Customer Reviews

Beethoven: Piano Sonatas, Vol. 4

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

 

 

It took many years for Paul Lewis to move out of the shadow of his teacher and mentor, Alfred Brendel. All the benchmarks of Brendel's wonderful mature style -- the subtle humor, moderation, musicianship and lack of excessive self-aggrandizing tactics calling attention to oneself and away from the music -- are on display in this collection. With this recording, which showed up on just about every "Best of 2008" list of classical recordings, Lewis seems finally to have made his mark in the classical world.

I bought this set because I like both Brendel and Lewis and because this offering included many of my favorite Beethoven sonatas -- Nos. 7, 15, 26 and 32 -- a group of selections that challenge any player to master Beethoven's youthful fury, midlife wonder and wandering, and his most mature and unrelentingly transcendent music in the final pages of that apocalyptic, other-wordly final sonata.

I was never disappointed in Lewis's playing even though I cannot admit he completely convinced me all the time. I find Sviatoslav Richter the most universally appealing player in this repertory although his recordings can sometimes be very disappointing from either an artistic or sound perspective. Lewis is nothing like that -- assured and temperate all the time, completely obedient to the composer's wishes, and more than satisfactory interpreting the wide-ranging messages inherent in each score.

I can't say I was completely swayed by the sound of the recordings either. While modern and adequate in detail, there was sometimes a boomy effect you might experience listening in a small hall where the reverb is great enough to obstruct what's going on right now. But this is a minor issue in an otherwise splendid recording of some of Beethoven's most personal music.

Anyone interested in Beethoven's piano sonatas that's looking for another perspective should take the leap into Paul Lewis's world. Unless you seek something completely different, I doubt you'll be disappointed for his musicmaking is sober, lyrical, eloquent, expressively iridescent and penetrating without the least bit of inappropriate personalization.

Paul Lewis finishes his superb Beethoven sonata series. Consistently fine playing throughout, with Opus 111 a particular highlight. Lewis has given us kind of a modern day Wilhelm Kempff approach to Beethoven. Wonderful lyrical approach, with broad tempos and a powerful technique when called for. Coupled with fine sound, this is a top choice for me for a modern cycle of the greatest piano music ever writen. I am also following Ronald Brautigam's fascinating sonata cycle on forepiano on BIS, which is about mid-point, with the Waldstein and Appassionata due up next.

A few weeks ago, this three-disc and final installment in Paul Lewis's complete Beethoven Sonatas survey was awarded the prestigious Gramophone Record of the Year accolade. Having been a Gramophone subscriber some five years ago, I do (actually more did) on average value its reviews. However, I seldom take them at face value, especially when it comes to British artists or labels. Having said that, similar tendencies can easily be identified when it comes to the Grammy Awards and American artists or labels.

Back to Gramophone: In the last 30 years, only 11* out of the Records of the Year winners can be considered non-British. One of these makes up the only solo piano Record of the Year--Zimerman's dazzling Debussy Preludes in 1994. Hence, you would expect something really out of the ordinary in pianistic terms from the second-ever solo piano Record of the Year. Furthermore, considering the short-listed competition, a merely 'out of the ordinary' disc wouldn't be enough to beat one of the most spectacular piano records of all times--Hamelin's Alkan Solo Concerto remake. So, let's pose the big question: is Mr Lewis, very much British by the way, able to deliver a worthy Record of the Year?

The answer is rather simple: No, he isn't. Does he make an embarrassment out of himself and, even more importantly, the collective Gramophone reviewers? Well, almost, in some instances, had it not been for the third disc of the Opp 109-111 Sonatas. Let's take a quick look at my preconditions for this disc and review: (1) Lewis is a disciple of the 'great' Alfred Brendel; (2) I consider Mr Brendel to be one of the most overrated and lackluster pianists of our time; (3) I made my worst-ever cost/benefit record investment into Brendel's third (and hopefully last!) 1990s complete cycle of the Beethoven Sonatas (Beethoven: Complete Piano Sonatas); (4) my reference Beethoven Sonatas cycle is Richard Goode's, due to his matchless combination of articulation, pacing, tone production and imagination (Beethoven: The Complete Sonatas); (5) I'm currently in the process of collecting Ohlsson's (one of my three favourite pianists by the way) cycle, which looks set to give Goode a really good(e) run for his money!

The first disc of the Lewis set covers the three Op 10 Sonatas--the first in C minor being the 'Little Pathétique', the second in F major being one of Beethoven's lightest, and the third in D major being one of his most ambitious in the Classical style, though not successful. Already in the C minor Sonata we encounter the main problem with Lewis's playing (probably to a large extent thanks to his mentor), namely that he is too heavily serious and unsmiling. Indeed, this Sonata is comparatively serious, which doesn't mean it needs to sound this heavy and unsparkling--just compare with the airily articulate and witty Goode account. Lewis is far more successful in the lighter F major Sonata, where he far more idiomatically captures the spirit of the music. In my youth, I actually spent some time learning the Presto first movement of the D major Sonata. Lewis is vastly more successful than I ever was at turning this somewhat puzzling movement into something worthwhile; his first movement is in fact rather excellent. Nevertheless, in the serious Largo e mesto second movement he again gets caught up in exaggerating and dragging matters, as if trying to convince us of some deep gravity--which I personally question Beethoven had in mind. Little bit along the same lines, the Menuetto and Rondo get deprived of the positive buoyancy of Goode's renditions. ***(+)

The second disc juxtaposes the great Op 28 'Pastorale' and Op 81a 'Les Adieux' Sonatas with the two petty Op 49 Sonat(in)es in between. The Pastorale is one of my favourite Beethoven Sonatas; having said that, it is very difficult to bring off--much like his Pastorale Symphony, constantly risking being turned into an over-Romanticised cliché. Although it was more than 10 years ago, I can't stop admire the marvelous combination of rural simplicity and refined pianism Boris Berezovsky brought to this Sonata in a live Beethoven Sonatas recital (Örebro Concert Hall, Sweden). Goode's studio version certainly isn't bad either--miles ahead of Lewis's ponderous version of the Allegro and Scherzo first and third movements, respectively. Things do get better in the Rondo, whereas the Andante second movement is pretty beautiful (Lewis seems to share Beethoven's own affinity for this favourite movement). Lewis's Op 49 is very average, largely unmemorable. The Les Adieux is the real dud of this 3-disc set--possibly even less vital than Brendel's heavy 1990s version, and above all even less squarely characterised. **(+)

The third and final disc gathers Beethoven's three ultimate (in double aspect) Op 109-111 Sonatas. These are evidently three masterpieces, never really having been entirely surpassed but rather equaled (or perhaps further developed) by the two great Romantic B minor Sonatas (by Chopin and Liszt, respectively). Thanks to this third disc, no one can claim Lewis to be a mere second-rate Beethoven player. Here he amply surpasses his ultra-stiff mentor, whose 1990s account of these Sonatas is a real dull to put it mildly. To me, these Sonatas confirm that Beethoven not only is the greatest Classicist but also the greatest early Romantic pioneer. Lewis credibly puts this in his playing, delivering accounts that more than hold their own against virtually any other version--especially a magical E major Sonata. ****(+)

Finally, Harmonia Mundi's Teldex Studio recording is quite good, if slightly yielding in naturalness and brilliance to Nonesuch's ditto for Goode. So, will I acquire the three preceding Lewis volumes? Well, it probably goes without saying that I will continue collecting the Ohlsson treasures, leaving little shelf space for another seemingly merely average cycle--that is: ***(+)

Almost forgot it...--the Reocord of the Year? Well, by a landslide Hamelin's Alkan Concerto (Alkan: Concerto for solo piano; Troisième recueil de chants)!

* 1980, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1989, 1992, 1993, 1994, 2003, 2004, 2006

i have played only the opus 111 sonata no 32 so far but based on that performance alone, this is a must have recording. i would rank this performance right up there with the greats of all time, namely, richter (live), pollini, arrau and michelangeli. the final measures of this, the greatest sonata ever for piano, are simply spellbinding and breathtakingly sublime. i frankly was stunned by the depth of lewis s spiritual insight into this music.
with this recording, lewis has arrived at any early age into the parthenon of great beethoven pianists.

A friend brought over this Volume, saying that it was voted as Album of the Year by the Grammophone. I heard the Sonata no. 31 (the first piece of piano music I had ever heard, when I was about 14), and I was incredibly moved at the sensitivity of the playing. I got the entire volume (I will get the others soon) and I must say that Lewis is the most convincing and subtle pianist in this literature since Artur Schnabel. Although there are differences between the two pianists, Lewis shares with Schnabel an incredibly subtle dynamic control and seamless phrasing. Where he differs from the older pianist is his broader tempi and more deliberate style, given more to gradual rather than sudden tempo fluctuations. But he also has Schnabel's firm bass foundation, offering a rumbling, even on occasion ominous underpinning to the upper voices. I would never part with the Schnabel set, but at the same time, I would not want to be without Lewis either. This is the greatest piano music ever written.

Paul Lewis doesn't finish his Beethoven cycle quite as triumphantly, I think, as some reviewers might claim. "Les Adieux" and the "Pastorale" sonata stirke me as a bit pallid and underinflected, as do the fast movement in the Op. 10 series. But if you like assured, temperate playing in Beethoven (to steal a phrase from a previous reviewer), as opposed to fiery, heroic playing, Lewis has impeccable style and taste.

I say this as someone who would probably only listen to his Beethoven once. As with Kempff and Brendel, I don't get much out of restrained classical interpretations, particularly in middle and late Beethoven. The piano seems to bring out personal bias very strongly, and in my case Beethoven sounds intuitively "right" in the hands of Schnabel, Richter, Serkin, Annie Fischer, and Pollini, all of whom keep the heroic revolutionary in mind and project his music intensely. Lewis generally isn't tinkly, thank goodness, as Richard Goode too often is; even the great Gieseking veered that way in his last Beethoven recordings. But I wish Lewis had more emotional reach in his interpretations and more size to his sound.

Having said that, I agree with everyone else who finds him estimable in Beethoven, and I can't think of a cycle in the Kempff-Brendel mode that was better in recent years. Let's wait and see what young Jonathan Biss turns into, however, not to mention a hugely promising European like Rafal Blechacz from Poland.

I'm not an authority on the Beethoven Sonatas and I don't read scores, so I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the playing here. But if you have ears, you can hear, and I can find nothing but delight in the playing of these wonderfully varied pieces. The accompanying booklet could be richer and deeper, but there is ample information about Beethoven's work to be found. Paul is a player with a wonderful sense of dynamics, and the music is sublime.

Conscientious, technically competent, no lapses in judgement -- that's the best that can be said here. Sound is surprisingly boomy (perhaps overpedalling?) which cannot help [no match for, say, Goode, or even the far older Kempff/DG].

Repeated listening to this album fails the ultimate test (for me) -- does it recreate the music in a personal, unforgettable, or original way? Not for me. I find the peaks and valleys shaved, the zing and ping of the earlier sonatas deleted, and there's no compensation with the last 3 sonatas. Schnabel made you feel, live the struggle and the roar and the awkwardness of the opening of Op111 -- it really was ungainly! But this is LvB at his extreme in creative destruction...you'd hardly know it with Lewis. OTOH, Michelangeli was like a god here in the purity of his detached classicism; the joinery and the combat which under Schnabel was highlighted, is subsumed in Michelangeli by an incredible abstraction analogous to a Greek classical sculpture -- you felt it was the only way that the form of the piece could read.

With Lewis, you recognize everything, all is very familiar and quite comfortable. The struggle and passion are there, but at a very human level. Like the earlier reviewer, the Gramophone gets kind of crazy with certain British artists -- rather like pushing Tim Henman as the next Wimbledom champion. Unfortunately, the British record of turning out supreme pianists is...kind of blank (except perhaps Curzon in the Liszt sonata comes closest). The reserve and conscious good taste of British artists is the rule, which the extraordinary exception of Janet Baker only proves.

Please do comparative listening before buying these discs. You may eventually feel you are missing something here if you should accidentally here (blind) another rendition by an artist of greater vision and temperament.

--- an ex-pianist

Despues de haber escuchado practicamente todas las versiones de las sonatas de Beethoven, esta puede ser mi favorita, ademas de completa, de calidad de sonido perfecto. tengo las versiones de Barenboim: penosas. las de Kovacevich me gustan mucho pero son sosas y violentas. las de Gould son maravillosamente sensuales pero su sonido flojo. las de schnabel las mejores pero tan antiguas y con ese sonido. luego las de Perahia pero solo tiene 10 sonatas grabadas , una pena, pero es mi pianista favorito.
Estas son magnificas, pero el precio caro.

I feel let down that a young performer would seem to have learned nothing from modern scholarship. Lewis plays these early sonatas as though they were written as late romantic pieces. His tempos distort and distend the music, from very slow to very fast as though he were just showing off his technique. He never lets the music flow -- all I hear is his technique. For Beethoven and Schubert, I recommend Paul Badura-Skoda on a fortepiano. I am off now to listen and learn whether the later and late sonatas come off better.