Beethoven - Piano Sonatas Volume 3 - Harmonia Mundi: HMC901906/08 - download

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As always, Paul Lewis offers playing of rare insight and intelligence. He is just as much at home in the dazzling brilliance of the C major Sonata, Op. 2 No. 3...as in the graceful lyricism of... — BBC Music Magazine, November 2007, 5 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 3rd Sep 2007
Catalogue No: HMC901906/08
Label: Harmonia Mundi
Series: Paul Lewis Beethoven
Length: 3 hours 9 minutes

Presto Recording of the Week

23rd July 2007
Gramophone Magazine

November 2007

Editor's Choice

Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 2 No. 1

Work length18:03

$4.00

$5.00

I. Allegro

Track length4:31

$1.00

$1.25

II. Adagio

Track length4:39

$1.00

$1.25

III. Menuetto. Allegretto

Track length3:31

$1.00

$1.25

IV. Prestissimo

Track length5:22

$1.00

$1.25

Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 2 in A major, Op. 2 No. 2

Work length24:36

$4.40

$5.50

I. Allegro vivace

Track length7:28

$1.20

$1.50

II. Largo appassionato

Track length6:09

$1.00

$1.25

III. Scherzo. Allegretto

Track length3:48

$1.00

$1.25

IV. Rondo. Grazioso

Track length7:11

$1.20

$1.50

Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 3 in C major, Op. 2 No. 3

Work length26:47

$4.60

$5.75

I. Allegro con brio

Track length10:36

$1.40

$1.75

II. Adagio

Track length7:13

$1.20

$1.50

III. Scherzo

Track length3:22

$1.00

$1.25

IV. Allegro assai

Track length5:36

$1.00

$1.25

Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 4 in E flat major, Op. 7

Work length30:07

$4.60

$5.75

I. Allegro molto e con brio

Track length8:29

$1.20

$1.50

II. Largo con gran espressione

Track length8:10

$1.20

$1.50

III. Allegro

Track length5:30

$1.00

$1.25

IV. Rondo. Poco allegretto e grazioso

Track length7:58

$1.20

$1.50

Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 22 in F major, Op. 54

Work length12:47

$2.00

$2.50

I. In tempo di menuetto

Track length6:09

$1.00

$1.25

II. Allegretto

Track length6:38

$1.00

$1.25

Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57 'Appassionata'

Work length24:49

$3.60

$4.50

I. Allegro assai

Track length10:25

$1.40

$1.75

II. Andante con moto

Track length5:46

$1.00

$1.25

III. Allegro ma non troppo

Track length8:38

$1.20

$1.50

Beethoven: Sonata No. 12 in A-Flat Major, Op. 26 "Funeral March"

Work length21:16

$4.20

$5.25

I. Andante con variazioni

Track length8:45

$1.20

$1.50

II. Scherzo. Allegro molto

Track length3:12

$1.00

$1.25

III. Marcia funebre "sulla morte d'un Eroe"

Track length5:41

$1.00

$1.25

IV. Allegro

Track length3:38

$1.00

$1.25

Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 13 in E flat major, Op. 27 No. 1 'Quasi una fantasia'

Work length15:40

$4.00

$5.00

I. Andante

Track length4:55

$1.00

$1.25

II. Allegro molto e vivace

Track length2:09

$1.00

$1.25

III. Adagio con espressione

Track length2:42

$1.00

$1.25

IV. Finale. Allegro vivace

Track length5:54

$1.00

$1.25

Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 14 in C sharp minor, Op. 27 No. 2 ‘Moonlight'

Work length15:12

$3.20

$4.00

I. Adagio sostenuto

Track length5:15

$1.00

$1.25

II. Allegretto

Track length2:19

$1.00

$1.25

III. Presto agitato

Track length7:38

$1.20

$1.50

About
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Awards, Discs of the Year

17th December 2007

Paul Lewis performed all the Beethoven piano sonatas on tour in the USA and Europe between 2005 and 2007 seasons, in parallel with his already acclaimed complete recording of the cycle for harmonia mundi. This is the third installment in the cycle that critics have predicted will become benchmark recordings.

Reviews

November 2007

As always, Paul Lewis offers playing of rare insight and intelligence. He is just as much at home in the dazzling brilliance of the C major Sonata, Op. 2 No. 3...as in the graceful lyricism of the concluding rondo from Op. 7

2010

Paul Lewis's third volume of his Beethoven sonata cycle once more shows him playing down all possible roughness and angularity in favour of a richly humane and predominantly lyrical beauty. Again, here is nothing of that glossy, impersonal sheen beloved of too many young pianists, but a subtly nuanced perception beneath an immaculate surface.
His technique, honed on many ultra-demanding areas of the repertoire allows him an imaginative and poetic latitude only given to a musical elite. Telescoped phrasing, rapid scrambles for security, waywardness and pedantry he gladly leaves to others, firmly but gently guiding you to the very heart of the composer. His Appassionata is characterised by muted gunfire, as if the sonata's warlike elements were heard from a distance. Yet the lucidity with which he views such violence easily makes others' more rampant virtuosity become sound and fury, signifying little. His way, too, with the teasing toccata-like finales of Nos 12 and 22 is typical of his lyrical restraint, a far cry, indeed, from a more overt brilliance. How superbly he captures Beethoven's over-the-shoulder glance at Haydn, his great predecessor, yet gives you all of his forward-looking Romanticism in the early F minor Sonata (No 1). Again, how many pianists could achieve such unfaltering poise and sensitivity in No 4's Largo, con granespressione? These performances are a transparent act of musical love and devotion. Nothing is exaggerated yet virtually everything is included. Of all the modern versions of the sonatas, Lewis's is surely the most eloquent and persuasive. And, as in previous issues, Harmonia Mundi's sound is of demonstration quality.

November 2007

These performances are a transparent act of musical love and devotion. Nothing is exaggerated yet virtually everything is included. Of all the modern versions of the sonatas (an there are many either complete or in progress), Lewis's is surely the most eloquent and persuasive.

There isn’t a bar in any of these sonatas that seem ill-considered
or hastily characterised; if tempos are generally on the measured
side, Lewis’s sense of structure and constant awareness of what
the harmonic rhythm is doing allows him to generate tension in the
most subtle ways.

Beethoven - Piano Sonatas Volume 3

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Awards, Discs of the Year

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