Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos. 16-18 [Hybrid SACD] [Hybrid SACD - DSD]

Ludwig van Beethoven (Composer), Mari Kodama (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Mari Kodama
• Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven
• Audio CD (May 16, 2006)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Hybrid SACD - DSD
• Label: Pentatone
• ASIN: B000F6YX02
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #127,107 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Subtle, Round, Powerful, June 7, 2006

By 

J. F. Laurson (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos. 16-18 [Hybrid SACD] (Audio CD)

There are great and renown pianists working on Beethoven cycles or else issuing individual sonatas: András Schiff is on his second volume for ECM (an Ionarts review is forthcoming, read the review of volume one here), Mitsuko Uchida has just issued the three late Beethoven sonatas (also to be reviewed shortly). Paul Lewis, for Harmonia Mundi, has started his, too, to great acclaim, ditto BIS' continuing SACD cycle on period instruments with Ronald Bräutigam. These artists and their work naturally make a reasonably sized splash. It is fair to say that the same cannot be said for Mari Kodama. Who? Mari Kodama, who, for lack of information in the liner notes that give more space to which microphones were used in the recording than the artist herself, I know nothing about other than that she records for the audiophile Pentatone label in what is now her third volume of what seems a cycle-in-progress. I haven't an idea what she did with the "Moonlight", "Pathetique" or the op.7 Sonata in E-flat on PTC 5186 023 or, for that matter what with the "Waldstein", "Appassionata" and "Les Adieux" on PTC 5186 024. But I know that after listening to sonatas 16 - 18 on the most recent issue, PTC 5186 063, I will probably want to go back and hear if her previous installments are nearly as impressive as this one.

She may not have a name that registers, nor a label that is able to plaster her (very pretty) face on billboards across the continents but her playing, coupled with the excellent, rich sound (I did not listen to this SACD in surround sound - but the balance is wonderfully captured in stereo) is simply stunning. Beautifully short-yet-round, `thumb-in-your-eye' low notes in the Allegro vivace of no. 16 (op.31, no.1), fleet and pebbled runs, confident chords mark a performance that is - here as everywhere else - of one cloth, flexible and strong. The Adagio grazioso is a marvel for its trills that are fast and smooth in the right hand - and rumble pleasantly when the left hand takes them on. Most anyone else's (Kempff, Kuerti for example) sound almost rusty if crisper. "Enjoyable", "sheen", and "round" are the most common words I found myself to have I scribbled down while listening, but while it is full of marvelous musical instances, it is the whole that impresses and has, so far, immediately impressed everyone I've played these discs for, whether they were listening to the truly outstanding no. 16 or the just-about-as exalted Tempest or no. 18. Mari Kodama (a little research finds out she is Kent Nagano's wife) combines masculine power with female sensitivities here - and rather erring on the side of subtlety as she does, to great effect. The rub? Unless you are an SACD-player owning card-carrying audiophile, you might lack the rationalization to shell out more than 22 dollars for this hybrid disc. Still: Beethoven lovers probably ought to at least try to hear them for the interpretations and the playing alone. Immeasurably enjoyable.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clear, deep, subtle, October 25, 2006

By 

George Baer (Palo Alto, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos. 16-18 [Hybrid SACD] (Audio CD)

This is a beautiful performance, characterized by clarity and brilliance.

There are numerous recordings available of all the Beethoven sonatas,

most with something to recommend them. The style here is akin to

Brendel and Pollini-- clear, precise, subtle, and lacking in melodrama.

The recorded sound is excellent, and perfectly matched to the performance.

In short -- highly recommended!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Real music, March 16, 2010

By 

dissonance (finland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos. 16-18 [Hybrid SACD] (Audio CD)

There is a surprisingly substantial difference between pianists coming from China and Japan. China seems to produce more superstars and cash-magnets than artists (perhaps this phenomena is related to it being a rising economic power?), whereas from Japan there appears to come lesser known musicians whose talent is in their understanding and heart rather than merely in the technical aspects and popularity-gathering.

Mari Kodama was to me an entirely new name, and i bought this album as an mp3-download just out of curiosity. To be sure, i would have never thought these sonatas could be played like this without turning them into a mush of vulgarity. Kodama plays with her heart on her sleeve, but what a heart it is! It is a REAL heart - she never descends from the emotional nobility these pieces deserve. Her playing simply flows the way it does, to her own rhythm, organically.

As a small negative comment i could say her articulation could sometimes be clearer, yet it detracts nothing essential from the deep effect her playing produces - not when the essence is so pure.

Based on this recording (and i intend to get all of hers), she is among the very finest of the up-and-coming pianists - along with, for example, the totally different Svetlana Ponomareva.