Search - Ludwig van Beethoven, Artur Schnabel :: Beethoven: Piano Works, Vol. 1

Some potential buyers of this CD will be interested solely in the sound quality of this edition--you may skip to the end. Others may need to be convinced of why they should hear the first recording made of all of Beethoven's Piano Sonatas. These performances explain why Schnabel's recordings are still revered by many music lovers. The pianist, himself a composer, penetrated deeply into Beethoven's music, revealing the structure and the emotions of these magnificent sonatas. Every phrase is pointed, making sense out of Beethoven's complex writing. Schnabel also produced beautiful sound from the piano, a quality still audible. There are some deficiencies in the recordings, all caused by the fairly primitive recording process. Since no editing was possible, occasional wrong notes remain. (Schnabel also rushes the ends of some phrases, but he did it constantly and it's what he meant.) Some desirable repeats were omitted, because every additional 78 rpm side cost the purchaser more money. And the sound quality is antiquated. However, these new transfers by Mark Obert-Thorn offer the best reproduction these recordings have ever had and a minimum of surface noise. They justify spending Naxos's modest asking price, even if you already have an earlier CD version. --Leslie Gerber