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4.5
This 5-CD set contains Rudolf Serkin's complete recorded repertoire of Beethoven Sonatas-just over half the sonatas in Beethoven's ouvre. These recordings, some of which were not released until after Serkin's death, are now compiled together for the first time.For those accustomed to hearing Beethoven as played by Schnabel, Kempff, or Brendel, these performances will come as a splash of cold water across the face. Serkin was unconcerned with niceties of tone, color, or pianistic perfection. He famously described Arturo Toscanini's interperative philosophy as "architecture with passion," and the same could be said of Serkin's approach. His vision was to reveal the structure-both emotional and musical-of Beethoven's masterpieces. To put it bluntly, Serkin could be a little rough: chords are sometimes pounded, scales are occasionally uneven, he hums, grunts, and he stomps on the pedal (once, when playing with the Cleveland Orchestra, he knocked the lyre mechanism right off the piano). But Beethoven himself was known for brutalizing the pianos of his day, and the composer's fighting spirit is in these performances as is seldom heard elsewhere.Several of these performances are appearing on CD for the first time, and nearly everything on this set is revelatory. Serkin is most successful in the "big" Sonatas: The finale of the Appassionata scorches with rage, the last movement of the Moonlight is a blitz, and the Hammerklavier-where the pianist lays out the fugue with remarkable clarity--has never been bettered. Less successful is the Pathetique, with a questionable interpretation of Beethoven's first movement repeat sign, and some poor chord weighting in the Andante cantabile. Serkin's performances of Beethoven's last five Sonatas should be mandatory listening for all pianists.Except for the Les Adieux, all of the performances here are studio recordings. The sound will be a bit dry and hard for most tastes. Nevertheless, the remastering is a considerable improvement over earlier issues.
