Search - Beethoven, Friedrich Gulda :: Piano Sonatas

A great set.

jcoop | Ashland, MA United States | 01/19/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This set contains Gulda's 1967 account of the complete sonatas originally published on Amadeo, plus his account of the complete concertos with the Vienna philharmonic published on Decca. It is also published on Eloquence and can be purchase on Amazon.com.de for about $40, which includes shipping to the US. For that price it is an absolute steal. Beautiful interpretations: lean, agressive accounts. Great sound. Now at the top of my complete sets (really no reason to pay close to $100 for Goode, Brendel, etc, when something like this is available- unfortunately I had already done so). I also highly recommend the Kuerti set. Just buy it !"

These are NOT the sixties recordings

rater25 | 11/13/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is NOT the same set as appeared originally on Amadeo, but an earlier set recorded for Decca in the fifties. It is a mix of mono and stereo recordings. The sound is highly variable. The performances are interesting, but not at the level of his later recordings, now available in a Brilliant box."

A Clarification and a Recommendation

nrutledge | new jersey | 01/08/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The box set is--as already stated by one reviewer--the '67 Amadeo set of the complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas. A great set by any measure. Included in the box set offered here is Gulda's 1950's Decca recordings of the 5 Piano Concertos--also a great set. The Australian packaging is a bit thin but to get these two recordings--both now out-of-print; with the Amadeo and Brilliant versions of the sonatas harder to find and more and more expensive--at some of these prices is a fabulous deal. The MP3 downloads of the sonatas do indeed seem to be from the earlier Decca set--as indicated by the other review. Great performances on their own but not the harder to find Amadeo/Brilliant pressing. How and Why that's the case--not a clue. However, all the music highly recommended, but for those looking for the more highly praised and harder to find Amadeo/Brilliant set of the sonatas steer clear of the downloads."