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Beethoven's 32 Sonatas with 64 pianists: Op. 54 · The Piano Maven with Jed Distler

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  This is Jed Dissler and welcome again to the Piano Maven, your friendly podcast guide to
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  piano recordings.
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  And there's a link to subscribe to this podcast through my sub stack page if you click on
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  the link in the episode description.
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  And I really do hope you subscribe because you get a lot of goodies that way.
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  We are continuing our mini-series where I'm discussing each one of the 32 piano sonatas
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  of Beethoven.
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  I recommend two recordings for each work.
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  One historic recording, meaning an archival release or something from the 78 RPM era or
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  mono LP era.
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  And the second recording is a modern day stereo or digital release.
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  I guess modern day means from the 1960s onward even though this era is by definition historic
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  if we're talking about the late 50s and early 60s, even the 70s.
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  I guess that because the 60s and 70s stereo versions of these works were new when I was
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  a kid, I still feel that they're new, but they are ancient history to most of you listeners.
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  Anyway, my ground rule is that I am not permitted to repeat a pianist, meaning that we have
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  64 pianists and two pianists per sonata.
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  We're going to talk about the little two movement sonata in F major, number 22, opus 54.
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  It usually gets short shrift because it's buried in between the Waldstein on one side
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  and the Appassionata on the other side.
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  But I think this is a very interesting sonata.
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  The first movement is marked in the tempo of a minuet.
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  It's kind of a cross between a minuet and a rondo in terms of its form.
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  But the second movement is a quasi-taccata and it comes at you from out of nowhere.
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  It's a perpetual motion kind of movement that rarely lets up and it goes through some unpredictable
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  harmonic detours.
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  And then there are all those offbeat accents and phrases that are displaced against the
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  meter which keep the listener slightly off balance.
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  In a way, there's a kind of experimental sensibility to this piece that, to my ears, relates back
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  to those two opus 27 sonatas that we talked about several episodes back.
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  For my historic recording recommendation, for those of you who were disappointed that
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  I did not recommend Solomon for the Waldstein sonata, fear not because he is here for opus
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  54.
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  He has a wonderful recording of it and he delivers an interpretation that's graceful
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  and poised yet it's full of rhythmic vivacity and a real sense of character in both movements.
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  His tempos are perfectly judged too.
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  Also you will notice his care with dynamics, how those octave outbursts in the first movement
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  don't get too loud too soon, as they often do.
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  And also how Solomon's marvelous finger legato technique requires little help from the sustained
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  pedal.
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  The evenness and the control that he brings to the taccata-like second movement really
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  impresses even today when you consider how many young hotshot piano players have recorded
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  this sonata.
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  But Solomon really really still stands out and I love this recording.
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  For my stereo recording choice, I've enjoyed quite a few of the recent versions out there
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  and there are just too many, but I keep gravitating back to Friedrich Goulda's stereo remake for
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  the Amadeo label that came out in the late 1960s.
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  This is the recording that's part of his second complete commercial Beethoven cycle, not to
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  be confused with the earlier one for DECA.
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  There was a third cycle, there was a radio cycle that Orfeo published, but I don't count
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  that in these.
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  I mean it's a wonderful cycle.
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  But I am talking about the Opus 54 and the Amadeo cycle and this also appeared on brilliant
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  classics and more recently in the Friedrich Goulda complete DECA recordings box that I
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  happen to have annotated, by the way.
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  There's a lightness to Goulda's second movement and a genuine sense of humour with subtle
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  dabs of pedal.
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  I would say that if Solomon is the droll classicist, then Goulda is the mischief-maker and the
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  quirk jester, and I like the sense of swing that Goulda brings to the first movement's
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  theme and the kind of lift that he brings with the upbeat going into the downbeat.
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  I've always equated this movement with that song, Oh My Darling Clementine.
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  You know, da da da dum bum ba ba dum.
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  I sound a little bit like Huckleberry Hound.
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  Do you remember those cartoons with Huckleberry Hound?
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  He always sings Oh My Darling Clementine when he's moseying along.
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  He just goes la dee da dum, la dee da dum, something like that.
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  And you know, whenever I play this piece on the piano or I hear a recording, I can't get
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  Huckleberry Hound out of my mind any more than I can get Bugs Bunny out of my mind when
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  I hear the overture to The Barber of Seville because I keep thinking of the cartoon The
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  Rabbit of Seville, you know, hell do.
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  Welcome to my shop.
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  Let me shave your mop.
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  Let me shave your crop.
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  Day tally.
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  Well, I'm not going to go through all of that.
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  So that's my modern recommendation, Frugio Goulda in Opus 54.
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  I do have to mention another really good Opus 54, and this is with Alfred Brendel, and I
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  like the recording he did for his Vox cycle that was the cycle he did containing most
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  of Beethoven's piano music.
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  It said Beethoven's complete piano music, but it wasn't quite complete.
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  And I think that Vox recording for me is the best of all the versions that he recorded
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  of that piece.
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  I suppose I have to give Brendel an honorable mention because he's not going to be mentioned
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  again in this exploration of Beethoven sonatas on record.
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  Spoiler alert.
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  Neither is Daniel Barenboim, by the way.
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  Another spoiler alert.
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  I guess at some point I'm going to have to talk about Alfred Brendel's three complete
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  Beethoven cycles.
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  Or how many cycles did Daniel Barenboim do?
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  Let's see.
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  We have EMI from the 1960s.
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  We have Deutsche Grammophon from the early 80s, plus a separate video version from around
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  that time.
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  Then we have the video cycle from 2003 that was also out in audio format in that Beethoven
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  for All series on DECA.
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  And then Daniel Barenboim's Beethoven cycle that he recorded in audio for Deutsche Grammophon
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  during lockdown.
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  So I guess that makes five in all.
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  Yikes.
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  But I'm sidetracked as usual, so let me reiterate.
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  For Opus 54, my recommendations are the historic one is Solomon and the modern one is Friedrich
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  Gulda.
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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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  And the next sonata in line on this mini-series is, you guessed it, the Appassionata, the
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  Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Opus 57, one of Beethoven's most popular and frequently recorded
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  sonatas.
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  So which two will I recommend?
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  Which two recordings?
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  Do you care to venture a guess?
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  Well, in order to find out, you will just have to join me for our next Piano Maven episode.
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  Well then, take care, and also let me know which recording of the Appassionata that you
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  would recommend.
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  I bet you have one, and I'd be most curious.
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  So until next time, stay well, and I look forward to being with you soon.