Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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42 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Rigorous, severe and rewarding., 20 Jan 2004
Kovacevich is a robust pianist, not given to sweetness of effect nor ingratiating indulgence. He offers a severe and unflinching traversal of these works; this is Beethoven conceived as intellectually rigorous, as well as dramatically potent. Kovacevich's dynamic range is wide, his sense of attack vigorous and at times aggressively urgent. It is necessarily the case that such an approach will yield different benefits in different works and perhaps in the slighter works Kovacevich does lack the last degree of relaxation and simple pleasure, but in the major works he delivers performances as rewarding as one could hope for. Having admired this artist's earlier recordings and having often heard him in recital, I can say that the new set lives up to the high expectations I had of it. I suspect that if you are an admirer of, for example, Alfred Brendel then these performances will probably not be to your taste; there is nothing picturesque or restrained here. One can pick fault with odd performances, but when it comes to the major works Kovacevich is very good indeed. I would point to Ops 109 and 111 as particularly special (as great in their way as Pollini's famous recordings) as well as Ops 13, 53, 57 and 81a. Indeed I have never really seen what the fuss is about regarding the "Appassionata": until now. Perhaps more surprisingly the opening of the "Moonlight" Sonata is handled beautifully, with a performance so straight and unaffected that it manages to supplant memories of all those meretricious, overweening readings one has heard in the past. There is a consistency to Kovacevich's approach that, though it leaves a few areas untouched, allows one to follow the logic of Beethoven's development across the genre. In short if you want a complete set of Beethoven Sonatas that is challenging, rigorously conceived and avoids affectation you will not be disappointed with this issue.
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27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Magnificent, 31 Jul 2004
By A Customer
I'd been listening to Beethoven's piano sonatas off and on for over fifteen years but I'd never been able to totally connect to it. Then recently, I played a few snippets from this website of Kovacevich's cycle and I was instantly drawn to what I heard. It seemed to be much more alive than anything I'd previously heard from other interpretations. I was sufficiently impressed to purchase this set and (in a substantial collection) it is without doubt the best purchase I've ever made. If I could award a rosette to only one part of my CD collection then it would go to this set.
When I listen to these performances, it doesn't feel like I'm listening to Kovacevich, it feels more like I'm listening to Beethoven himself. And how I've underestimated his genius! These sonatas are undoubtedly masterworks and every one of these performances is now indispensable to me. The pace is quick and fluent and never over deliberate; the performances are straightforward, without any distracting mannerisms but with appropriate strength, gentleness and wit - I hadn't appreciated how much wit and humour there was in this music until now! The recording is absolutely first class. Stephen Kovacevich says in his notes that "once something is as great as this music, you should be on your knees and be grateful that it exists". I'm on my knees, and I couldn't be more grateful to Mr. Kovacevich for bringing this music to life for me. In one word...Magnificent!
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Magnificent, but not the whole answer, 11 Aug 2006
Indeed, no single set of the Beethoven piano sonatas COULD be the whole answer. At present, I also own the Schnabel and Goode sets, and both have given me much pleasure. Kovacevich gives a great deal of pleasure too, but I find his achievement only becomes consistently satisfying from about No.21 onwards. Probably my biggest complaint about his playing is that the heavier accents are banged, overdone and actually ugly to listen to. This can be somewhat mitigated by a big treble cut, but listening to this set in large portions can be a bit hard on the ears. I keep wanting to say, "Yes, Mr. Kovacevich, understand that there is a sforzando there-you don't need to beat me over the head with it!" I especially object to this in the more classically oriented early sonatas.
As I said, from about No.21 on, Kovacevich really comes into his own. The following performances are really superb: 1, 14, 16 (Kovacevich finds a vein of Rossinian humor here that has evaded other interpreters), 17, 21, 22, 23 (wonderfully intense!), 24, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31, and 32.
I like his Hammerklavier, but wish the slow movement didn't seem quite so rushed. Throughout this set, the slow movements are moved along rather more quickly than is traditional, and I find the results convincing except for this one.
No.3/I is taken too fast to allow ornaments to emerge with clarity, and the passages of broken octaves in 16th notes sound like grace notes before the beat instead of ON it (a Schnabelesque idiosyncracy).
My advice, if you can afford it, is to get this set and Richard Goode's and pick and choose. No one set could hope to justice to all 32 works, anyway.
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~ Johann Sebastian Bach
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