Beethoven, Ludwig van - Piano Sonatas, Vol. 4 (The) - Schiff, András (piano)

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BBC Music Choice
Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik, Bestenliste 3 / 2007

"Schiff's playing is always beautiful, always suffused with a lovely, fluid singing quality. Nothing ever seems hurried, nothing is obscure. If his interpretations of these four early-ish sonatas might here and there feel a touch delicate, that doesn't compromise their integrity. Beethoven isn't always a tough, macho composer; where he is, for instance in the dramatic finale of the "Moonlight" Sonata, Schiff meets the challenge head on."
(Sunday Times)

The fourth instalment of Schiff's complete Beethoven includes the sonatas opp. 26, 27 and 28 - highly accomplished works of strong individual features that were written in 1800 and 1801. Even in the famous "Moonlight"-sonata the Hungarian's attention to detail leads to unexpected listening experiences. "Nobody in the hall will have heard this first movement like that before" wrote Peter Hagmann in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung reviewing the recital in Tonhalle Zurich where the sonatas are recorded live for ECM. "Not the kind of over-demonstrative approach which has become common these days lies at the heart of this interpretation but the consequent and courageous scrutiny of the musical text." The booklet offers an extensive conversation between András Schiff and Martin Meyer on the repertoire and its interpretation.

András Schiff, piano

Recorded April 2005