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 great attempt at Everest
Hit: 3 Stars
The Beethoven piano sonatas-of all the master's works is the music that in Schnabel's famous phrase-is greater than can ever be played-on this side of the mortal divide at least.I have owned this set for quite a while and on the whole it is very satisfying-especially in the early sonatas-as the opus numbers go up the adrenalin level seems to drop and I feel Goode loses his way near the end of the cycle.However even the early sonatas are fraught with danger and Goode does great things here.All said the greatest (ongoing) cycle I've heard which really unleashes Beethoven to my mind is by Stephen Kovacevich on EMI-this is very special indeed and every other pianist pales into insignificance in comparison (with the exception of Gilels late Sonatas on DG).In comparison to Kovacevich Goode seems well mellow!Overall I feel Goode is more interested in the architecture of these pieces rather than their emotional content which is where Kovacevich excels.There are times though when Kovacevich could be better recorded. My advice for a cycle is to start collecting Kovacevich.
Free Music Review: some Goode some bad
Hit: 3 Stars
I have had this set for nearly two years and am still in two minds on how to regard it, feeling that I fall somewhere in between the reviews already written. Some is good and some seems (to me) to be bad. Firstly, I do not like the recorded sound at all. It is very close, dry and dull-sounding with none of the brightness in the upper range which I prefer (and I have to add that Goode's own vocal intrusions, his grunting and snuffling, are annoying at times). The early sonatas are too rigid and ungiving but the middle sonatas are mostly great. The 'Appasionata', especially in the finale, makes Gilel's sound earth-bound and Goode relishes the opportunity for virtuosity. The coda at the conclusion is played with stunning power and precision. The opening movement of op.106 is impressive but I always feel that he doesn't give it that total commitment of strength and power which it demands but while listening to the slow movement of the same sonata it is difficult to imagine it played any better...ever. Here the fluidity of the musical ideas are expressed with a great understanding of the ebb and flow of the music and the pools of musical stasis are even more effective when juxtaposed with the often declamatory and passionate interpretation of the main themes. The finale is similarly outstanding, sweeping the listener along on an extraordinary musical journey with barely a moment's pause. The ferocity and passion of the fugal texture is brilliantly realised. Op. 109 is not subtle enough, especially when compared with Kovacevich in the same piece but op.110 repairs the damage. The account of the last movement is simply great; listen to the repeat of the elegiac theme which returns after the first exposition of the fugue...Goode seems to conjure the music out of the depths of despair. In Op.111 the first movement is a titanic display of power and dramatic interpretation and the last movement reaches a suitably ethereal conclusion. This set is well worth considering, but Kempf may be an alternative consideration. The other alternative is to collect the sonatas seperately - my own personal feeling is that Kovacevich's on-going cycle (EMI) will be the one to collect in the coming years.Free Music Review: ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL !
Hit: 5 Stars
Out of the many recorded sets of the Beethoven Piano Sonatas I've heard, this one ranks at the very top of the list. The performances and the recording quality are simply terrific. Although you can purchase other sets of the "32" for less, this one is definately well worth paying extra.Free Music Review: A beautifully coherent cycle played with a unified vision.
Hit: 5 Stars
Goode's versions of these sonatas are at the top of those that I have heard. He plays the middle period pieces with a superb transparency that makes them as fresh as the new day. In the later pieces (especially 109, 110 and 111), he succeeds in communicating the magnificent weight and gravity that these masterworks bear with uncommon elegance and clarity, avoiding entirely the elephant-in-toe-shoes betrayal that these works can suffer in lesser hands. His version of 109 will forever remain one of my most treasured pieces of shiny plastic; I have to think that Beethoven himself would have been proud to hear it.Free Music Review: Terrible Piece of Junk
Hit: 1 Stars
This set exemplifies the kind of trash we've come to expect from the late 1990's classical music industry. From his bizzarely innaccurate interpretation of Beethoven's greatest works, to the poorly tuned piano (an upright?) that he performs the works on, this set is nothing more to me than an overpriced set of drink coasters. It's too bad that such a good musical label is reduced to putting out such low quality work. I'm never buying from them again.