Customer Reviews

Beethoven: The Complete Piano Sonatas & Concertos [Box Set]

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"Great Music!" can sound equally stunning and magnificent in the hands of many diverse interpreters. Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas certainly make a good case to be classified as "Great Music!", and the variety of recordings of the entire 32 is more than ample evidence for such a classification.

This set features recordings made in the 1960s by the Chilean pianist Claudio Arrau, and supplements the sonatas with the complete concertos and some variations. Arrau is very thought provoking and exploratory in his readings. This is not Beethoven for the light hearted. The readings feature a wide dynamic range and emotional expressiveness. You are ever aware that it is not just Beethoven's thoughts that are being expressed in the playing; Arrau's own feelings are as ever present as the composer's. I agree with one reviewer who finds Arrau a little lacking in the scherzos. But, I can easily dismiss the shortage of "playfulness" in some moments when I get interpretations that fathom some of the great depths this music has to it.
No one cycle of the 32, in my opinion, can lay claim to be superior over all others, even in any one of the sonatas. I would not want to be without this set. But then, I also would not want to be without Kempff, Brendel, Schnabel, or Gilels either. All have equal strong merit.

So if you could only choose one, why might you choose this set? If you are a great fan of Schumann, Brahms, and perhaps Schubert, then you will likely find these performaces more fitting. They look forward to the future that Beethoven certainly paved the way for, a future that was more expressive and expansive. If you are a fan more of Mozart and Haydn, you may find the readings a bit heavy and introspective.

Also, consider this set if you want one stop for the sonatas, concertos, and variations.

The concertos, another genre of Beethoven's works deserving of the "Great Music!" designation, are given similarly unforgettable Arrau performances with Haitink and the Concertgebouw Orchestra.

I find myself listening to the Eroica variations in this box more than anything else. The audio recording is not of the demonstration-quality that the Gilels has, but Arrau plays with more herioc feeling and captures the sense of occasion in the work in a way Gilels seems to miss entirely.

Philips has pulled off one of their best remastering jobs with this compliation. The boxed set was released shortly before Philips started their award-winning "Philips 50" series of reissues. The care taken with these Arrau remasterings makes me suspect they were a sort of "tune up" for the bigger and more publicized project that was to follow.

The documentation is decent but not exhaustive. One minor quibble is with the box. It is just a wee bit too small for the disks and booklet to fit comfortably.

The price is very low on a per disk basis.

I have been living with the Arrau/Beethoven sonatas for over 30 years beginning with lp's pressed in the U.S., then imported from Holland, then the initial cd's & now this remastered cd box set. The latest technology brings additional life and timbre to Arrau's miraculous sound so I highly recommend this latest incarnation of what are indisputably great Beethoven recordings.

As other reviewers have observed, not all of Arrau's treatments are equally inspired; but the overall level of playing & interpretation is so remarkable that there isn't much to quibble with. The primary complaint that one reads about Arrau is that he frequently played too slowly. (Conversely it can be said that Schnabel, the yardstick by which all Beethoven pianists have been measured for 75 years, often played too fast. His slow movements were divine, his fast movements could obliterate the music.) While Arrau did sometimes sound too deliberate in certain pieces of music which his temperament seemed ill-suited for (the Chopin waltzes come to mind), the fact remains that he was an enormously insightful and imaginative artist who often played with tremendous passion. Many of his interpretations include plenty of fireworks where appropriate, however others were so sublime that only experts were aware of how his gigantic technique was seemingly effortlessly employed in extremely difficult passages. (Contrary to one reviewer's statements that appear below, his playing was neither "messy" on disc nor in any of the numerous recitals I attended.)

The supreme statements of Arrau's Beethoven can be heard in the Appassionata and the late sonatas, especially the Hammerklavier. The Funeral March, Pastoral, Les Adieux, Waldstein & Tempest sonatas are also outstanding as are the Eroica and C minor variations. Many of the early sonatas sparkle as well. Out of the 32 sonatas, only one is disappointing: the Moonlight whose final movement is curiously flat. Much comment has been made on Arrau's reading of op.111. I find that the opening bars which he positions with such grandeur almost border on overstatement, something which Arrau must have re-thought as his approach on a reading on a BBC dvd filmed ca. 1970 is tighter. My recollection of his performance in concert (1971-2) is that the opening statement was also somewhat less rhetorical but still very effective. In summary, the cd reading is one of overwhelming power.

There are so many high points in these recordings (the fourth concerto is stupendous) that it would take far more words than are allotted by Amazon to cover them all. In short: immensely satisfying music that will lead the listener to a new appreciation for Beethoven.

This set should be considered indispensable by all lovers of the piano and/or Beethoven. I won't bother anyone with a review of any particular performance. It is enough to list a few of the many virtues of this set.

VALUE
It may seem like a lot of money but consider that you get over 1,000 minutes spread over 14 CD's.

INTERPRETATION
In my view, Arrau was the greatest interpreter of Beethoven of his generation. I will never forget seeing him perform the Emperor. Some may object to the languid tempi but to my ear, they are just right. The arietta of op.111 is sublime.

RECORDING
There is some faint background noise and hissing, but pay no attention. For the age of the recordings, the Philips' engineers have done an outstanding job.

My only complaint (and it is very small) is that the liner notes do not do the set the treatment it deserves. Barely 5 pages with few insights seems odd, to be charitable about it.

Nevertheless, a treasure to enjoy over and over again. Unreservedly recommended.

Claudio Arrau's Sonatas set is one for the ages. It is thoughtful, musically honest and inspired like no one else's. True, it took me some time to realize this. But I've come to like Arrau's interpretations, more than any other pianist's. I don't think it would right to talk about 'the best' Beethoven cycle, as there isn't just one perfect way to the top, but so far I consider Arrau's performances deeper and more satisfying than anyone else's. He is unmatched in revealing the essence of the sonatas, and no one can hold a candle to Arrau's injections of drama in fairly every piece. It is indeed as if you're living through the sonatas yourself, as one other reviewer said.

Arrau takes a very serious, almost dark and tragic, approach to the sonatas. He may miss some of the music's humor because of that, but on the whole the effect is very rewarding. On paper it may seem that Beethoven's earlier works do not profit from Arrau's approach, but it's not true in reality. He performs these pieces as if they are just as important as the later works, and hearing him I can only prove him right. I've not yet heard anyone who makes these sometimes ignored pieces so interesting and powerful. The serious weight he gives to the very first sonata is amazing, especially in the last movement. The op.7 sonata is much more than just a pretty dancing piece. And even in the normally sunny second sonata, its dark sides are most significant in Arrau's performance. The fifth sonata is played quite slowly but with so much content and attention to every moment that it is just breathtaking. Overall, Arrau's bold and thoughtful playing reveals a great amount of hidden treasures in these sonatas and lets every phrase sing with great beauty.

Beethoven's middle-period works like the Moonlight, Tempest, Waldstein and Appassionata are in equally superb hands, especially in the Appassionata whose outer movements are greatly intimidating and violent. No one quite captures the torrent towards the end in the Appassionata's final as powerfully as Arrau does here, although Pollini's live recording comes close. Arrau's Waldstein is notable for its unusually slow first movement that yet remains fascinating all the way through. His Moonlight made me listen again to this piece that I got bored of a little. I don't think the Moonlight's last movement is weak, as others say. Maybe it doesn't live up to the extreme standards of the rest of the set, but even then it is among the better renditions. Again, the more humorous pieces of this period are less swift and surprising than in other's renditions. The final of the op.31/3 'Hunt' sonata gives no single reason to laugh. But Arrau fills the gap with so much furious power and intensity that I strongly doubt which approach to prefer. The final of Les Adieux is heaven-storming instead of the usual children's party treatment, and you may understand what I prefer.

And even after then, the highlight of the set hasn't been reached: the late sonatas get that honour. Arrau's arresting performance of op.101 is a hint of what's coming after: the Hammerklavier. This sonata has of course received many legendary performances (my own favourites are Solomon, Gilels, Pollini, Rosen, Brendel, Serkin, Gould and Kempff) but Arrau does better than any of them. Listen how carefuly he prepares the opening bars, for instance, and then dives headstrong into the movement. The Adagio Sostenuto gets the most somber rendition I've heard, and the fugue is a model of precise articulation combined with effortless and even technique.

The last three sonatas then, all sound completely different from other recordings. Arrau gives a highly personal performance of the theme and variations of op.109, rather mannered and all but still convincing in its own way. The last variation is one of the greatest moments of all Beethoven, and likewise it is one of the most memorable performances of Arrau. The op.110 sonata is on a similar scale, with the fugue played in total devotion and concentration. There may be some doubts over the rather slow first movement of op.111, but Arrau leaves every bit of drama intact--in fact, I find that the slower tempo even adds to the intensity. The Arietta, too, is on the slow side, but it makes full sense, although I'd prefer a more rhytmical 3rd variation. Yet what follows is as heavenly and moving as any performance of this piece could become (notice the short stop he makes in between the leggieramente figures around 11.00; just brilliant!), not to mention the incredible trills near the end.

Again, the set may not seem as good at first. Arrau misses most of Beethoven's humor, and his playing is a little slow and careful at times. But that's just the surface. Beneath, there is an immense amount of fantastic insights waiting. Arrau's early sonatas sound like they have got a repainting, and a superb one at that. The middle-period pieces get an intensely tragic and dark treatment, and the late sonatas are played quite originally and among the most profound and spirited recordings ever made. I doubted first, but now I simply love this set more than fairly any other recording I have. Regarding the comments of other reviewers here, I doubt if many will disagree. There are other ways to play Beethoven--Brendel and especially Kempff are more lucid, Schnabel generates more excitement, etcetera. But this is a Beethoven sonata set for the ages, a great investment if there ever was one. I've heard people say Arrau is the Furtwangler of the keyboard. I don't think that's right. It's better to say that Furtwangler is the Arrau of the directors.

In Turkey, it's very hard to come by full cycles of Beethoven Sonatas, at the very least it's hard to come by good ones. For one, the three most important companies are not represented (DG, Philips, Decca). That's the reason that made me order from USA. After several obsessive days spent on determining which single set I would order (I'm a student, couldn't order several ones), I decided on Arrau version. Sure the Kempff and Schnabel sets are very popular and I have been recommended to listen to these works by Kempff, Schnabel, Backhaus etc. by concert pianists. I have acquired a lot of the complete sets afterwards, let alone standalone recordings, but none even compares to this set. Most simply put, this 14 disc set is the jewel of my heart, as well as the jewel of all the CDs I own.

Before going on in detail I would like to say that my journey into classical music started with Beethoven's piano Sonatas, specifically Werner Haas's recording of Moonlight, Pathetique and Appassionata. This music holds a very special place in my being and I can't imagine my life without these.

Anyway, after making the very hard choice, I received my set and put the very first CD into my player. The first sonata's ascending F minor chord has a warmth that only Arrau seems to be able to show. From that moment on, I listened to all the sonatas in a frenzy. True, Arrau plays these works in a serious, thoughtful, philosophical way and that is the way I would play these. But I miss Gilels's childlike touch on the 6th sonata's last movement. The tempos are often slower than other pianists' . This last point may be a problem for those who have listened and grown accustomed to a different pianist's take on these works. But Arrau has a quality that puts his version of the Beethoven sonatas to the very top: His left hand. The left hand is very strong and it is not only the accompaniment but also what really pulls the music from the general melody. I would like to write a little about every work here but I wouldn't like to bore any readers. But I feel obliged to comment on some that spring to my mind right away.

1st Sonata: Among all the versions of these works I have listened to no one even compares to Arrau in the third and last movements. The last movement greatly benefits from Arrau's careful judgement of the left hand's volume.

2nd, 3rd and 4th Sonatas: These are all great interpretations but all of them suffer from Arrau's too serious approach. Don't take me wrong though, I would rate his 3rd and 4th sonatas the next best thing compared to Michelangeli's versions. Emmanuel Ax owns the second one as far as I am concerned.

5th, 6th and 7th sonatas: Here, Arrau ties in at the top with Emil Gilels. Gilels's take on these are more playful and his 6th sonata is the best I've ever listened to.

8th, 9th and 10th sonatas: The Pathetique sonata was the first disappointment in the set. While very good, it doesn't rank among the best. Best Pathetique is Werner Haas's, judging from all the recordings/concerts I have listened to. But the 10th Sonata is hands down the best. I also listened to this work from a lot of different recordings but Arrau captures the mood and conveys it the best. Recommended listening!

11th, 12th, 13th and 14th sonatas: All of them very good but disappointing Moonlight. Especially the 12th!!! Hands down the best version

15th sonata: Along with Gilels the best version again. Especially the slow movement!

16th, 17th and 18th sonatas: Here Arrau ties with Gilels but only with the 16th and 18th sonatas. His Tempest is the by far the best among a gazillion of recorings out there. Yes, it is slower than a lot of them but that only pulls the music to the front. Arrau doesn't rush through the charming melody of the 3rd movement but gives the whole piece an otherworldly aura.

19th and 20th sonatas (sonatinas): Arrau is just as good as anyone but his G minor sonata is what I consider to be the best.

21st Sonata: Ahhh, the Waldstein. The first movement is the slowest I've heard but somehow Arrau makes it work quite well. The highlight is the last movement where his brilliant left hand puts all the aggressiveness to the front. Despite all my ravings, I don't consider this the best version. Pollini owns the Waldstein, period!

22nd, 24th and 25th sonatas: Honestly these are my least favorite sonatas by Beethoven's hands. So I don't have a lot to say about these as I have not given these extensive listening/studying.

23rd sonata: Very good but suffers a lot from slow speed. Werner Haas is the way to go on this one. Note: Arrau's 1st movement is one of the best.

26th sonata: A very good interpretation but honestly I never got why this work is this popular. Especially considering it precedes the....

27th sonata: Arrau plays the work very seriously, a little slower than I would have liked but nonetheless offers one of the best versions I have listened so far. I'd take Gilels's version over any, though.

28th sonata: Arrau draws with Kempff here but I prefer Arrau's last movement, especially right after the repeat where the left hand quietly takes the melody on itself.

29th sonata: A very good version but there are a lot of other great recordings out there. Arrau definitely owns the first movement, Gilels plays the best second movement, Solomon's stunning 3rd movement is the best followed closely by Arrau and Brendel's 3rd movements, and the last movement goes to Solomon again. Overall, I'd say Solomon delivers the best experience.

30th sonata: At last my favorite sonatas: the last three by Beethoven. I not only consider these works to be the greatest masterworks of the piano repertoire but also the general musical works. Before I go in detail I'll say that I'll take Arrau's last three over anyone's, any day of the year. The tenth disc is the CD that I cherish most in my 1000+ CD collection. I'd replace the set if something happened to that one. After much rambling, I go on to the 30th sonata. From the very beginning to end, you won't even notice the passage of time. Arrau manages to keep you on the edge of your seat. This version is followed very closely by Gilels's take on it.

31st sonata: Arrau finds a way to convey the mellow sound of Ab major that has not been paralleled in any recording I have listened yet. The whole work is one great piece of music at his hands. Gilels is very good also.

32nd sonata: At last my favorite! This is the greatest, grandest, disarming version I have yet listened to. The second movement has never been played better as far as I am concerned. The passages from one variation to the next one is deliberate every time and Arrau draws you right into the music. The next best version I have listened to is from Gulda. His set is very highly recommended also.

It seems I have talked a little bit about every sonata :) There are 4 more discs. 3 of them hold the concertos and 1 holds the Diabelli Variations (my preferred one). One thing that I forgot to mention is that there some smaller works by Beethoven scatter among the CDs. The Waldstein CD also features the greatest Eroica Variations I have listened to.

Moving on to the concertos, I would rate Arrau's 5th to be the best. All the other concertos on this set are very fine but they are not the definitive recordings as far as I am concerned. The best fourth ever recorded has been recorded by Gilels and I recommend it to anyone who is willing to listen to ethereal music. Pollini has signed the 2nd concerto forever with his name. As to the 1st and 3rd, I don't like these works very much (especially the 3rd) so I don't think I'm not the person to give advise on these.

Before I finish I would like to point to other great sets. The incomplete Gilels set is the second best I have listened to. Gulda set is somehow very underestimated but holds a lot of surprises. Brendel set is just great(but pricey). Kempff set is held on very high esteem among the classical music listeners but I somehow feel his Beethoven lacks character. That is not to say everything is bad on there but I felt like listening to Schubert when listening to his version. Schnabel is another classic recording though not my first choice among Beethoven Sonatas sets.

That finishes my review and I thank everyone who have showed patience until the end. All I can hope for in return is that this review may help with the readers' choice...

Thanks again for reading,

Can

Everything glorious I read about Claudio Arrau in these Amazon.com reviews is absolutely true. My CD set arrived this morning, and I just finished listening to Sonata No. 1. I never paid much attention to it before, but Arrau plays each note with such passion, clarity, and sensitivity that it sounds like one of the greatest works - simply because he plays it that way.

I didn't realize when I ordered this set that Philips had remastered the music with 24 bit A/D transfer, so the sound quality is glorious.

By the way, there is also a 7 CD box set of Arrau playing Chopin. After hearing his Beethoven, I can't wait for my copy of Arrau's Chopin to arrive!

Quick rundown of this titanic set: the last sonatas are in general the most disappointing. To my ears Arrau is too dutiful and stiff here, and his Opp. 90, 101 and 111 don't work at all for me. (To hear Arrau in a great Op. 101, buy his two disc recital on Hannsler Classics.) Op. 109 has moments, particularly in the last movement, but still wouldn't quite be my go-to recording. The best are his Hammerklavier, which is truly epic and cold cold cold in a way no other Beethoven is ("desolate" says J.W. Sullivan) and has a gorgeous slow movement (though again, in the finale fugue he's stiff) and Op. 110, which just may be my top recording or close to it. Overall, though, Arrau's earlier performances of these works (sans the Hammerklavier) on EMI are better than these, and even they are not desert-island stuff.

Moving backwards, among the middle sonatas, his Appassionata is one of my favorites, though again, his earlier EMI, and at least two live versions are even better overall. His slow build is tremendously dramatic and effective--his performance isn't volcanic like many, but the intensity is even greater than the performers who pound the keyboard. His Les Adieux is excellent at evoking the departure, the feeling of loss, and the joy of the return of Beethoven's meal ticket. Some other highlights are Arraus' very unique way of handling the Op. 31 sonatas, some of Beethoven's best work from his middle period. His No. 3 from that set actually makes me laugh aloud in the first movement, rare for Arrau. Here he captures Beethoven's unbuttoned quality effortlessly. But it's the Tempest sonata from this set that's the real standout, with its eerie pedaled notes just before the coda and the haunting third movement, which sounds to me like spirits dancing--again, Arrau's slow build is more powerful than his colleagues' fierce attack.

But the Waldstein is a big letdown, at least in the first movement, which is underpowered, too slow, and too heavily-pedaled. The slow movement has great moments, but still, his EMI recording is the way to go if you must have Arrau here. (All his later digital Philips recordings are to be avoided like the plague.)

Among the earlier works, the Moonlight is frustrating, with a gorgeously evocative first movement, a graceful second movement, and again an underpowered third movement. The Pathetique is okay, but I'm not a great fan of this work, nor do I care for the Pastorale sonata. Among earlier highlights are No. 12 Op. 26 and No. 13 Op. 27/1, both very fresh and beautifully-played. His Op. 10/3 is surpassed by his live recital on Hannsler Classics, which is for me one of the best you can get. Arrau has a lot of fun with the innocuous little first sonata in C.

The Diabellis are not a great reading--too rounded and soft, with little contrast among variations. They are gorgeously-recorded, and as a rule all the works on this set sound quite good, with only occasional slight hiss, but unfortunately boring. The Eroica Variations are better, but they still cannot match Richter's white-hot performance. The concerto collaborations with Haitink, which I believe are that conductor's first recordings as music director of the Concertgebouw, are as follows: a rather bland, noncommittal No. 1, a rather bland, undercooked No. 3, a beautiful, deeply-felt No. 4 which is one of the finest performances ever of this work, and an average No. 5; his later recording with Colin Davis takes a chamber approach that actually, intermittently, works, and his earlier performance on EMI with Alceo Galliera is the opposite: his most grandiose and majestic; his No. 4 with the same conductor is also sublime and freer than this performance, though the sound on the Fourth is inexcusably bad, even for the time. (To hear better-sounding performances than the EMIs, check out his Testament two-disc set with Klemperer conducting.) Notice I omitted the No. 2 concerto here, because I find it pretty unlistenable no matter who's playing. (Beethoven was later sorry he published it, and I don't blame him.) The "Triple" concerto, with Szeryng and Starker, is very good--one of the more underrated performances of this quirky piece and honestly even better than the revered Richter/Oistrakh/Rostropovich recording with Karajan, which I always felt to be a bit overrated.

Although I don't like all of Claudio Arrau's Beethoven, mainly because of the maestro's occasional lack of humor, I think (or, better, feel) Arrau's earlier performance (i.e. that included in this box) of the "Waldstein" sonata is the most intense and arresting performance of a piece of music, whether instrumental or vocal, I know of. Many say he is too slow, and I know other beautiful performances of this sonata which are much faster and undoubtedly exciting (e.g. those of Ashkenazy and Gilels); but the accuracy, finesse, care for the details and concentration of Arrau's rendering far outweighs, in my opinion, the higher speed and power of other interpreters. The rubato, the dynamics, the accelerandos and rallentandos, the pedalling, all seems to me AMAZINGLY beautiful.(In an era of businnesslike performances, one could only complain of too much intensity!) Quoting a previous reviewer: "In all of these [performances] Arrau gives you the impression you're living through the music with him, rather than hearing it performed from a distance". Not even Glenn Gould's and Rosalyn Tureck's "Goldberg Variations" match Arrau's miracolous performance.
The best performances Arrau has given us of Beethoven's piano music (such as those of the "Tempest", the "Appassionata", the "Hammerklavier" and of many other unnamed or less popular sonatas) can be measured alongside Furtwaengler's or Klemperer's renderings of Beethoven's symphonic, choral and operatic compositions.

I've been listening to Beethoven's sonatas for fifty years and have heard all of them by some, and some of them by all the available recorded performers. Overall, Claudio Arrau is my favorite interpreter of the sonatas. To me he has an inner affinity with Beethoven that is uncanny. Beethoven was a man of great character. And that greatness, detached from his person in the form of musical ideas, enters the listener through intermediaries such as Arrau. When it is done right, it works a sort of righteous therapy, and makes the listener a better person for the hearing.

Arrau describes Beethoven's greatness in his essay "Thoughts on Beethoven" in the 33 1/3 Philips LP edition. "Beethoven has always stood for the spirit of man victorious. His message of endless stuggle concluding in the victory of renewal and spiritual rebirth...his life was an existential fight for survival...In the sense that he mastered both his life and his art to reach the ultimate heights of creation and transfiguration, he will last as long as man's spirit to prevail lasts on this earth." Part of the greatness of Beethoven's character came from his ability to be intimately close and at the same time at an infinite distance above his listener. Arrau possesses this same character, and his qualities as a man and artist are why he is able to so aptly render the greatness of Beethoven.

A book titled "Conversations with Arrau" was written by Joseph Horowitz to celebrate the artists's 80th birthday in 1982. I've only read the extracts published with the Philips edition, but there is enough information to get a feel for Arrau's character. He guarded the purity of his environment. He shunned parties and avoided small talk. He never drank or smoked, never learned to drive a car, boil an egg, or even operate a phonograph. His only hobby was gardening. Horowitz describes him as the embodiment of the nineteenth-century model of the artist as solitary, suffering hero. He was small (5'6") and frail, but in 1982 at age 80 he was still playing more that 70 concerts a season.

Rather than launch a discussion of his individual works (this has been done admirably by many of the reviewers) I will remark on just a few. I never properly appreciated the Fourth and the Seventh Sonatas until I heard Arrau's reading of these works. His Fourth takes 31 minutes, 30 seconds. Annie Fischer, another great interpreter of Beethoven, plays it in 27 minutes, 30 seconds. And Ms. Fischer does not play at a hurried tempo.

Yes, Arrau plays the sonatas at a slower tempo than any other interpreter. He also achieves a mystical quality in his interpretations that is unmatched. The second movement of the Seventh comes in at 10 min, 30 seconds. It is the greatest 10 1/2 minutes of piano music ever conceived. When interpreted by Arrau it becomes a microcosm of Beethoven's life and work. The second movement of the Appassionata is a sacred hymn.

Arrau's five piano concertos are splendid. I've heard no other renditions of the concertos with slow movements that equal Arrau's. No one plays the middle movements with his expressiveness and sense of the numinous. And his rendition of the "Eroica Variations" is on a par with the top few recordings of this piece.

If you have any interest in Beethoven, at whatever level, this bargain is outstanding.

I have always loved Arraus' playing, and this is a gigantic collection of it. To have all Beethoven sonatas and the concerti in one place by a master is a great pleasure. I find Arraus' versions softer and more languid than others, you can feel him playing each note. I find them well suited to a comtemplative mood.

I take off a star for the quality of the recordings. In the first two CDs I noticed some clicks, especially in the louder passages. By the third disk one definitely hears the background noise of the analog recordings. For me this is very disturbing since I can't easily get past the ticking in the background when I listen with full attention. There was even a recording skip in one selection that ruined it. But, these things may not be objectional to some.