Search - Ludwig van Beethoven, Yves Nat :: Beethoven: Les Sonates pour piano

Nat is King - Unqualified!

Opinioned Not Opinionated | Cambridge, MA | 10/06/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I think that it's really difficult to pick one pianist as the "best" for all 32 sonatas, but if you pin me to the wall, I absolutely will choose Nat without hesitation. I like the other reviewers' choice of the word "natural". IMO, Yves Nat has by far been the most successful at giving us the direct line to the subtlety, spirit, and power of the compositions as works of BEETHOVEN!! remarkably achieved through his own humility, transparence and devotion to the music itself. This is in great contrast to what I consider to be performances that are really more like two composers: Beethoven/Arrau, Beethoven/Gould etc. I was first introduced to Nat's cycle 2 decades ago by my former family-in-law. They were from Paris, and I naturally assumed that they held a strong bias for these interpretations of this French pianist. But, as I listened over the years to the complete recordings, I came to realize how consistently sensitive and passionate and just basically amazing the entire Nat cycle is. I also came to realize that he is perhaps the most overlooked, underrated, and unrecognized Beethoven Interpreter of all who have recorded the complete cycle on a major label. I said goodbye to Claudio Arrau, Kempf, even Schnabel--I was a bit obsessive. Since then, I've calmed down a bit and enjoy listening to other interpretations, but there is no question that Nat remains my "desert island" favorite for all time; though I have to admit that Annie Fischer has recently come to be a close second. Just a word of warning: these were recorded in the 50s and the sound is mono; but, I urge you not to be too put off by that. If you can get your hands on the Nat recordings, just listen to the 'Waldstein' Op.53. You will run out and buy the set immediately. Tell me if I'm wrong."

Masculine performances...what a relief!

Ryan Kouroukis | Toronto, Ontario Canada | 01/14/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Beethoven interpreters often bring out more beauty and humanity than the force, power and weight of his Sonatas. Yves Nat does just that and more, he is similar to a male version of Annie Fischer!



He plays the Sonatas faster than we're used to but throughout brings more subtleties, spontaneity, weight and fire than many many others. You often get the feeling that they are live performances (which they are not).



The mono sound is acceptable, with a full range and depth, there is some slight hiss at times which easily you get over.



I disagree with some other reviewers saying that Nat's playing is "Natural". (Wilhelm Kempff and Wilhelm Backhaus are "natural" in my opinion, they don't think when they play, they just brings out the beauty easily...) but you feel that with Yves Nat he actually has thought things through and is continuously moulding the Sonatas as he is playing them! He purposely and forcebly constructs each sonata to make it it's own world (which to me is not natural) but you never get the sense that he is being contrived or selfish about it.



That's why Nat is so great, almost like a Klemperer at the piano!"