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Beethoven's 32 Sonatas with 64 pianists: Op. 49 Nos. 1 & 2 · The Piano Maven with Jed Distler

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  This is Jed Distler and welcome to the Piano Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano
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  recordings.
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  and to keep this podcast in production.
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  We continue our discussion of all 32 Beethoven piano sonatas in this kind of mini series
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  where I recommend two recordings for each sonata, one historic or archival recording
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  and one modern recording from the stereo and digital eras.
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  And throughout this mini series, my challenge has been not to repeat a pianist, meaning
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  that we have 32 numbered sonatas and 64 pianists.
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  The two little sonatas that comprise opus 49 are really sonatinas containing two movements
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  each.
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  Although they were first published in 1805, they actually date from around 10 years earlier
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  and they were presented to a publisher by Beethoven's brother Casper against the composer's
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  wishes, I might add.
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  So technically they do not belong to the canon of Beethoven's 32 sonatas.
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  Yet because they bear the opus 49 opus number, they've traditionally been considered sonatas
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  numbers 19 and 20.
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  And of course they are much easier to play than most of Beethoven's other sonatas.
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  We really don't need to spend tons of time on them.
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  But for the historic recording of opus 49 number one, I'll nominate an early CBC broadcast
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  by the young Glenn Gould, mainly because not only does he play it really well, but also
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  because he did not record this sonata anywhere else.
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  And for the modern recommendation, there's a very stylish and elegant recording by Frédéric
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  François Guy that comes from his complete Beethoven cycle on the zigzag territories
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  label.
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  His earlier studio recording on the naive label for the sonata is okay, but it's not
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  as good as the one on zigzag territories.
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  My main historic or archival choice for opus 49 number two normally would be Arter Schnabel
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  because nobody played it as well as him, but we already talked about Arter Schnabel for
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  opus two number one and we can't repeat a pianist, right?
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  So I had to search far and wide and I went into my collection and I found an old LP on
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  the Educo label or do you pronounce it Educo?
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  E-D-U-C-O?
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  This was a label that existed for I guess didactic purposes and the pianist Lily Krauss
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  made several LPs for this label and she was an Arter Schnabel pupil and her performance
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  on this label of opus 49 number two is similar to Schnabel in many ways.
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  You have the same angular qualities and the same disarming kind of simplicity, but there's
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  never been a digital transfer of this recording so this is the one exception to my ground
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  rule that all of the recordings that I'm discussing in this mini-series must have had availability
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  on CD or via digital download or through public domain websites like IMSLP.
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  That said, if you are a member of a news group where people post out of print recordings,
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  you might be able to find this recording of opus 49 number two with Lily Krauss.
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  My modern choice for a recording is that of Mari Kodama on the Pentatone label.
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  That's part of her complete Beethoven sonata cycle.
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  I have often found her interpretations of Beethoven to be totally impeccable from a
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  technical point of view, yet sometimes anonymous or impersonal, but there are many exceptions
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  of course in the cycle and I think her version of opus 49 number two is as good as the best
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  ones out there.
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  To be honest, I doubt that any piano mavens out there will honestly get excited about
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  the two opus 49 sonatas or will particularly care about my recommendations aside from just
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  being curious about what I've picked, but we do have two of Beethoven's greatest hits
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  coming up, two named sonatas, the Waldstein and the Appassionata, and I'm going to have
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  a lot to say about these works and I think you may find my recommendations interesting
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  or perhaps even surprising in one case.
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  This is Jed Disler and you've been listening to the Piano Maven, your friendly podcast
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  guide to piano recordings.
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  I look forward to being with you next time.
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  Take good care.