Ludwig van Beethoven Paul Lewis - Beethoven Piano Sonatas Vol 4 (29 tracks) +Album Reviews

Paul Lewis ends his cycle with triumphant playing and record

Larry VanDeSande | Mason, Michigan United States | 05/17/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"It took many years for Paul Lewis to move out of the shadow of his teacher and mentor, Alfred Brendel. All the benchmarks of Brendel's wonderful mature style -- the subtle humor, moderation, musicianship and lack of excessive self-aggrandizing tactics calling attention to oneself and away from the music -- are on display in this collection. With this recording, which showed up on just about every "Best of 2008" list of classical recordings, Lewis seems finally to have made his mark in the classical world.

I bought this set because I like both Brendel and Lewis and because this offering included many of my favorite Beethoven sonatas -- Nos. 7, 15, 26 and 32 -- a group of selections that challenge any player to master Beethoven's youthful fury, midlife wonder and wandering, and his most mature and unrelentingly transcendent music in the final pages of that apocalyptic, other-wordly final sonata.

I was never disappointed in Lewis's playing even though I cannot admit he completely convinced me all the time. I find Sviatoslav Richter the most universally appealing player in this repertory although his recordings can sometimes be very disappointing from either an artistic or sound perspective. Lewis is nothing like that -- assured and temperate all the time, completely obedient to the composer's wishes, and more than satisfactory interpreting the wide-ranging messages inherent in each score.

I can't say I was completely swayed by the sound of the recordings either. While modern and adequate in detail, there was sometimes a boomy effect you might experience listening in a small hall where the reverb is great enough to obstruct what's going on right now. But this is a minor issue in an otherwise splendid recording of some of Beethoven's most personal music.

Anyone interested in Beethoven's piano sonatas that's looking for another perspective should take the leap into Paul Lewis's world. Unless you seek something completely different, I doubt you'll be disappointed for his musicmaking is sober, lyrical, eloquent, expressively iridescent and penetrating without the least bit of inappropriate personalization."

Excellent conclusion to Lewis' Beethoven cycle

Oldnslow | Seattle, Washington USA | 05/16/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Paul Lewis finishes his superb Beethoven sonata series. Consistently fine playing throughout, with Opus 111 a particular highlight. Lewis has given us kind of a modern day Wilhelm Kempff approach to Beethoven. Wonderful lyrical approach, with broad tempos and a powerful technique when called for. Coupled with fine sound, this is a top choice for me for a modern cycle of the greatest piano music ever writen. I am also following Ronald Brautigam's fascinating sonata cycle on forepiano on BIS, which is about mid-point, with the Waldstein and Appassionata due up next."

An opus 111 for the ages

David A. McKellar | Santa Monica, CA United States | 06/29/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"i have played only the opus 111 sonata no 32 so far but based on that performance alone, this is a must have recording. i would rank this performance right up there with the greats of all time, namely, richter (live), pollini, arrau and michelangeli. the final measures of this, the greatest sonata ever for piano, are simply spellbinding and breathtakingly sublime. i frankly was stunned by the depth of lewis s spiritual insight into this music.

with this recording, lewis has arrived at any early age into the parthenon of great beethoven pianists."

Finally, a pianist who can compete with Schnabel!

Ralph J. Steinberg | New York, NY United States | 11/16/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A friend brought over this Volume, saying that it was voted as Album of the Year by the Grammophone. I heard the Sonata no. 31 (the first piece of piano music I had ever heard, when I was about 14), and I was incredibly moved at the sensitivity of the playing. I got the entire volume (I will get the others soon) and I must say that Lewis is the most convincing and subtle pianist in this literature since Artur Schnabel. Although there are differences between the two pianists, Lewis shares with Schnabel an incredibly subtle dynamic control and seamless phrasing. Where he differs from the older pianist is his broader tempi and more deliberate style, given more to gradual rather than sudden tempo fluctuations. But he also has Schnabel's firm bass foundation, offering a rumbling, even on occasion ominous underpinning to the upper voices. I would never part with the Schnabel set, but at the same time, I would not want to be without Lewis either. This is the greatest piano music ever written."

Continuing the Brendel style, with a touch more warmth

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 04/18/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Paul Lewis doesn't finish his Beethoven cycle quite as triumphantly, I think, as some reviewers might claim. "Les Adieux" and the "Pastorale" sonata stirke me as a bit pallid and underinflected, as do the fast movement in the Op. 10 series. But if you like assured, temperate playing in Beethoven (to steal a phrase from a previous reviewer), as opposed to fiery, heroic playing, Lewis has impeccable style and taste.

I say this as someone who would probably only listen to his Beethoven once. As with Kempff and Brendel, I don't get much out of restrained classical interpretations, particularly in middle and late Beethoven. The piano seems to bring out personal bias very strongly, and in my case Beethoven sounds intuitively "right" in the hands of Schnabel, Richter, Serkin, Annie Fischer, and Pollini, all of whom keep the heroic revolutionary in mind and project his music intensely. Lewis generally isn't tinkly, thank goodness, as Richard Goode too often is; even the great Gieseking veered that way in his last Beethoven recordings. But I wish Lewis had more emotional reach in his interpretations and more size to his sound.

Having said that, I agree with everyone else who finds him estimable in Beethoven, and I can't think of a cycle in the Kempff-Brendel mode that was better in recent years. Let's wait and see what young Jonathan Biss turns into, however, not to mention a hugely promising European like Rafal Blechacz from Poland."

Search - Ludwig van Beethoven, Paul Lewis :: Beethoven: Piano Sonatas, Vol. 4

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