beethoven: complete piano sonatas

i'm primarily a jazz listener; my knowledge of classical is pretty limited. i'm looking to explore beethoven's piano sonatas, and i was hoping someone here might have a suggestion.

i'm trying to decide between two boxed sets of the complete sonatas

I think you might find some good material on deja news about this topic, which is a perennial here. I haven't heard Russell Sherman's set. I, personally, like Richard Goode's set quite a bit, and would not hesitate to recommend it. Many mileages vary on this whole subject. MIke

<< I think you might find some good material on deja news about this topic, which is a perennial here. I haven't heard Russell Sherman's set. I, personally, like Richard Goode's set quite a bit, and would not hesitate to recommend it. >>

thanks for the response.

i checked the google [formerly dejanews] archives before i posted the question. i found some recommendations of goode's set, but not much on the sherman set.

someone emailed me in response to this thread, and said that the sherman set is one of his favorites. and both run ~80 dollars, so price isn't much help. who knows? since i'm not hearing anything bad about either, maybe i'll just cave and buy both.

Bernard Roberts or Richard Goode.

Not that this helps clear things up for you, but just thought I would mention the Annie Fischer set on Hungaraton. I am in love with that set. I have one of the Richard Goode CD's and at the time found he suffered a bit from what I had called the too-fast too-slow syndrome. However, they are well recorded and highly respected. Brendel has an early set on Vox that you could get very cheaply for starters. They lacked an urgency for me but I admit to not being a big Brendel fan. On the other hand, they are well played and the sound is decent. Gilels did not record the entire set, but he nearly did and they are all masterpieces. I just mention those as I found I needed to get different perspectives to begin to fully appreciate the works. That is a process still going on for me. Particularly the late sonata's which are so open for interpretation. Speaking of perspectives, Kovacevich is a series worth looking into, although I am not sure if it is completed.

James

I bought the Goode set, and sold it less than a week later. Very pretty Beethoven, but I think that Beethoven deserves much more than 'pretty'. I haven't heard Sherman.

Much better, and cheaper, is a French EMI set with Eric Heidsieck, but you'll have to order it from a French website (I used FNAC.com) - it'll still cost less than half of Goode (I think that I ended up paying about $32, with postage). Other sets I've enjoyed are Schnabel's (but it's from 78's, so not a good place to start), Nat's (better, but still 50's mono), Annie Fischer (better sound, great, exciting performances, but expensive).

You might want to check the archives of rec.music.classical.recordings, since this has been a thread there several times in the past year. There's no consensus.

Good luck.

Bill

more great thoughts. thanks, james, and mr. kasimer.

Does anyone know where one can get the Vox recordings mentioned below?

I second (or third?) the prior mentions of Annie Fischer's set. I know you did not mention it, and I know it is expensive (9 full priced CDs), but it is the finest overall cycle of Beethoven's piano sonatas I can think of. She trumps even Schnabel (the EMI set). I do know there is an almost complete cycle of Walter Gieseking playing the sonatas, but it is from the 40's and very expensive, and I can't remember the label (it's Italian). Bottom line: Annie Fischer's cycle is a monumental recorded achievement and represents Art at its most

I recently found the LP set of Anton Kuerti's Beethoven cycle on ebay for the incredible 'buy it now' price of $14 plus shipping. After a quick search of the archives here (which include the praise of Robert Silverman, who offers his own LvB sonata cycle), I grabbed them. Pristine condition, fabulous sound and always interesting interpretations. Of course, some could be too interesting for some tastes, but I really enjoy them.

I believe this set is (or has been) availble on CD at fairly reasonable prices. And as Mr. Silverman said a few years back, it's worth picking up no matter how many other versions you have in your collection.

Good luck, Mike Young

I just did a search on borders.com and found the Schnabel (78's remastered?) are $74.98 for 8 cds but a Phillips 1996 Brendel set for $149.99 (10 cds for price of 9).

They do not show the VOX set. Try searching other music sites. I'm not sure it even exists in a cd set. I would be surprized. The VOX set is the complete solo piano music of Beethoven. Which makes me suddenly *cherish* the LP box I paid $29.95 for in 1970.

Good luck.