Frequently Bought Together
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s
Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or
view the MP3 Album.
Product Description
CD W/Mitsuko Uchida
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I don't usually write reviews into Amazon, but I want to let people know that the negative review, above, of Uchida's performance strikes me as very peculiar, and that I hope people won't be put off listening to this recording by it. This is an absolutely stunning performance, one of those rare and extraordinary gifts that make you feel like you're about to split your skin with excitement. Uchida is an immensely intelligent interpreter of Beethoven. I did truly feel when I heard this that a new depth of passion and of intellectual confrontation in Beethoven's music stood illuminated for the first time. If you want the work of thinking with and through art to be a blessed straining, as Adorno argued that it must be, then listen to this performance. It won't leave you alone for a second.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
By Adamos
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I have always had misgivings about Uchida's Beethoven, having heard her play the last three sonatas live and been disappointed. Hearing her recent recordings, however, has made me change my mind. Yes, this is idiosyncratic playing: you are listening to Uchida's view of Hammerklavier, but there is insight here, wisdom and depth, that places this reading among the finest. Uchida's playing has grace and elegance, but with enough Romantic muscle to add weight to her performance. The slow movement is, in places, almost ethereal, as if she has shifted levels to a higher plane of existence, and the fugal finale maintains a real sense of line and proportion, presenting a convincing conclusion to an account of the piece as a whole that builds in intensity and expression. If you are only ever going to buy one version of this sonata, then this is probably not it. Kovacevich is in many ways truer to the score, entirely himself but in service to the music; Paul Lewis would probably be my 'building a library' recommendation; and, personally, I couldn't be without Brendel, Gilels and Schnabel, to name but a few of the greats. But this is a 'Hammerklavier' to be reckoned with, presenting new insights into this old warhorse and, as such, a 'must hear' for the serious Beethovenian.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This is a performance with real fire! Beethoven ablaze. Uchida plays with passion. At the same time it is not just fireworks, there is tenderness too. The slow movt has great depth.
The final movt combines both and engages both heart and head. So, for me this is a very satisfying recording that adds something to the many versions availiable.
The final movt combines both and engages both heart and head. So, for me this is a very satisfying recording that adds something to the many versions availiable.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By John S
Format:Audio CD
It seems that Mitsuko Uchida's Hammerklavier is more divisive than her recording of the last three sonatas, but I have to say that I find her performance very convincing -if a little quirky at times. Her pianism is immaculate, and her ability to illuminate the tiniest detail gives the music a certain sense of scale. For me, she emphasizes Beethoven's roots in the Classical tradition, and this makes his excursions into new territory sound all the more remarkable. The Hammerklavier is too important a work for me to choose a favourite recording -although my reference is probably Backhaus, but this is a recording I don't think I ever want to be without.
Uchida's performance of op.101 is stunning. Her pianism is ravishing, but her sense of grandeur and effortless style makes this my favourite recording of the sonata.
I think Uchida and late Beethoven make a great match, and I was delighted to discover that she is adding the Diabelli Variations to her repertoire -that should be something very special indeed.
Uchida's performance of op.101 is stunning. Her pianism is ravishing, but her sense of grandeur and effortless style makes this my favourite recording of the sonata.
I think Uchida and late Beethoven make a great match, and I was delighted to discover that she is adding the Diabelli Variations to her repertoire -that should be something very special indeed.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By DMH
TOP 1000 REVIEWER
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I bought this CD after listening at length to Uchida's disc of the last 3 Beethoven piano sonatas, which I much enjoyed and found searching as interpretations.
Her "Hammerklavier", unfortunately, left me cold. One can admire her pianism but as an interpretation it just doen't work for me. I thought I might be in the wrong frame of mind to listen, so I put on Gilels' version (on DG) just afterwards. What a transformation! Gilels not only plays the notes, he plays the music itself, which in my opinion Uchida fails to do here.
The recording is excellent.
Her "Hammerklavier", unfortunately, left me cold. One can admire her pianism but as an interpretation it just doen't work for me. I thought I might be in the wrong frame of mind to listen, so I put on Gilels' version (on DG) just afterwards. What a transformation! Gilels not only plays the notes, he plays the music itself, which in my opinion Uchida fails to do here.
The recording is excellent.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By Odysseus
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I'm no classical music expert, but I know beautiful playing when I hear it. Uchida has a wonderfully sensitive approach to this piece which reaches greater spiritual heights in the slow section than other performers (I'm comparing with two other recordings - Gilels and Brendel), whilst also keeping in reserve a strong dominant edge for the loud sections.
No question that this is the best recording of this particular piece I've heard, and some of the loveliest piano playing too.
No question that this is the best recording of this particular piece I've heard, and some of the loveliest piano playing too.
21 of 32 people found the following review helpful
By An amateur
Format:Audio CD
Having read very positive reviews of Uchida's Beethoven sonatas, I had great expectations to this CD. And the sound quality is really excellent; maybe the best piano sound I have ever heard on CD.
Unfortunately I can not say the same of Mitsuko Uchida's Beethoven interpretation. I own about 20 different recordings of the op.106 sonata, from Schnabel onwards. It's probably my favourite piece of music. I also have other recordings of Uchida, mainly Mozart and Schubert, which I enjoy very much. But having listened through this CD now 4 or 5 times, I have to say that I do not like her way of playing the Hammerklavier sonata at all; less and less for each hearing. In the Allegro her rubato sounds completely wrong. She seems over-focused on making an Uchida-Hammerklavier rather than playing Beethoven. The Adagio is much the same. One of Beethoven's deepest single movements does not require such personal colouring. There is no fine flow through the music here, just an urge to produce something different. In the Largo the contrapuntal parts are mixed up, and the fine melody is almost lost. This is not how a fugue should sound.
As I said at the start the engineers have done an outstanding job with this recording, but the pianistic performance is far from perfect. Compared with the great Hammerklaviers of Arrau, Brendel, Gilels, Kovacevich, Pollini, Richter, Serkin, Solomon, this recording from Mitsuko Uchida belong on the far back shelf.
Maybe I'm a bit harsh here, but this CD does certainly not deserve a top rating: 5 stars for the engineers; 2 for the klavier hammerer.
Unfortunately I can not say the same of Mitsuko Uchida's Beethoven interpretation. I own about 20 different recordings of the op.106 sonata, from Schnabel onwards. It's probably my favourite piece of music. I also have other recordings of Uchida, mainly Mozart and Schubert, which I enjoy very much. But having listened through this CD now 4 or 5 times, I have to say that I do not like her way of playing the Hammerklavier sonata at all; less and less for each hearing. In the Allegro her rubato sounds completely wrong. She seems over-focused on making an Uchida-Hammerklavier rather than playing Beethoven. The Adagio is much the same. One of Beethoven's deepest single movements does not require such personal colouring. There is no fine flow through the music here, just an urge to produce something different. In the Largo the contrapuntal parts are mixed up, and the fine melody is almost lost. This is not how a fugue should sound.
As I said at the start the engineers have done an outstanding job with this recording, but the pianistic performance is far from perfect. Compared with the great Hammerklaviers of Arrau, Brendel, Gilels, Kovacevich, Pollini, Richter, Serkin, Solomon, this recording from Mitsuko Uchida belong on the far back shelf.
Maybe I'm a bit harsh here, but this CD does certainly not deserve a top rating: 5 stars for the engineers; 2 for the klavier hammerer.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 12 reviews
4.4 out of 5 stars
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Listmania!
![DUO Philips [Bach/Beethoven]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41WNAHZ7EEL._AA60_.jpg)
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
