Barenboim’s Beethoven

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June 22nd, 2007 by Ellopos Blog | Mail a friend

Having listened to many recordings of Beethoven’s piano sonatas, I kept my old Schnabel as an indispensable treasure. Schnabel edition has sound problems, but not important, if one does not suffer from the hi-fi disease. Meanwhile I don’t miss any opportunity to listen to more recordings.

Barenboim is excellent in Mozart’s and Beethoven’s concertos for piano, he is in general better than Glenn Gould in the Well Tempered Klavier, he is sometimes better and in general inferior than Gould’s final recording of the Goldberg variations. Barenboim shines in Beethoven’s piano sonatas. He is dynamic, clear, careful and not too fast. Compared with this, at some points Schnabel seems to be in a hurry without reason. Of course, Schnabel is not to be thrown away; after all, he is the ground where all performances stand to be estimated. Yet after Barenboim I don’t think I’ll play Schnabel’s recordings too often.

Listen to samples of Barenboim’s Beethoven sonatas, although one or two minutes of the introduction are not always enough to evaluate. - Cf. Barenboim, On the Nature and Power of Music * Ellopos Music Pages, Musicon Blog