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84 of 85 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Magnificant Beethoven Sonata cycle, December 22, 2005
This review is from: Beethoven: Piano Sonatas (Complete) [Box Set] (Audio CD)
This is a reissue of the famous 1967 Amadeo Beethoven sonata cycle recorded by Friedrich Gulda. In my opinion it ranks right up there with the best ever recorded (my favorites are Annie Fischer and the 50's Kempff cycle). It has been an alsolute delight to pour through these recordings, which I have read about for a long time but never before heard. Gulda has it all---vision, technique, power and sensitivity, and the ability to organize the vast structures of the larger sonatas. I urge every Beethoven lover to consider purchasing this set, which, at a bargain price, will give immense rewards. The recording is first rate--- sounds just like listening to the pianist in your living room. Gulda may have been a strange character, but only a great musician can successfully negotiate the entire Beethoven sonata cycle. Thanks to Brilliant for making these wonderful recordings available again.
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74 of 77 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gulda is Gold, June 19, 2006
This review is from: Beethoven: Piano Sonatas (Complete) [Box Set] (Audio CD)
Gulda's Beethoven cycle is the best I've ever heard, aside from Schnabel's. And in some ways, it is even better. First, Gulda's technique is better than any I have ever heard, sailing through the most difficult passages with audible ease. Of course such facility would be meaningless, if not in the service of the music, which is the second point. Gulda is totally unselfconscious, so that I do not hear his "interpretation," but only the meaning of the music. Everything is there: dynamic control second to none, fantastic range of color and touch, perfectly judged tempi, and superbly intelligent phrasing. The result is that the counterpoint is clarified as never before, and also the long-term structural thrust of each movement and of the whole sonata. Third, the sound is (to me) excellent--utterly clear and present without annoying reverberation, "bite," or mushiness. Finally, the price is lower than any other set of comparable quality, and the whole set is nicely packaged in a box of nine cardboard sleeves.
I am comparing Gulda's set to several others I have heard over the years (from memory--not a/b listening). The most recent is the Kovacevich, with which it has shares several features. Both use generally faster tempi, of course in the fast movements but markedly in the slower ones, including the adagios. If Romanticism in the slow movements is what you seek, neither Gulda nor Kovacevich will do: try Kuerti (slower than whom I have never heard). But Gulda is slightly faster even than Kovacevich. Goode, Roberts, and Frank, though very good in many respects, all seem clunky by comparison. Kempff, possessing great beauty of tone and color along with compelling authority, is too uniform in tempi and lacks "fire." I have not heard Brendel in years, so I make no comments there. Nor do I know Arrau's or Pollini's or Gilel's work, the latter two not having finished cycles. Solomon is in good but limited mono sound and also incomplete, though he too plays with great technique and power. Returning to Kovacevich, whose (along with Gulda's) is the most "modern" complete performance I know, I hear him struggle more with the music, so there is an insuperable self-consciousness with Kovacevich, whereas Gulda's facility allows the music to be heard without impediment. In sum, though there is great passion in his playing, Gulda plays the cycle as the final word in classicism, rather than Romanticism, which I find totally convincing.
The only other set that can compete with Gulda's, to my ears, is Schnabel's, which I know in the Dante incarnation. There are thrills and depths there that set a standard for insight and communication never matched by any other pianist. Even the wrong notes and rushed fences sound right from him. But of course the sound, while great in its own way, is mono and very old. And Schnabel's pure technique (unimportant in itself) is far surpassed by Gulda's. They are like antipodes. Schnabel is the best "old style" interpretation, Gulda the best "new style." I would not be without either one now.
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62 of 65 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
How did this slip by everybody?, August 27, 2006
This review is from: Beethoven: Piano Sonatas (Complete) [Box Set] (Audio CD)
Never thought I'd catch myself recommending a single big box of Beethoven piano sonatas but here it is. Problem is this doesn't seem to be available in the US and the hope is that it's not some licensing foolishness that's preventing that. This should be in every one's collection--especially at the price Brilliant usually charges.
First, the sound is incredible! 1967--who'd have guessed? Hands down, this has to be one of the clearest, warmest, and most natural-sounding solo piano recordings ever produced. Gulda avoids pedal here so the piano has a sightly "period" sound to it, without the raucousness. Nice move.
Second, as another reviewer points out, these interpretations have the same kind of spontaneity and depth-of-understanding that's traditionally ascribed to the legendary Schnabel recordings. Frankly, I was more than a little stunned. I remembered that Gulda was equally fascinated by jazz and I think his experience in that realm helps him here.
This is not self-conscious playing--what bothers me about too many modern sets (Goode comes immediately to mind)--and it's far more fiery, when it needs to be, than Kempff, who perhaps is a bit too reverent. Gulda actually trumps Schnabel by hitting all the right notes all the time. ALL the time. At the other end he avoids the steely perfection of playing of Richter and Gilels who sometimes miss the forest for the trees. Gulda's control and use of dynamics and rubato is breathtaking without, incredibly, being showy or distorting. It's Beethoven you seem to be hearing, not some superstar pianist wrestling him to the ground.
What surprised me most about this set was Gulda's ability to show mastery of the lightest and heaviest sonatas, and everything in between. As I worked my way through the set, I was so pleased with what I was hearing that I anticipated disappointment with those demanding late sonatas. Not so. This contains a marvelous "Hammerklavier" that reminds me of a dazzling one that Egon Petri (student of Busoni, who owned the "Hammerklavier" for years) recorded many years ago. The opus 111 is not as ethereal as some (Arrau takes the prize, I'd say, on that) but it's played in such a way that it sounds like the natural next-in-line of a long series piano works by a master. The tendency--much as it's appreciated--is to milk it for all the metaphysics imaginable which might be reading too much into the composer's intentions. Beethoven didn't necessarily know it was going to be his last sonata.
Overall, I'm flabbergasted this set isn't better known.
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