which goode doesnt. goode plays beautifully, bringing out the beauty and charm in the early sonatas especially. what might sound clangorous with some other players sounds charming with him. especially in the late sonatas there are other pianists that bring out more of the deepth and spirituality of the works. but dont expect to find the best performance of every sonata in one complete set - no pianist can
achieve that. more over every other great beethoven pianist has much inferior sound (except kovacevich which does not have a complete cycle yet). so a good strategy is to start with this excellent set and then check out other complete sets (for example barenboim, kempff or schnabel) and some performances of certain sonatas which are classics - for example solomon on the late sonatas, gilels on most sonatas he recorded, and kovacevich on some.