Beethoven - Piano Sonatas Volume 4 - Harmonia Mundi: HMC901909/11 - download | Presto Classical

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…appropriately enough this final volume ends with the last sonata triptych of Opp. 109-111. Lewis plays all three works with characteristic warmth and beauty of tone, and you're not likely to... — BBC Music Magazine, June 2008, More…

Release Date: 28th Apr 2008
Catalogue No: HMC901909/11
Label: Harmonia Mundi
Series: Paul Lewis Beethoven
Length: 3 hours 4 minutes

Presto Recording of the Week

7th April 2008
Gramophone Magazine

June 2008

Editor's Choice
Gramophone Awards

2008

Recording of the Year
Gramophone Awards

2008

Winner - Instrumental

Contents

Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 5 in C minor, Op. 10 No. 1

19:55

$3.20

$4.00

I. Allegro molto e con brio

5:58

$1.00

$1.25

II. Adagio molto

9:25

$1.20

$1.50

III. Finale. Prestissimo

4:32

$1.00

$1.25

Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 6 in F major, Op. 10 No. 2

14:20

$3.00

$3.75

I. Allegro

5:38

$1.00

$1.25

II. Allegretto

4:37

$1.00

$1.25

III. Finale. Presto

4:05

$1.00

$1.25

Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 7 in D major, Op. 10 No. 3

25:15

$4.40

$5.50

I. Presto

6:57

$1.00

$1.25

II. Largo e mesto

11:04

$1.40

$1.75

III. Menuetto. Allegro

3:04

$1.00

$1.25

IV. Rondo. Allegro

4:10

$1.00

$1.25

Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 15 in D major, Op. 28 'Pastorale'

26:22

$4.60

$5.75

I. Allegro

10:48

$1.40

$1.75

II. Andante

7:15

$1.20

$1.50

III. Scherzo. Allegro vivace

2:33

$1.00

$1.25

IV. Rondo. Allegro ma non troppo

5:46

$1.00

$1.25

Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 19 in G minor, Op. 49 No. 1

8:31

$2.00

$2.50

I. Andante

4:45

$1.00

$1.25

II. Rondo. Allegro

3:46

$1.00

$1.25

Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 20 in G major, Op. 49 No. 2

8:36

$2.00

$2.50

I. Allegro ma non troppo

4:55

$1.00

$1.25

II. Tempo di minuetto

3:41

$1.00

$1.25

Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 26 in E flat major, Op. 81a 'Les Adieux'

17:01

$3.20

$4.00

I. Adagio - Allegro ("Les Adieux")

7:24

$1.20

$1.50

II. Andante espressivo ("L'Absence")

3:39

$1.00

$1.25

III. Vivacissimamente ("Le Retour")

5:58

$1.00

$1.25

Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109

18:05

$3.40

$4.25

I. Vivace ma non troppo - Adagio espressivo

3:30

$1.00

$1.25

II. Prestissimo

2:32

$1.00

$1.25

III. Andante. Gesangvoll mit innigster Empfindung, mezza voce

12:03

$1.40

$1.75

Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 31 in A flat major, Op. 110

19:10

$3.40

$4.25

I. Moderato cantabile molto espressivo

6:36

$1.00

$1.25

II. Allegro molto

2:11

$1.00

$1.25

III. Adagio ma non troppo - Allegro ma non troppo (Fuga)

10:23

$1.40

$1.75

Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111

26:58

Album only

Album only

I. Maestoso - Allegro con brio ed appassionato

8:53

$1.20

$1.50

II. Arietta. Adagio molto semplice e cantabile

18:05

Album only

Album only

About
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Further Reading

Awards, Paul Lewis and the Gramophone Awards 2008

29th September 2008

Recording of the Week, Paul Lewis's Beethoven

7th April 2008

Ahead of the release of the final instalment of his acclaimed cycle on Harmonia Mundi, Chris offers an overview of the Liverpool-born pianist’s ‘utterly compelling’ traversal of the complete sonatas.

Reviews

June 2008

…appropriately enough this final volume ends with the last sonata triptych of Opp. 109-111. Lewis plays all three works with characteristic warmth and beauty of tone, and you're not likely to hear them more sensitively and intelligently done.

2010

Only an extended essay could do justice to the fourth and final volume of Paul Lewis's Beethoven sonata cycle… You may well cherish your beloved sets by Schnabel, Kempff and Brendel (to name but three), but Lewis surely gives you the best of all possible worlds; one devoid of idiosyncrasy yet of a deeply personal musicianship.
Where else can you hear Op 10 No 2's madcap finale given with such unfaltering lucidity and precision? Try Op 28's finale for an ultimate pianistic and musical finesse or the opening Allegro where Lewis makes you conscious of how the music's gracious and mellifluous unfolding is momentarily clouded by mystery and energised by drama. In such hands the final pages of Op 111 do indeed become 'a drift towards the shores of Paradise' (Edward Sackville-West) and throughout all these performances you sense how 'the great effort of interpretation' (Michael Tippett) is resolved in playing of a haunting poetic commitment and devotion. Such playing is hardly for lovers of histrionics or inflated rhetoric, but rather for those in search of other deeper, more refreshing attributes, for Beethoven's inner light and spirit.
Somehow Lewis's quiet and distinctive voice can lift even the most familiar phrase on to another sphere and his playing throughout, shorn of accretion, makes all these sonatas shine with their first radiance and eloquence. Admirably recorded, this three-disc set is crowned with a scholarly and illuminating essay by Jean-Paul Montagnier.

Every one of Paul Lewis’s now-complete Beethoven Sonatas series has been
selected as an Editor’s Choice. Deservedly so. This final instalment boasts all the virtues of its predecessors – a pianist nimble of mind and fingers, penetrating interpretations delivered with just the right lightness of touch and
bold imaginative leaps that can leave the listener staggered.

June 2008

Somehow, Lewis's quiet and distinctive voice can lift even the most familiar phrase on to another sphere.

2nd May 2008

Paul Lewis ends his Beethoven sonata cycle for Harmonia Mundi with another wide-ranging collection; like its predecessors, it contains some outstanding performances and some that do not quite reach the same exalted standard. The major disappointments here come in two of the best known sonatas. Op 81a, Les Adieux, seems far less crisp and precise than one would expect, while, after a suitably pellucid opening, the E major Op 109 becomes unexpectedly feisty and never quite regains its poise. To set against that are a beautifully paced and unfolded account of Op 28 in D, the so-called Pastorale, and impressively thoughtful performances of the two most challenging works here: the A flat Op 110 and C minor Op 111. In Op 110, Lewis creates a glowing soundworld out of which every element seems to take shape perfectly naturally, while in Op 111, he plays down the drama of the first movement to integrate it more completely with the transcendental variations that follow. The transition from one to the other is perfectly managed so that they become a seamless whole, and a perfect finale to the entire enterprise.

2nd May 2008

At times in the towering final sonatas Lewis perhaps holds too much in reserve. Greater firepower could only enhance Beethoven’s visionary thinking, even when the marking for No 30’s finale indicates “mezza voce”, a half-voice. But this reserve also leads to masterful moments. There’s No 15’s balm and calm, plus the fluent grace in the Op 49 duo – pedagogic trifles for which any overkill would be fatal...buy Lewis’s Beethoven with confidence, and listen and explore for many years to come.

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