Most helpful customer reviews
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5.0 out of 5 stars
What a revelation!, Nov 25 2003
No one has served Beethoven's cause better than Kovacevich over the last years. He has a perfect sense of what this music needs, and puts it on record like no one else can. Kovacevich's op.109 is p-e-r-f-e-c-t. The first two movements are fierce and powerful, but really impressive is the third one, the theme with variations. What a joy, really! Kovacevich does not play the interventionist: he is nothing more than Beethoven's medium. The variations are so natural, so beautifully flowing... and they have great attitude too! It's self-recommending. I can only say this is exactly what we have been waiting for all those years! What a great recording!The same things can be said of the other sonatas and bagatelles on this disc: they do not show the faintest sign of self-conscious intervention, and are the perfect example of what Beethoven wanted with these pieces. (By the way: Richter, on Praga, plays the Bagatelles masterfully, but he recorded only three of the six). It is natural, crystal-clear Beethoven with attention to every detail the composer has given. Could one ask for more?
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Undistinguished, Jun 20 2003
What I have to say about this CD of Kovacevich performing the Beethoven sonatas for EMI applies to much of the rest of the (incomplete) series as well. Kovacevich performs the sonatas admirably, though one can hear him struggling a little in some of the fast passages in Op. 109. (Thanks to the miracle of digital tape editing, there are no missed notes, but some accents are off in some fast runs.) What bothers me, however, somewhat about this cycle is not what's there, but what's not there. There's nothing surprising in any of these interpretations. SK hasn't recorded these works in many years (many of his Philips renditions are coincidentally now available on a "Great Pianists of the 20th Century" two-fer that's well worth the price) and yet says nothing new in any of them. Tempi, phrasing, dynamics are all middle-of-the-road and unremarkable. There's a certain lack of coloration of the music that is a recurring Kovacevich problem. While I understand he's not a colorist, his overall sound is often boring to the point of sounding like an undistinguished first year piano student. Compare his Op. 109 to Schnabel, Arrau, Kempff, to hear the difference, a difference that makes itself especially felt in the more lyrical, "singing" passages of Op. 109. As for the Bagatelles, these are okay readings, but Sviatoslav Richter on Praga (where he also serves up masterful Chopin) will blow your socks off. With so many great recordings of these works in the cataloue, I feel no *compelling* reason to recommend this disc, unless you're a Kovacevich groupie or you simply must have every version of the Beethoven sonatas out there, even ones that don't offer very much that's new. The piano sound, unfortunately, is cold and glassy, as though you're sitting in the high balcony of a very large hall. I am eager to hear SK tackle Beethoven's Hammerklavier, where I think his cool manner and detatched quality might work well. But this is a disappointing release.
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