Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos. 1 - 3, Opp. 2:1-3

Ludwig van Beethoven (Composer), Maurizio Pollini (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Maurizio Pollini
• Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven
• Audio CD (January 22, 2008)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Deutsche Grammophon
• ASIN: B000T0XED6
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #240,673 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Maurizio Pollini continues his celebrated cycle of Beethoven Piano Sonatas. In this album, recorded like its predecessors in Munich's Herkulessaal, the Italian pianist turns his incomparable keyboard mastery to Opus 2, the three astonishingly individual, inventive and forward-looking sonatas comprising Beethoven's first publication in the genre, dedicated to his teacher Joseph Haydn. Composed in 1793-95, just after he went to Vienna and while he was still chiefly making his name as a pianist, Beethoven's Op. 2 needs no apology for coming first in the series of 32. In scope, variety and dramatic power, these sonatas are already authentically Beethovenian--bold, brilliantly virtuosic and, in the slow movements, often profoundly expressive works which, deservedly, have always been popular among pianists and music lovers. Pollini, a living legend, has received countless accolades for his interpretations of the Beethoven sonatas, and there is every reason to believe that this new recording will be similarly acclaimed. Writing about Pollini's previous album of Beethoven sonatas, including the "Pathétique," Stephanie von Buchau of the Oakland Tribune found that "Pollini gives a heart-stopping performance" while Jessica Duchen in Classic FM exclaimed, "there is a deliciously youthful quality about his playing of early Beethoven in this enchanting disc. His touch is light and sparkling...every moment is compelling."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars unconditionally recommended..superb recording..every dynamic and note sound convincingly right, February 27, 2008

By 

Peter B. Behr "Peter Behr" (New York, NY, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos. 1 - 3, Opp. 2:1-3 (Audio CD)

The sonic transparency of this recording, with its fully-realized dynamic range and splendid sense of three-dimensional sound stage, is the next best thing to actually being present in a very good seat in the Herkulessaal in the Residenz in Munich.
Maurizio Pollini's deep knowledge of Beethoven's music and life are clearly evident in this masterfully satisfying account of the three Op. 2 sonatas. Every dynamic and note just sound convincingly right. I think this is superb recording of a performance that Beethoven - who was of course an exceptional pianist too - could like very much. It is full of charm, wit and fresh surprise. The elegant playing is informed by what I can only describe as confidence born of humility. It is never mannered or dry. Unconditionally recommended for those who come to these sonatas for the first time, as well as those familiar with other recorded accounts.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pollini has reached a remarkable plateau of mastery, January 22, 2008

By 

Santa Fe Listener (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos. 1 - 3, Opp. 2:1-3 (Audio CD)

Pollini was wise to save Beetoven's Op. 2 piano sonatas for late in his complete cycle, having begun with the late sonatas over three decades ago. He's achieved such ease and mastery that these early works roll off his fingers with silken effortless that masks a lifetime's attention to touch and insight -- I doubt any contemporary can match him at this point. One can alight on any single movement, such as the Adagio of Op. 2 no. 1, and the variety of tone, the eloquence found in simplicity, testify to a rare match of artist and composer. Or consider the arpeggiated runs in the Rondo finale to Op. 2 no. 3, which define that cliche, a gossamer touch.

The product description and first reviewer here at Amazon try to sell Op. 2 as dramatic, fully realized Beethoven, but in truth there's plenty of Haydnesque classicism in them. What's so marvelous is that Pollini doesn't make the music sound backward-looking, much less dainty. He achieves a feeling of Beethoven's strength without pumping the music up. It's a matter of poise and balance, allowing Beethoven's special excitement peek through whenever it appears. (Richter, who also favored early Beethoven, tended to punch it out and play over-aggressively at times, although that can be exciting in its own right, of course.)

Probably this CD will appeal in the end mostly to Beethoven completists, Op. 2 being overshadowed by the "name" sonatas of the middle period and the revolutionary accomplishment of the late period. But to anyone who loves Pollini, here's an installment in his cycle that brings as much admiration and delight as any of the others.

5.0 out of 5 stars Early Beethoven sonatas in hands of Maurizio Pollini, April 6, 2010

By 

P. Adrian "Adrian" (Arad, Romania) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos. 1 - 3, Opp. 2:1-3 (Audio CD)

This is the third CD in a new series of recordings that Maurizio Pollini has devoted lately to Beethoven sonatas. The great Italian virtuoso tackles here three early works, namely those assigned to op.2 in Titan's catalogue. Beethoven dedicated his very first piano sonatas to the undisputed father of the Viennese Classicism - Joseph Haydn - and that can be somehow sensed in their witty atmosphere, the playful phrases and the sparkling outbursts resembling their dedicatee's own manner of composing. Yet, the deep feelings and dramatic moods are not absent at all. But they are acting here - so to speak - "under cover", under the strict control of a well-balanced reason. Rather suggesting than affirming. Certain massive melodic structures and even virtuosic passageworks point towards that inexorable force Beethoven finally displayed in his output and (though, still discretely) announce the Beethovenian grandeur to come. Pollini captures the graceful aroma of these early sonatas and lend them his own nervousness, his own taste for strong contrasts, for sharp light-dark edges. There is no room for floating Mozartean style or poised Haydnian lively jokes in Pollini's approach. The full Beethovenian struggle of contrasts, drama and Romantic passion take the stage from the first bars.
The liner notes supplied by Paolo Petazzi (as in the previous two CDs in the series) are welcome, adequate and efficient for the reader who needs the stylistic context, the structures and technical details of the partitions to be explained.
All in all, this is a remarkable achievement from Pollini who is supposed to continue the recording series of his Beethoven sonatas up to the complete cycle. That would be for sure his definitive rendition, entirely realized in the XXI century when both his conceptual force and technical skills have reached authoritative exquisiteness. If so, it would be very captivating then to compare his actual "mellow" approach with the "wild" one of his youth when he recorded, for instance, the last trilogy (opp. 109, 110 and 111). Impatiently waiting for that occasion!