Search - Ludwig van Beethoven, Emil Gilels :: Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 29 "Hammerklavier", Op. 106

A supreme monument in composition performed by a master

Craig Matteson | Ann Arbor, MI | 06/03/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have been a fan of Gilels since I heard him play in Hill Auditorium when I was around 16 years old. It was a breathtaking experience for me. Since then, I have heard hundreds of pianists and am able to find my way around the instrument fairly well myself. Along the way, I picked up an undergraduate degree in music theory from the University of Michigan School of Music and studied the piano there, as well. I offer this background not to brag or out of any sense of self-importance, but because I want you to understand that the position from which I write.



This sonata by Beethoven is from the years 1817-1818. The composer was therefore in his late forties and likely stone deaf. It was six years since his eighth symphony and around this time was working on parts of what would become the ninth symphony. He was very comfortable in large forms and was breaking new ground in compositional material and poetic / dramatic expression. Opus 106, the "Hammerklavier", is a towering monument in the realm of pianism and of composition.



It is of a huge size and length. It is massive in its use of textures, musical materials, and range of expression. Depending on the tempi chosen, it takes about forty minutes to play, give or take, and that is probably why you do not know it as well as you should. Beethoven is not programmed as often on the classical stations as he once was. They have gone to the nice tidy drive-time Baroque and select shorter pieces that allow for commercial breaks. If they are going to give forty minutes over to a work, they will likely pick a symphony that holds the ear with less concentration from the listener. In recitals, the work will take half of the program and pianists may wonder if their audience is up to such musical intensity.



However, you will want to expand your powers of concentration and listen to this work many times. The opening movement is powerful, beautiful, and full of brilliance. The very short second movement is a delightful insight into the lighter possibilities of some of the materials in the first movement. The third is the longest slow movement in Beethoven (around nineteen or twenty minutes). It is gorgeous, full of beautiful sonorities, and will cause your heart to ache profoundly. The fourth movement is a large fugue that is full of drama, poetic insertions, and some wonderfully harsh and angular moments.



Gilels was a pianist of great strength who also had wonderful delicacy and a poet's soul. This recording won an award from Gramophone and deserved it. You will want to listen to this many times and each time will gain new insights and you will be rewarded for delving ever more deeply into this great work performed by this wonderful artist.



I also want to say something about the tempo of the first movement. There are some who seem to take seriously Beethoven's metronome marking of half-note equaling 138. As a pianist, and as a lover of music, I not only believe that playing it at that tempo is impossible, but it would destroy the poetry of the work and the balance between the movements. Even if it were possible, it would be the only allegro in Beethoven of that speed and would be unlike any of his other sonatas. Why would this Allegro be so unique? You can have your gymnast's freak show if you want, but I will take poetry every time. If anyone has any evidence that they would like to use to persuade me that the ultra-fast tempo indicated is doable and can make poetic sense, please email me. I have heard claims of correct tempi, but when I hear them they never approach the notated tempo. Never.



Go ahead and get this recording and enjoy it deeply. Ignore the mechanists and slaves to crazy notation. This is a fabulous performance."

A Soviet era icon, but this Hammerklavier never touches the

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 11/24/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I fidget at the glorification of Gilels, who was canonized by British critics even before his untimely death in 1985 at age 68. With Oistrakh, he was the most prominent musical export of the Soviet Union after WW II, preceding Richter by several years. In Beethoven Gilels was strong, reliable, uniform, and authoritative. But his imaginaiton was nil. Gilels's relationship to great music was rather like the Bolshoi Ballet's to great Choreography -- not a hint of originality, risk, or daring behind the phenomenal technique.



I can understand why other listeners exalt Gilels, but except for his live recitals, and even then not much beyond the sixites, he strikes me as dull. His playing is commanding in this 'Hammerklavier' Sonata, and given the immense difficulties of the work, that is admirable. But there's little feeling, and as a result I wasn't moved or excited for a moment. I don't say this to throw cold water on someone else's devotion, only to inform newcomers. As a young listener I was thrilled by Gilels. Now he makes no more impresison than Lenin on display in his tomb.



DG's sound is good except for pingy high notes and a hint of hardness, which may be the fault of the digital transfer."

Brilliant rip-off

Canzone | California | 08/24/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"For the most part, I agree with the Ann Arbor reviewer. You could look far and wide to find a better performance of this monumental sonata, and the decades-old recording still sounds fine. My only complaint (and hence only 4 stars) is the miserly length of the disc. Even given the "budget" price, a CD of less than 49 minutes is really not acceptable, and DG had other material it could have included. And the industry wonders why sales are down???"