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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Self-Recommending 3CD Set, 11 Mar 2004
Many of us remember the excitement at the appearance, in the late 1980s, of Barbara Nissman's recordings of the complete Prokofiev piano sonatas on Newport Classics. It was the first complete set ever released, as far as I know, and was immediately a best seller. Unfortunately, though, the Newport CDs are no longer in print. Enter Pierian Records. Pierian Records is a non-profit company, run pretty much as a one-man show by Karl Miller in Austin, Texas and 'dedicated to the preservation of historic recordings and obscure literature.' They have released a number of recordings by Barbara Nissman, surely one of our best American pianists. [See my review of her Liszt B minor sonata CD.] Nissman is a specialist in the piano music of Prokofiev, Ginastera, and Bartók and has, in fact, written a book about the piano music of the latter. She wrote the extremely helpful notes for this 3CD set. I have heard her play most of the Prokofiev sonatas (as well as various smaller pieces) in recital and can assure you that she conveys these pieces as well as anyone before the public today. It is true that some of the pianistic big guns have recorded some of the sonatas - Richter, Cliburn, Horowitz, Argerich - and a newer virtuoso pianist, Bernd Glemser, has recorded the lot. But Nissman's traversal has stood the test of time.This set contains all nine sonatas (plus the small bit of Sonata 10 that survives), including the two versions of Sonata 5. Also included are the Four Pieces, Op. 4; Sarcasms, Op. 17; Visions Fugitives, Op. 22, and the Toccata, Op. 11. Some highlights: A blistering Toccata. The opening statement of the first of the three 'War Sonatas,' Sonata 6. The whole of Sonatas 7 and 8, and particularly the more forceful aspects of both of them, and not forgetting the casually swinging walking tenths of No. 7's slow movement. Both versions of Sonata 5 (so often derided as inferior; Nissman makes a case for both versions). An insouciant performance of the sweetly neoclassic Sonata 9, so reminiscent of the Classical Symphony written decades before. If you're in the market for a complete set of these epochal sonatas - perhaps the most important set of piano sonatas of the 20th century - you should strongly consider these. CD1=74:46
CD2=70:58
CD3-64:30
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~ Mitsuko Uchida
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