Customer Reviews

Beethoven, Schumann: Piano Works

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Jonathan Biss is rapidly becoming known as one of our more important young pianists on the concert stage today. His technique is dazzling, his involvement with the works he elects to perform is respectful of the composers' markings and relates to the spirit of the music from the period of the time of composition, and he manages to draw his audiences into the music with his straightforward 'music first' approach. He is very much on the ascent and EMI Classics is to be commended for allowing his recording introduction in 2004 with this VERY affordable CD of works by Beethoven and Schumann. Yes, he has grown in depth and finesse since this four-year old recording as we would expect from a serious artist of his young years, but this CD is still a superb recital.

Opening with Beethoven's 'Fantasy in G minor', Biss immediately demonstrates his mastery of technique as well as his beautifully managed phrasing. Following is Schumann's 'Davidsbündlertänze' in as satisfying a performance as is available from the recordings of the older masters. The recital closes with Beethoven's 'Appassionata Sonata in F minor' and it is here that the combination of technique and musicality are best wedded. Biss is an intelligent, articulate and communicative pianist as his subsequent recordings and performances have proved. This CD may have been a 'beginning' but it is one that belongs in the libraries of all lovers of superb piano performances. Grady Harp, February 08

Jonathan Biss is yet another young pianist who has been garnering rave reviews for his playing, and here, in his CD debut, he shows why. Much to his credit, this fine CD opens with a glistening performance of the Beethoven Fantasy, replete with Biss' technically proficient, rhapsodic playing. His Schumann is some of the best I have heard in a while, played with ample expression and technical brilliance, showing why he deserves to be regarded as among our finest contemporary concert pianists. His version of Beethoven's Appassionata won't persuade me to overlook superb versions I have heard from the likes of Ashkenazy, Brendel and Kempff, however, to his credit, it is a fine performance in his own right (Though I concur with another customer review that the fourth movement isn't nearly as dramatic as it could be.). Judging from this recording, Biss should have a long, distinguished career as an interpreter of Beethoven and Schumann.

I didn't find any interpretive problems here with the Appassionata, yes the pacing, the momentum tells the entire story in Beethoven, for he was a purveyor of music materials, scales, figures melodic, shapes, thrusts, chord progressions, developmental schemes, variations,all to be manipulated,truncated; he never wrote what you might say is a "beautiful" melody, he was far smarter than that, and interested in music's other parameters. Biss here keeps, maintains this momentum (the First movement)and again you must listen for the larger sweeps of phrases not from moment to moment, for that could be fine, but the larger phrases need to be correct, to be rhythmically on the mark,something Leonard Meyer referred to as the architetonic dimension of pulse and rhythmThe last movement tells the entire story, here if you begin it too, fast, you had better run, hide someplace, for F minor will be a key that will never forgive you.Biss understands this here whether intellectually or intuitively he has it. There was some nice moments in the Beethoven you feel that he wants to push it at times but that only leads to a dangerous abyss. No he doesn't have the mature vision of Rubenstein or Richter but he's there pitching with them noentheless.

This is the best Schumann I've heard in a while, incredibly lyrical,like Biss is playing the "pop" tunes of the day. He has a wonderful sense of melodic direction, knows where things are going, a phrase, and knows what such a melody might do to one, he nurtures this quite well.Biss seems to understand the points in Schumann that could be boring,like his mundane accompanimental figures, or the obvious chordal fills, you must nurture these as well, for chordal display is important in Schumann. He is difficult to interpret, like Haydn, there is no "kugles" manufactures for each of them,so it is music you must work at. Schumann can be difficult unless you do emotion "root canal" work as Michelangeli sometimes, exploring the extremes of Schumann's aesthetic, like he was a mad man, well mad men make incredible music we know, and isn't hte transgressive, the irrational an important part in dealing with the romantic credos. Schumann saved Romanticism from the tyranny of Beethoven's symphonic revolution, he saved it with the private, introspective, parochial lifeworlds to explore. Likewise Biss's "Fantasy in G Minor" of Ludwig has the same discipline required, impassioned but not overly so.
There is another recording I beleive of Biss playing the Appasionata, for I heard even more balance and numance in that one.

Biss has quite a technique that is displayed in all 3 pieces. The first piece is genuinely interesting, because the Beethoven Fantasy is not all that well known. There is lots of virtuosic passagework, and a Germanic quality is captured.

Davidsbundlertanze is also beautifully wrought. Everything is done in tempo, and the various moods captivated. You can tell that Biss really expends his energy in trying to play everything as well as possible.

The Appassionata is well-done and passionately conveyed. I at first thought that the accents were over-emphasized but on repeated listenings, I found they were done in good taste.

It's good to hear fresh young fingers in a world (of pianistic icons) that can become stale and stagnant.

My wife and I heard Jonathan Biss recently perform with The Cleveland Orchestra. We thought his performance was outstanding. Thus my desire to purchase this CD. I am disappointed, however, with the CD. Good, but not extraordinary. Too much pedal, runs not precise in some cases. I would think he and his agent would not want to muddy his image by distributing performances that are not as good as he can be.

My main interest was Beethoven's Appasionata; Jonathan's approach was as I would imagine Beethoven himself interpreting his work. Jonathan is a powerful artist and brings out the rage against fate that Beethoven was feeling at this time; he handles the "Fate" theme (the same famous four notes we hear in the 5th Symphony, 1st movement)perfectly before launching into another diatribe against the deafness that was growing. Clean playing, medium use of pedal which is appropriate for this piece. Excellent.

I heard the Fantasia Op 17 on the radio and thought it was Pollini, since I also have him performing this work. When I learned it was Biss, I couldn't get over the maturity, the balanced phrasing, beautiful technique and just the right amount of romantic give and take. There was nothing idiosyncratic about it like my Wilhelm Kemph CD (who is much better at Beethoven). I was resolved to purchase it and have smitten my step-daughter and her husband with it, and am about to purchase a bunch of them for my own daughters and friends, as well as Biss' new Mozart CD with Orpheus. We expect more great things from this young man.

This 2005 debut recording from Jonathan Biss immediately displays authority, self-confidence, and a whirlwind technique. In the two years since its release the young American pianist has gone on to much better things, however, and therefore I'd rate this the least of his current output. To me, he feels impatient and overly explosive in the 'Appassionata' -- he comes close to banging. The clattery moments mar a reading that otherwise shows real stature -- Biss's later CD of four Beethoven sonatas displays more maturity. The Beethoven Fantasy deserves its obscurity -- it's a rackety, sprawling faux improvisation with too many outbursts and too little genuine inspiration.

Schumann is another great strength of Biss's, but I am prejudiced against the Davidsbundlertanze, which provides too many similar segments and no overall unity -- Biss clearly relishes the work, however, and throws himself into it, perhaps too crashingly at ties. In sum, despite his enormous gifts, I think Biss makes the same mistake as many yo9ung pianists given their first big break. He wants to convince us with might and main that he deserves to be heard. Frankly, he didn't have to try quite so hard. EMI's close-up, raucous piano sound doesn't help.