Document

  1990
    July 1990
        Instrumental
                Beethoven Piano Sonatas.

Beethoven Piano [Sonata] Sonatas—A major, Op. 101; B flat major, Op. 106, "Hammerklavier". Daniel Barenboim (pf).

DG 3D Classics (Mid price) (CD) 429 485-2DC (72 minutes: ADD). From 413 766-2GX6 (7/85).

Beethoven Late Piano Sonatas. Maurizio Pollini (pf).

DG (Full price) (CD) 429 569/70-2GH (two discs, oas: 63 and 62 minutes: AAD). From 2740 166 (1/78).

429 569-2GH—A major, Op. 101; B flat major, Op. 106, "Hammerklavier". 429 570-2GH—E major, Op. 109; A flat major, Op. 110; C minor, Op. 111.

Late Piano [Sonata] Sonatas—selected comparisons:

Ashkenazy (12/86) 417 150-2DH2

Goode (9/89) 979211-2

There is something slightly schizophrenic about Barenboim's Hammerklavier, particularly in the first movement. Grandeur is certainly an option for the very opening (though this sounds as much cautious as grand), but later on the tempo jars against passages which simply have to move on. One part of Barenboim seems to realize this and seeks to accommodate the discrepancy; another part of him resists and searches for unity within an overall spaciousness. As a result there is much beautiful playing, but the whole only carries partial conviction. Sonata Op. 101 yields up rather more of its secrets, however, and until the finale Barenboim's is a truly outstanding interpretation. At that point some of his accustomed clarity deserts him and there are several scrambly passages. The same thing happens in the Hammerklavier finale; the effect is like a slipping clutch—it's as though the playing cannot quite withstand the cumulative momentum of Beethoven's structure.

This is precisely Pollini's greatest strength in his Gramophone Award-winning set. Not only can he stand up to the accumulated momentum, but he can also build on it so as to leave the impression of one huge exhalation of creative breath. Barenboim may probe even more deeply in the Hammerklavier slow movement, and his recording has a richness and translucency the earlier DG cannot match; but Pollini's controlled vehemence is without rival in the outer movements, and though he does not get right to the bottom of Op. 101's poetry, his far-sighted phrasing and paragraphing is again remarkable (hear the build-up to the finale recapitulation and resist it if you can!).

In the last three sonatas there are others who stop to peer deeper into some of the psychic chasms, but Pollini's mastery of integration and continuous growth, and his ability to hold potentially conflicting musical demands in balance, are again sources of wonder. All other things being equal, I would prefer a tempo scheme for the variations of Op. 111 closer to the letter of the score, but in terms of the qualities just mentioned, who is Pollini's equal? Certainly not Ashkenazy or Goode, whose two-disc sets of all five late sonatas (for Decca and Nonesuch/WEA respectively) nevertheless offer rich rewards of their own. There are some small touches of pre-echo in Op. 111, but otherwise nothing to distract from the exalted quality of the music and the playing.

DJF



		There is something slightly schizophrenic about Barenboim's Hammerklavier, particularly in the first movement. Grandeur is certainly an option for the very opening (though this sounds as much cautious as grand), but later on the tempo jars against passages which simply have to move on. One part of Barenboim seems to realize this and seeks to accommodate the discrepancy; another part of him resists and searches for unity within an overall spaciousness. As a result there is much beautiful playing, but the whole only carries partial conviction. Sonata Op. 101 yields up rather more of its secrets, however, and until the finale Barenboim's is a truly outstanding interpretation. At that point some of his accustomed clarity deserts him and there are several scrambly passages. The same thing happens in the Hammerklavier finale; the effect is like a slipping clutch—it's as though the playing cannot quite withstand the cumulative momentum of Beethoven's structure.



		This is precisely Pollini's greatest strength in his Gramophone Award-winning set. Not only can he stand up to the accumulated momentum, but he can also build on it so as to leave the impression of one huge exhalation of creative breath. Barenboim may probe even more deeply in the Hammerklavier slow movement, and his recording has a richness and translucency the earlier DG cannot match; but Pollini's controlled vehemence is without rival in the outer movements, and though he does not get right to the bottom of Op. 101's poetry, his far-sighted phrasing and paragraphing is again remarkable (hear the build-up to the finale recapitulation and resist it if you can!).



		In the last three sonatas there are others who stop to peer deeper into some of the psychic chasms, but Pollini's mastery of integration and continuous growth, and his ability to hold potentially conflicting musical demands in balance, are again sources of wonder. All other things being equal, I would prefer a tempo scheme for the variations of Op. 111 closer to the letter of the score, but in terms of the qualities just mentioned, who is Pollini's equal? Certainly not Ashkenazy or Goode, whose two-disc sets of all five late sonatas (for Decca and Nonesuch/WEA respectively) nevertheless offer rich rewards of their own. There are some small touches of pre-echo in Op. 111, but otherwise nothing to distract from the exalted quality of the music and the playing.