Customer Reviews

Beethoven: Appassionata; Waldstein; The Tempest

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Talk about flash! Pizzazz! Day-Glo colors! ... And talk about tempi in the outer movements that are generally way too fast for me.

There is no doubt that Fazil Say, a young Turkish pianist who trained in Ankara, Düsseldorf and Berlin, has the technique of a real virtuoso. And it occurs to me that these three of Beethoven's most familiar sonatas -- all of them among the 'named' sonatas: 'Appassionata,' 'Waldstein,' 'Stürm' ('Tempest') -- can lend themselves to this sort of performance. Say's playing seems more determined to surprise us, excite us, make our jaws drop, than to plumb the depths of the music. This is not to say that he doesn't manage that at times -- in the delectable variation movement of the 'Appassionata', for instance, or even in the little Adagio of the 'Waldstein'-- but mainly one comes away with an impression of the pianist's technique than of the music's meaning.

I suspect there are those for whom these performances will be marvelous introductions to the music. But I also suspect that most of us who have long acquaintance with the works will be a bit disappointed, or irritated even.

I hope my description of the playing will help prospective buyers know what they are in for: stunning virtuosity, startling tempi (my goodness, I've never heard such a fast third movement of the 'Appassionata' and I frankly don't know how he managed it without breaking down!), absolutely clean articulation and wide dynamic range.

But I'm not likely to play this CD often.

Scott Morrison

I bought Say's Bach and this one as well. The music is divine and the way he plays is heavenly. He plays with such passion and energy conveying each emotion just the right way: no more no less. As to his humming (as one reviewer had mentioned), it is very low and it is not bothersome at all, on the contrary I tend to look at it as the artist's signature, a reflection of his state of mind, "spontaneous overflow of feelings" as Wordsworth would have it and a minute glimpse of the artist's passion for the work of art.

I will be ordering all of his other CDs as well.

(May be Chopin is on the way?)

Yes, he's too fast, but the phrasing is not always insensitive as one would guess from the timings. Recorded sound is very good, and at least 2 of the sonatas here call for gut-level excitement; which Say delivers. As 4-star reviewer Dr. Morrison indicated, the deserved admiration might not pull most listeners to repeated listening.

What made me gag was the teeny-bopper images of Say posing as some faux "Joe Cool" upper-middle class freshman posing as a friend of the unwashed, wearing a "working class" T-shirt mocking the "bourgeois" sports coat. The booklet listing the designer and source of every item of clothing he is wearing except his underwear (which is all you care about anyway, right?). This one vies with "Sensual Classics" covers for a new low in classical CD marketing. If this CD came in a brown paper bag I might have given it 4 stars also.

I'm not a newcomer to Say, and picked up this disc - without previewing it - on the strength of marvellous earlier performances in a wide range of repertoire (Bach, Mozart, Gershwin, Stravinsky).

Sadly, I found little to commend these performances other than their virtuosity. I got a headache both times that I played this disk, and there won't be a third. <ouch>

I bought this CD after visiting a rather weak concert performance of Waldstein. The pianist in question just didn't manage the technical difficulties. Knowing Fazil Say is a virtuoso I wanted to hear a new and technically perfect version. For sure that's what I got. Fazil plays everything in the speed of light and is technically brilliant but I find the result absolutely terrible. I can't stand it, after two of the sonatas I had to stop. I'll miss his version of "The Tempest" since I won't ever be able to put this record on again. I can't understand what he's doing. It's like he wants to win a contest of playing "Appassionata" and "Waldstain" as fast as possible. There's no depth in this recording, the touch is hollow and thin and he just hammers on lika a maniac. He gets one star for playing so fast. He gets the gold medal. He can join the olympics.