Latest / The Piano Maven with Jed Distler / Beethoven's 32 Sonatas with 64 pianists: Op. 78 and Op. 79

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Beethoven's 32 Sonatas with 64 pianists: Op. 78 and Op. 79 · The Piano Maven with Jed Distler

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  This is Jed Dissler and welcome to the Piano Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano
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  recordings.
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  You can subscribe to the Piano Maven through my sub stack page by clicking on the link
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  in the episode description.
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  Paid subscribers get all kinds of bonuses such as Piano Maven Zoom meetings where we
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  will share listening experiences and meet special guests from time to time, so please
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  consider subscribing to help us reach out further into the piano community and to keep
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  this podcast in production.
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  We continue our exploration of all 32 Beethoven sonatas, transitioning from Beethoven's middle
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  period to his great late period sonatas on the horizon.
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  I've been recommending two different recordings for each sonata with the aim of not repeating
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  one pianist over the course of this mini-series.
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  One recording is an historic version and the other one is a recording closer to our time,
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  in stereo or digital.
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  I love Beethoven's little piano sonata in two movements, the Sonata No. 24 Op. 78 in
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  F-sharp major.
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  It has a wistful and beautifully lyrical first movement, while the second movement takes
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  a few measures to truly establish the home key.
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  And harmonically speaking, Beethoven is in one of his fun moods.
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  He pulls out all kinds of tricks.
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  I love how he goes back and forth between major and minor modes.
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  And you know, had I not chosen Glenn Gould earlier on in the series, I would easily pick
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  his studio recording of Op. 78 as my modern choice.
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  This was a recording that did not come out during his lifetime.
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  And to be honest, he takes tons of liberties with phrasing and dynamics, which is typical
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  of Gould, and he does not take the first movement repeat.
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  But no one, I mean, but no one has brought so much humor and pizzazz to the second movement.
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  No other performance of this piece makes me smile so much as Glenn Gould's.
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  But we already have him for the historic recording of Op. 49 No. 1.
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  That was our choice.
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  Maybe I should have reconsidered.
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  But since I had few historic options for that sonata, I had to do a lot of discographic
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  shuffling around.
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  However, for our modern choice, I think that Jonathan Biss approaches Glenn Gould's wit
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  with a sprightly finale.
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  And he's generally a warmer player than Gould.
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  And I think that this sonata is one of the best things in the very consistently satisfying
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  Beethoven cycle with Jonathan Biss.
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  And it's excellently engineered.
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  And although I think Jonathan will be happy that I chose his recording, I think he might
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  get a little ticked off that I picked him because I couldn't use Glenn Gould.
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  Oh well.
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  But look, Jonathan Biss is wonderful in this sonata.
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  But my historic choice for Op. 78 was a total no-brainer because for all the legendary Dutch
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  pianist Egon Petri's plain-spoken and kind of sober style, his penetrating sonority and
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  projection are very vividly captured in his 1936 recording of Op. 78.
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  And again, there's that word authority that I tend to overuse, but there is no mistaking
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  Petri's authority and his strong rhythmic foundation.
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  This is, I think, a really good historic choice.
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  Now we get to the sonata number 25 in G major, Op. 79.
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  This is a little unpretentious sonatina that's not at all difficult to play.
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  Or is it?
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  The best historic recording of this sonata is one I cannot nominate because it's the
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  recording by Who Else, Arthur Schnabel, and he was the historic choice way back for Op.
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  2, No. 1.
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  But I do have on hand a smartly stylized version of this sonata that was part of a series of
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  recordings in 1950 and 1951 that the Hungarian pianist Andor Foldis made for the Danish tonal
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  label, and these all were reissued on APR.
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  They are well worth checking out.
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  Andor Foldis also recorded the sonata for Deutsche Grammophon later in stereo, but I
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  much prefer this earlier version on the tonal label.
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  And interestingly, I have another Hungarian pianist for my stereo choice, and this might
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  surprise you, but Jeno Jando brings high spirits and even some brashness to his performance
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  on the Noxus label that is part of his Beethoven sonata cycle.
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  The performances in Jeno Jando's Beethoven cycle are variable, I admit, but this one
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  of Op.
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  79 is right on the mark.
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  The sound quality is a little bright for my taste, and it turns harsh at loud moments,
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  but I think the sound works for this kind of interpretation, because the interpretation
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  has a strong profile and point of view in a, as I said, a brashness that easily led me
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  to consider it for my modern recommendation.
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  So for our next Beethoven sonata episode in this mini-series, we arrive at the great
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  sonata No. 26 in E-flat, the Les Adieux Sonata, and we'll also talk about the sonata in E-minor
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  Op. 90.
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  And which pianists will be my choices?
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  Well, you got to listen to the next episode to find out.
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  This is Jed Disler signing off until the next episode of The Piano Maven, your friendly
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  podcast guide to piano recordings.
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  Take good care and stay safe.