Beethoven: Piano Works, Vol. 5

This issue, number five in the series of CDs that will eventually number eleven, contains Beethoven's most popular sonata, the 'Moonlight,' No. 14 in C sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 2. This is the recording I grew up with. I remember my teacher sitting me down to listen to how Schnabel played the whirlwind third movement and commenting, 'You'll never be able to manage it that well.' That hurt. But, of course she was right. That last movement, in Schnabel's hands is simply titanic. It doesn't matter that there is some sonic distortion in the loudest passages; it's the playing that counts, and we're lucky to still have Schnabel's performance some seventy years later. As for the first two movements of the sonata, one can only marvel at the utter calmness of that famous first movement, and the insouciance of the Allegretto. This performance does not have an equal.

The other two sonatas are almost at that level. The 'Pastorale,' No. 15 in D, Op. 28, manages somehow to combine broad tempi with peasant-like joie de vivre. The 'Pastorale' has never been one of my favorite sonatas, but Schnabel makes you believe in it.

The Opus 31 sonatas are among my favorites, but No. 1, the sonata included here, tends to be considered the weak sister of the set. Not here. Some music-lovers insist that Beethoven be dramatic, urgent, extreme. In this sonata, rather, we get chuckling, musing, high spirits. The third movement is positively Haydnesque in its humor. Schnabel brings it all off with pearly runs and impulsive dynamic surprises.

These transfers from the original 78s are probably the best to be had. Unfortunately there are still a number of distorted passages at high volumes and that can't be helped; it is a combination of the recording techniques of the time and the unavailability of pristine 78s from which to take these transfers. And, particularly in the third movement of the 'Moonlight,' Schnabel makes such huge dynamic contrasts that it was simply impossible at the time to record them without some sonic blasting. I'm convinced that transfer engineer, Mark Obert-Thorn, has made the best case for these recordings; they won't ever be done better.

Obviously these should not be one's only recordings of these sonatas. They are historical documents. I wouldn't want to be without modern recordings, but I certainly don't want to be without my Schnabels.

Self-recommending.

Scott Morrison

Schnabel had a composer's mind - he wasn't only a performer, he wrote and arranged as well. He also seems to have entered into Beethoven's mindset and established an almost telepathic link with the genius. Contemporaries of Schnabel certainly felt that no one in their era came as close to expressing the 'real' Beethoven.

And there is a significant parallel in Schnabel's recording of the work and Beethoven's writing of them. The piano sonatas were first and foremost Beethoven. They were written by him at a piano, and were played by him at a piano - not by an orchestra or quartet or trio. This is a direct link to Beethoven's hand, ear, and mind. The sonatas are passionately individual and intimate.

And they were written at a time when the piano was evolving - Beethoven was pushing the instrument to its then technical limitations. Schnabel records the works in the face of rapid developments of the technology of his time. Though recording techniques and equipment look at least quaint and antiquated by today's standards, this was the cutting edge of technology in the 1930's. Yet Schnabel was reluctant to record the works initially - he couldn't quite accept that it was legitimate.

And he had good reason. The original recordings (made between 1932 and 1938) were on bulky, fragile, shellac discs: scratchy, cranky, to be played on wind up instruments and generate a barely acceptable noise, the music lost behind crackle and hiss, the life expectancy of the disc limited by its fragility and ease with which it could be abraded or scratched. This was hardly 'real' music or 'real' musicianship - not like playing before a live audience.

Yet Schnabel, once he overcame his objections to the technology, settled down in EMI's Abbey Road studios and recorded all thirty-two of the sonatas, giving each an immediacy and astonishing presence. Primitive they may be by contemporary standards, but no one has achieved such a sense of 'live' recording, no one makes the music sound so intimately present in your sitting room.

There are better technical recordings in terms of the skills of the pianist - Richard Goode and Alfredo Perle are two I could recommend. There are more modern recordings which produce a more perfect sound - there is a hiss on these discs, a hiss which some will accept as giving the recordings authenticity, provenance and atmosphere, a hiss which will drive others demented. But there is no one who approaches Beethoven with greater insight or emotional integrity.

These recordings of the sonatas are available individually - you do not have to buy them as a box set, you can pick and choose your favourites, you can dip your toe in the water and see how you cope with the sound and feel of just one. There is, as I say, a hiss. But these recordings have all been superbly remastered by Mark Obert-Thorn from the originals, and offer a greatly enhanced sound quality compared to the earlier EMI box-set by Schnabel - the sound is rich, enveloping, yet intimate and immediate.

Musicianship of outstanding quality and integrity, and no little courage.