From: vnguyen@husc8.harvard.edu (Vinh Nguyen)
Newsgroups: rec.music.classical
Subject: Re: Favorite Beethoven piano sonatas!!!
Date: 8 Oct 92 23:19:28 GMT
Article-I.D.: husc3.1992Oct8.191930.16184
Reply-To: vnguyen@husc8.harvard.edu
Distribution: rec
Originator: vnguyen@husc8.harvard.edu

In article <RSI.92Oct8104801@scf16.scf.loral.com>,
 rsi@scf16.scf.loral.com (Rich S. Ishikawa) writes:
 
> Just thought I should start a new thread...   My favorite sonatas by
> Beethoven:
> 
> All time favorite (in descending order):
> 
> 1. Piano Sonata #32 Op.111     - His last, his greatest and most emotional.
> 2. Piano Sonata #31 Op.110.    - Pretty joyous piece.
> 3. Piano Sonata #?? Op.31 No.2 - Fantastic middle period sonata. Very lively.
> 4. Piano Sonata #?? Op.10 No.3 - Most favorite early piano sonata.
> 5. Piano Sonata #30 Op.109.    - Really nice sounding late sonata.
> 6. Piano Sonata #?? Op.90.     - Very exhilarating 2nd movement.
> 7. Op.57, Op.54, Op.106, Op.101, Op.13, Op.27#2, Op.28 - all really 
>    nice pieces, but not as awesome as the above pieces.
> 8. The remaining ones...
> 
> I can emphatically guarantee you'd really like the 1-6 piano sonatas if you 
> haven't listened to them (assuming a proper Beethoven interpretation, of
> course).
> 
> Did I leave any out??

OK, off the top of my head for the moment (oh, a favorite work can't
go without a favorite interpretation either):

1. Op. 57 (Appassionata) -- Musically & dramatically quite perfect.
But needs a stunning interpretation to match.  Need I say more.  
 Gilels, R. Serkin
2. Op. 53 (Waldstein) -- Ditto.  Appolonian versus the Dyonisian Op. 57.
 Gilels, Pletnev a distant second
3. Op. 86 (Les Adieux) -- Very close to musical & dramatic perfection.
The 3rd mvt is stunningly beautiful.
 Gilels
4. Op. 2 no. 3 -- The most beautiful early sonata.  A model of classical
perfection and majesty.  (Pianistically effective too).
 Ashkenazy
5. Op. 106 (Hammerklavier) -- A monument, hard to appreciate but 
rewarding to the patient.  The first mvt swaggers, the slow mvt
is sublime, the fugue awe-inspiring.  (The brief scherzo is rather
hysterical by comparison).
 Gilels, Pollini
6. Op. 111 -- Last and probably a candidate for the greatest.
The first mvt is typical Beethovenian fire.  The second one
is sublime but forbiddingly so.  A juxtaposition of day/night,
hell/paradise, I guess.
 Barenboim (early).
7. Op. 27 no. 2 -- Unfortunately overplayed and overabused.
The last mvt is stunningly fiery, comparable only to that
of the Apassionata and Op. 1 no. 1 (and possibly the first
mvts of Op. 13 and Op. 111). The first mvt is overplayed for
a reason: it's gorgeous!
 R. Serkin
8. Op. 13 (Pathetique) -- A stunning first followed by a soulful
second mvt.  The Rondo is gorgeous on its own but hangs rather
uncomfortably there.  (Too much sing-song for my taste).
 R. Serkin by a mile
9. Op. 31 no. 2 (Tempest) -- Similar to Op. 13 in the sense that
the gorgeous ("harpy") Rondo somehow doesn't quite hang together
well with the deep pathos of the first two mvts.
 Barenboim (early)
10. Op. 22 -- One of the most gorgeous early middle sonatas.
Melodically unbeatable.  A model of classical refinement.
The Rondo is pure heavenly -- reminiscent of that of the
Spring Sonata Op. 24 -- better than any Mozart or Schubert 
in innocence.   The other 2 mvts are no less outstanding.
 Richter, Kempff (strereo -- don't know about the mono version)

For the early sonatas, the first 4 are gorgeous in their different
ways -- my choice of Op. 2 no. 3 to stand out is a bit arbitrary.
Op. 10 is a bit uneven, with outstanding individual mvts that don't
necessarily hang together well in any of those 3 early sonatas.
Op. 26 is a gorgeous sonata with a magnificent set of variations
and a distinctive funeral march; the last mvt is a bit oddly attached
though.  Op. 28 (Pastoral) is a melodically gorgeous sonata, but it
can get a bit bland and sing-song after a while.  By contrast, Op. 31
no. 3 is one of the most neglected and underrated sonatas, I'm tempted
to displace Op. 31 no. 2 (Tempest) in its favor, but this one is too
classically oriented to challenge the new grounds broken by the latter.
But still, it is among the most interstingly organized sonatas, with
a sprightly rhythm that is quite infectiously cheerful.  For the late
sonatas, Op. 90 is beautiful.  So is Op. 110, which has a rather odd
first mvt that looked back briefly to late classicism only to plunge
right ahead into romanticism with a most interesting interlacing
Ariosos/Fugas construction toward the end.

Vinh Nguyen
Newsgroups: rec.music.classical