Customer Reviews

Beethoven by Nissman, Volume I

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

 

 

No, not another Moonlight Sonata, I hear you groan? Then go to track one and hear Nissman wipe off the sludge of past over-romantic and over-pedalled versions and hear this old chestnut of a first movement freshly restored.

Freshness pervades the whole recital. Her Appassionata is a fireball of turbulence, yet always underpinned with clarity of fine detail and a penetrating structural unity in the interpretation.

Her subtle pedalling in the opening of the finale from the Waldstein has the melody like a lovely shapely tree emerging with unhurried charm from a thinly veiled mist.

If you want a lively encore, hear how she has the Rondo a Capriccio (subtitled "Rage over a Lost Penny")furiously chasing its own tail with Beethovenian gruffness.

FIve stars may be a bit mean. Problem is I haven't heard half the forty or so other versions of these popular sonatas to make a reliable comparison. Suffice it to say Nissman's liveliness propels this up somewhere among the best.

Ian Dando

Music Critic, New Zealand Listener

There have been so many recordings of Beethoven's music, you might ask, "Why another one?" The answer is, there is always room at the top for the best! And this is certainly a contender. Nissman's technique is flawless, as always, and she makes the music the beneficiary of her sensitivity and dedication to the great Romantic tradition. It is never maudlin or over-dramatic, and it is never dawdling or boring for the listener. If you love Beethoven's piano music, you surely will not want to miss this recording, or the subsequent ones in the series. It is fresh and right on the mark! So are the rest. Stephen D. Smith, Ph.D.