Beethoven: Complete Piano Sonatas, Reissued (claud

When this album first was issued in 1971 to mark Beethoven’s bicentennial, critics raved calling it “one of the year’s ten best” (Time) “among the great individual musical accomplishments of the last decade” (Esquire) and “the most poetic series of performances to be recorded” (Saturday Review). Now, this new reissue is something to get excited about. Frank studied with Artur Schnabel for a decade, and one can clearly hear his mentor’s influence in this recording- the analytical awareness, structural planning, and attention to detail are hard to miss. Jed Distler writes in Gramophone: “Frank… shares his teachers’ concern with both the music’s architecture and passion, yet brings his own brand of stylish exuberance to the mix. The early sonatas particularly rock with rhythmic brio, zesty accentuation, and characterful wit. Interestingly, they contrast to Frank’s genial, slightly sedate reading of the Op. 31 group. As the cycle progresses chronologically, Frank’s intelligent flexibility asserts itself with telling results. In addition to his superb, exultant Appasionata, Les Adieux, and last three sonatas, Frank finds more melodic appeal than usual beneath Op. 101 and 106’s gnarly bushes. In short, this is one of the more stimulating Beethoven sonata cycles around…”

Price: $86.98

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