Ludwig van Beethoven, Richard Goode - Beethoven: The Complete Sonatas
|
Our Price: $99.98 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $56.95 (click here) Category: Music CD See more new music releases 
|
|---|
Canadian Music Store
Free Music Notes for Beethoven: The Complete Sonatas
Free Music Review: Beethoven Sonatas as played by Richard Goode
Hit: 5 Stars
This set of the Beethoven Sonatas is a wonderfully enjoyable adventure. Richard Goode has an amazing sensitivity to every little detail and texture within these sonatas as well as a perfectly sound overall concept of each piece. This recording exemplifies Mr. Goode's pianistic and musical maturity. For those who have not had the pleasure of hearing him live, I urge you to do so. The depth and beauty of the sound he gets from the piano is inspiring. I have had the absolute joy and honor of working with him personally on some of my repetoire recently, and it was truly one of the defining moments of my studies. This pianist is someone whose ability towers over that of my teacher's (which is saying a LOT!), and I would urge the listener to simply bask in his rich, warm sound and enjoy the pure beauty of his interpretations. To compare him to Arthur Schnabel is both unfair and musically distasteful. Both Schnabel and Goode are pianists who excelled greatly in the same genre, and they are both admirable for their accomplishments. I highly recommend listeners expose themselves to both Schnabel and Goode's recordings, but as for this one: simply amazing!Free Music Review: Sexy Beethoven
Hit: 5 Stars
To previous...The earlier review is dead on - this is a subtle, more elegant Beethoven. In fact, frankly, I strongly dislike Wilhelm Kempff's recordings.The playing here contains the intensity that is inherent in Beethoven's music,and Goode brings across every drop of passion that Beethoven's music contains. However, he DOES NOT try to squeeze out drops that do not exist. Beethoven's music has its limits in terms of emotion - he's not Wagner, so we have to remember that his music does contain SOME restraint. Goode remembers this. Bravo Richard Goode!
Free Music Review: Not Kempff, but excellent
Hit: 5 Stars
I'm tempted to say that the earlier reviews accusing this Beethoven cycle of being dull are written by people with no ear for subtlety. This is certainly not the most OBVIOUS set of Beethoven sonatas ever written, but that's half the charm of this set.Here, Beethoven's music is not pounded around. It is treated more delicately - this does NOT mean without passion. The Moonlight Sonata's first movement because eerily transcendant...without becoming thick and self-indulgent. The Pathetique is not played with the dynamic range of, say Kempff's recordings, but they're instead played with a ferocity and intensity that is lacking from Kempff's reading.
This cycle is quite different from other cycles I've heard. However, it works beautifully.
Free Music Review: A Very Fine Set of Beethoven's Sonatas
Hit: 5 Stars
I have found that when approaching so substantial a body of work as Beethoven's piano sonatas, it is useful to have at least one complete set to serve as a reference, an anchor if you will, to bring coherence to the whole. Sometimes it is difficult to get the big picture when listening to several artists interpreting different sonatas. And in approaching Beethoven's piano sonatas, especially as a complete cycle, it seems a bit silly to start debating whether this set or that is the "best". When you have complete cycles and/or substantial recordings from every A-list pianist from Artur Schnabel to Daniel Barenboim, the questions really not which is "best" but whose approach is most suited to your tastes.Richard Goode's set is firmly classical (as opposed to romantic) in all ways, including the sound of the piano (emphasizing the pianoforte aspects of the instrument). So if you are looking for playing that emphasizes the wilder, revolutionary aspects of the music, this is not the set for you. Goode chooses instead to emphasize the music's heritage (and debt) to Haydn and Mozart by concentrating on line and structure. To put it another way, Goode chooses to look backwards for inspiration, rather than forwards. As my own personal tastes favor the classical to the romantic, his approach suits me perfectly.
Personally, I find this set most satisfying. And while several other reviewers here seem to feel this set is somewhere between boring and awful, it should be noted that Gramophone, The Penquin Guide and The Rough Guide all consider this to be one of the best sets in recent years. Does this mean I no longer listen to Brendel, Schnabel, Jando, O'Conor or Gieseking? Absolutely not, nor will it keep me from buying some Solomon, Gilels and Kempff as the mood strikes me. The point is that I have an anchor, and a pretty good one at that.
Free Music Review: Substantial renditions ...
Hit: 5 Stars
I have had this set since 1998 and have listened to the music numerous times. Goode's work here is first rate. The early sonatas are exceptionally well done and very moving. I found the numbers quite consistent with their historical times. Friends, this set is a "must have". Just fantastic. One reviewer found the sound quality shoddy. I found no such thing. The sound is full and robust.