Paul Lewis and the Late Beethoven sonatas

I know of no recording that betters Pollini.

If there is one, let me know!!

Can you please post a link to the recommended Pollini. I really like the Paul Lewis. I will give the Pollini a listen as well. Thanks

If I had to pick a single recording that embodied the best of music and performance, this would be it. These performances are so full of fire and insight, they exceed the bounds of imagination.

Pollini sets the standard.

I had high hopes for Lewis, but this Pollini sets the bar so high ...

Bravo to Lewis for giving it a shot!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Beetho...id=1261759699&sr=8-1

Try that

Pollini in these works will make Paul Lewis sound silly, as he did with Lewis's mentor Alfred Brendel.

Just my opinion, of course.

But, there again, I think that Pollini's recordings of these five pieces are amongst the handful (or smaller) of the very best recordings that I possess.

Happy Xmas, everyone!

Thanks. Ordered.

quote:

Originally posted by graham55:

But, there again, I think that Pollini's recordings of these five pieces are amongst the handful (or smaller) of the very best recordings that I possess.

Happy Xmas, everyone!

I think this is the very best recording I own, everything else pales in comparison. Even after well over 100 listens, it is still fresh and electrifying. Every listen is a new experience. If I put this on, I have to listen to all of it every time, and never feel sated.

I made sure both my daughters and all my close friends had this.

Merry Christmas to everyone.

Whilst I wait for Pollini, I can going to familiarise myself more with these three versions to see which one I prefer after the Pollini listen.

Lontano, I don't know these, excepting the Lewis.

I look forward to your comments.

I didn't get along very well with the Schiff...

I couldn't pin point what I didn't like, it just seemed a little uneasy and in places, strange.

quote:

Originally posted by mikeeschman:


If I had to pick a single recording that embodied the best of music and performance, this would be it. These performances are so full of fire and insight, they exceed the bounds of imagination.

Pollini sets the standard.

I had high hopes for Lewis, but this Pollini sets the bar so high ...

Bravo to Lewis for giving it a shot!

That's the one! Adrian, I doubt you'll regret buying this set, which could well make my top ten desert island disks.

Disappointed by the negative comments about the Paul Lewis, as I'd just addded his complete cycle of Beethoven piano sonatas to my Amazon wishlist. Will no-one defend the poor guy?!

quote:

Originally posted by droodzilla:
Will no-one defend the poor guy?!

All I can say is that I really like his set and it has been critically well received. Whereas others here seem to find it a bit laid back from what I can tell, that is what I like about it.

I don't pretend to be a Beethoven sonata expert, but the Lewis is the set I always reach for when I want to listen.

quote:

Originally posted by droodzilla:
Disappointed by the negative comments about the Paul Lewis, as I'd just addded his complete cycle of Beethoven piano sonatas to my Amazon wishlist. Will no-one defend the poor guy?!

He did something monumental just learning this music, and others (self included) may be missing something important.

If you find you love it, please mount a vigorous defense that sends us back for another listen!

The Times of London - opinions, opinions

Here we have the final volume in Paul Lewis’s Beethoven piano sonata cycle: 12 sonatas, early, middle and late, packaged into another unmissable purchase. Journey’s end? Not likely. As Daniel Barenboim recently proved in concert, a great musician never stops growing into these magnificent works. But I wouldn’t want any future cycle from this star British pianist, whenever it came, to lose the poetic penetration and feeling displayed in these superb recordings, made in Berlin over the past three years in the gaps between his touring recitals.

The collection, nicely varied, ranges on three CDs from the Op 10 sonatas from 1798 to Beethoven’s final sonatas from the 1820s. Above all, Lewis is a responsible pianist. No flashy tricks or gazing at the ceiling. He thinks seriously but never freezes out his heart.

At times in the towering final sonatas Lewis perhaps holds too much in reserve. Greater firepower could only enhance Beethoven’s visionary thinking, even when the marking for No 30’s finale indicates “mezza voce”, a half-voice. But this reserve also leads to masterful moments. There’s No 15’s balm and calm, plus the fluent grace in the Op 49 duo – pedagogic trifles for which any overkill would be fatal.

And his finale to Les Adieux, celebrating Archduke Rudolph’s return to Vienna after the French siege of 1809, is wonderfully blithe. If the Archduke didn’t order this music, the doctor certainly did.

The seventh sonata, from Op 10, receives one of Lewis’s most individual performances. For the slow movement, the booklet note quotes Beethoven’s descriptive phrase about a “soul in the grip of melancholy”. Lewis’s soul has gone beyond melancholy: pauses and general tension indicate that the poor chap is on the knife’s edge, ready to slit his throat.

Overplaying the finale’s structural quirks can turn it into a gargoyle. Here Lewis takes the softly-softly route, teasing out its tottering, stop-go leading motif, always thinking about long-term effect, never short-term gain. He is equally sensitive with the earlier sonatas’ Mozartian embroidery: an arpeggio in Lewis’s hands is always something more than needlework in lace.

So buy Lewis’s Beethoven with confidence, and listen and explore for many years to come. I certainly plan to.

The Times of New York

THE English pianist Paul Lewis released the first volume of his complete survey of the 32 Beethoven piano sonatas in 2005. Over the next two years he toured Europe and America, performing cycles of the sonatas while continuing to record them for Harmonia Mundi France.

The fourth and final volume in the series has now been released, and Mr. Lewis’s work is as insightful and engrossing as ever. There are many prized recordings of the Beethoven sonatas from past masters and current artists. But if I had to recommend a single complete set, I would suggest Mr. Lewis’s distinguished recordings.

Though Mr. Lewis, 36, has a resourceful technique, he does not come across as a brilliant virtuoso. His playing is honest and beautifully detailed, with impressive clarity and no compromises. Yet it is his imagination that carries these performances. At times he is self-effacing and sensitive. But when prodded by something in the music, he can be volatile and fearsome.

Here his performances of three early works, the Sonatas No. 5 in C minor, No. 6 in F and No. 7 in D (published together as Opus 10), are particularly exciting. In the stormy first movement of the C minor, with its clipped, dotted-note rhythmic riff and stunning contrasts, Mr. Lewis plays with such boldness and fancy that it almost sounds as if he were improvising.

Similarly, in the otherworldly Sonata No. 32 in C minor, he charges through the fitful first movement with a wildness that never turns reckless. Yet in his haunting account of the finale, he conveys the music’s pensive mysticism while animating the outbursts of rhythmically jerky exuberance. (The other sonatas in this volume are Nos. 15, 19, 20, 26, 30 and 31.)

For contrast, a personal observation about the Pollini.

Every so often, a performer realizes a technique so perfect and comprehensive that he is able to penetrate music with an absolute security and precision. The door to another world is flung open, and the listener stands face to face with the composer.

After over 100 listens, the Pollini still does that to me every time, in just a few bars. The spell is unbroken till all goes silent. Not for a fraction of a second, is the forward momentum of the music disturbed. It is inexorable. Yet, it always leaves me refreshed and wanting more.

This playing is sweet and tender, volcanic, savage, sublime and ethereal.

Guess I like it :-)

quote:

Originally posted by mikeeschman:
For contrast

Guess I like it :-)

Thanks. I was just posting the reviews to let Nigel know, IMHO, he should give the Paul Lewis set a go as there are critics that like it...

I have found with classical music that often it is the first recording of a piece that I listen to that becomes my favourite recording and is hard to displace. For that reason, out of the 10 different versions I have of the Beethoven Violin concerto I always come back to the version by Viktoria Mullova/Gardiner.

Did you start off with the Pollini, or did this grab you further down the road?

That's a fine, eloquent description of the Pollini set, Mike. I know exactly what you're driving at. The only thing I would add is the sense of intellectual clarity and rigour I get when listening to these performances - which, nevertheless, takes nothing away from passion and fire you describe so well. I have the highly praised Kovavevich complete cycle, but find his performances of the late sonatas rather brutish compared with Pollini's. I also have Kempff's mono cycle, and enjoy listening to that very much.

Adrian, those reviews of the Paul Lewis set have revived my interest, as I admire performers who are self-effacing and prepared to get out of the way so the music can speak for itself. It sounds like Lewis might (to some degree) fall into this category, so I will keep his set on my wishlist.

Mike, you and I have both posted many times about our admiration for these late sonatas by Pollini. (I have it on a 3LP set, autographed by Pollini, which I hardly dare ever play!)

To me, Paul Lewis has always sounded 'underpowered' in these late works (although I confess that I'm going by radio broadcasts of live performances, and have not heard his CD recordings). In that respect, he resembles Brendel, with whom he studied.

For a different take on these pieces, I'd strongly recommend Emil Gilels' almost complete recording of the Beethoven sonatas on a 9CD DG set, although he died - tragically - before he could set down his recording of Op 111. There's no doubt that he recorded the Hammerklavier at least ten years later than he should have, but it's still a monumental achievement.

But, if only one will do, it has to be Pollini!

Graham

I came to the Beethoven Sonatas by way of Claudio Arrau. Rudolph Serkin, Glenn Gould and Auturo Beneditti Michelangeli were not able to knock Arrau from his perch.

Then came Pollini, and everything I thought I knew about Beethoven was revised and refined to the point of being utterly redefined.

Pollini has achieved a level of execution that is transformational. Nothing exceeds his grasp.

There are few recordings of any pianist, or anyone for that matter, that I would lay this claim.

But I do still love the Arrau. He is the first, and that is something special.

Graham55, the only thing I have by Emil Gilels is a set of Brahms Concerti with Jochum, which are simply earth shattering.

The Zimerman Brahms is the first to equal, and maybe surpass it. I have more than a dozen recordings of these concerti.

I would appreciate very much a list of Emil Gilels to add to the collection, beyond the Beethoven Sonatas.

Speaking of Brendel, I have 8 or 9 of his disks. The only thing I have that I enjoyed are Beethoven's Erocia Variations, which I find Brendel does with color and verve, the two qualities I find absent in his other recordings that have passed my ear.

Can anyone direct me to Brendel that would change this impression?

Mike, if it has to be one Gilels CD, just get his recording of extracts from Grieg's Lyric Pieces on a DG Originals CD. Seraphic!

I also rate his EMI recordings of Beethoven's Fourth and Fifth Piano Concertos with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Leopold Ludwig (available on a single EMI GROC) as highly as Pollini's first recordings with Boehm. In other words, the best you can get!

Obviously, the Beethoven sonata set and the Brahms concertos already mentioned must make any list!

G

Mike, how do you rate Pollini's Brahms concerti with Abbado?

Brendel used to have a certain 'fire' to his playing. In the 70s he was playing large works by Liszt, Chopin, etc. but he now seems to be quite sedate.

I heard him live a few years back at the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester. Whilst his articulation and control is undeniably superb, I was bored. There was 'something' missing.

I think the only Brahms Concerti I have with Pollini is an old Angel LP with Giulini and the Philharmonia. Awful sound kind of ruins it.

I never developed an interest in it. It may have been listened to twice over the past two decades.

I have become addicted to newer recordings, where you can hear the hammers and the partials :-)

About Brendel : I always feel as if I am attending a reading, no doubt with perfect diction.

When Pollini plays Beethoven, I am consumed in the fires of belief, I am living Beethoven, channeled by Pollini's conviction. What a wonderful gift that is to grant a listener!

And what a conviction, born of an absolute and perfect control, informed in every nuance, on fire beat to beat, a resurrection!