Search - Ludwig van Beethoven, Jenö Jandó :: Beethoven: Violin Sonatas 4 & 10, etc.

A Nice Surprise

Socrates Stewart | Owings Mills, MD | 06/21/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"These renditions would not have been what I would have looked for in looking to complete my collection of Beethoven's Violin/Piano Sonatas. This was one option to get the 4th Sonata. I would have looked for Askenazy/Perlman or Argerich/Kremer; however, Sonata No. 4 is only available in box sets of the complete Violin Sonata collections. Availability of good recordings of the first four sonatas by quality performers is slight.



I've had very good luck with Naxos recordings. Though their performers are hardly household names, they are generally highly talented and professional. I was able to build up my Haydn and Mozart collections to tremendous satisfaction from their recordings.



Thus I was attracted to this recording, checked the reviews which were generally quite favorable, and made the purchase.



This is a lovely recording of the 4th, a work I was not familiar with until recently. The chemistry between Jando on piano and Nishizaki sizzles right from the start. They slow down and get sensitive where called for and then explode with energy in more dramatic portions.



Their recording of the 10th is superb as well. I have Argerich/Kremer as a comparison in my library. Although I'm very fond of this rendition, Jando and Nishizaki provide a lovely alternative recording which sounds fresh not more of the same by comparison.



As with all Naxos recordings, the recording is a full digital recording and is priced less than ten dollars.When I'm looking for a good classical recording where I don't have a specific orchestra, conductor, or soloists firmly in mind for a given performance, increasingly the Naxos catalog is a good place to look. I have never been disappointed with any of their recordings and as with this fine Beethoven rendition, they consistently exceed expectations."