Search - Ludwig van Beethoven, Anton Kuerti :: Beethoven: The Complete Piano Sonatas & Diabelli Variations [Box Set]

A performance of the highest artistry imaginable

11/01/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Where to start? I purchased this set on the recommendation of the manager of the classical CD department at a local CD store. We chat often about CDs, and this particular day, the conversation turned to the Beethoven piano sonatas, and he told me "You have to try this set. It's not like anything you've ever heard." Intrigued, I gave it a try.Upon getting home to listen, I chose a familiar middle-period sonata to get my bearings - I chose the Apassionata. Within the first minute of the first movement I was transfixed in enjoyment and amazement. There are so many great performances of this piece, but this was indeed different from anything I had ever heard. I kept waiting for the usual problems I hear in most performances. Minor problems for sure, but always there nonetheless, such as too much pause after a phrase, or a tendency towards becoming mechanical and clangorous in the dense sections. But it never happened. The piece just kept pouring out with the most intricate passages seeming to stand still before me. To me, the performance seemed to transcend the usual adjectives one hears in reference to the Beethoven sonatas, such as "warm" and "lyrical" on one hand, or "granite-like" on the other. Rather it was as if all artificial coloration had been stripped away, and what was left was pure music, the perfect expression of the soul of the music. Kuerti plays from an utterly centered place, from which he uses supernatural control of articulation, dynamics, phrasing, to bring out music that is crystal clear and beyond words. My next stop was the last movement of the Hammerklavier - the fugue. The Hammerklavier is one of my favorite pieces of music in the entire literature, but not the last movement in particular, because I'd never heard it performed well. I've only heard it in performances that are too harsh to enjoy. I've always felt there was a way to play it right - to bring it out correctly, but that I'd never heard a performance that achieved this. From the opening bars, my jaw dropped at Kuerti's performance. This movement opens with a number of short "episodes" before the main fugue is joined. These episodes usally sound like a "warmup" before the artist gets to the main show. In Kuerti's hands I was immediately transported to another world. There was a spirituality and profound peace that was palpable. It felt like Beethoven was in the room with me and Kuerti. (More on what I mean by this at the end!) This experience of Kuerti's interpretations completely transcending anything I've previously heard was repeated again and again. Case in point - the Diabelli Variations. I purchased Pollini's CD a while back with high hopes. But I listened only once, and it has not come off the shelf since. But just a few minutes of Kuerti's performance, and I was entranced and immensly enjoying the music.

Everything in this set is a revelation! The feeling I get time and again when listening to these performances, especially the late sonatas, is that Beethoven is in the room. It's not that Kuerti disappears, and I hear Beethoven playing. It's more a feeling of Kuerti playing, me listening, and Beethoven is in the room, standing next to the piano, head bowed in concentration, smiling to himself, thinking that "this, finally, is right - this is how I meant it."To me, these are performances of the highest artistry imagineable. If you love Beethoven's piano sonatas, and you're always searching for something more than what you've heard, you owe it to yourself to hear these performances!"

A real discovery

Peter Halter | LAUSANNE Schweiz | 08/28/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Kuerti's complete set of Beethoven sonatas is extraordinary. Very powerful in the dramatic passages, without ever becoming loud or shrill, with a wonderful control of the tempi. Brilliant sforzati, remarkable use of agogics (is this the word? English is not my mother tongue). Kuerti also never neglects the playful and (in his wonderful comprehensive notes on the sonatas) makes you aware of how much humour there is to be found in many of them. The lyrical passages are also remarkable, with the only reservation that some of the slow movements are altogether too slow. I'm sure that, played like this, they are wonderful in the concert hall but on CD Kuerti asks much of his listeners in terms of concentration. But all in all the playing is difficult to surpass. I go back to these recordings time and again, full of admiration. The sound, by the way, is at times a bit on the dry side but it brings out the nuances of Kuerti's masterful playing much better than many of the later digital recordings whose sound is not only too harsh but also electronically blown up."

This is the ultimate Beethoven Sonatas cycle avaliable!

Merlini Jean | 10/25/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Kuerti plays with complete mastery of the keyboard, has subtle control of the pedal, and one can think only of Beethoven when one hears Kuerti's very personal interpretation. Beethoven the mighty, Beethoven the poet, Beethoven the visionary, and Beethoven the mystic are perfectly blended in this wonderful recording."