Customer Reviews

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

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

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!

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.

I'd heard marvelous things about pianist Mari Kodama. This CD is the first chance I'd had to hear a recording of her playing. My first impression, on beginning the Op. 31, No. 1, was that she coaxes incredibly beautiful tone from the piano and is given extraordinarily beautiful sound, both in SACD and in plain CD formats. That first impression remained throughout the whole CD. This is exceedingly accomplished playing technically. In many respects it reminds me of the kind of rounded sound that Murray Perahia achieves. But what is missing is the drama, the fire that is inherent in these early middle period Beethoven sonatas.

For instance, in the first movement of Op. 31, No. 2 there is a mysterious and tentative largo introduction following which one expects all of hell's fury to break forth. What we get here is a polite allegro. This is not to say that Kodama's playing isn't inflected. It is. But the inflections are subtle and, dare I say it, ladylike. Further, when Beethoven's left hand figures are at all repetitive, as in the accompaniment at ca. 6:00 in the Adagio grazioso of Op. 31, No. 1, Kodama seems to play them on autopilot.

One expects the first movement of Op. 31, No. 3 to be more than conventionally beautiful. The sonata's scherzo is played a bit cautiously; this movement should be rumbustious with the devil taking the hindmost. All the notes are in place and the sound remains unfailing beautiful but the inherent wildness is missing. The Menuetto is gorgeous, perhaps not surprisingly as this is the most conventional and lyrical of the movements on the disc. The octave-displaced chords in its second section are neatly sounded with their staccato-legato alternation. The final movement goes like the wind -- and technically this is evidence that Kodama has chops to spare -- but again it is too polite. This is a tarantella in which one should have the feeling as in the legend that the dancer will dance herself to death.

I would be curious to hear Kodama in Chopin Nocturnes, say, or Debussy Preludes. My guess is that she might be heard to better advantage there. The accompanying booklet tells us absolutely nothing about Mari Kodama, but a search of the Internet reveals -- news to me! -- she is the wife of star conductor, Kent Nagano. And that this is the second installment of a complete traversal of all the Beethoven sonatas.

As an example of extraordinary SACD multichannel sound, this one is a demonstration disc. But in the huge crowd of Beethoven recordings it doesn't make the cut.

Scott Morrison