Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 29 'Hammerklavier' & Eroica Variations

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There are some recorded performances so remarkable that to praise them seems insolent. This recording of Beethoven’s largest, longest piano sonata is among that tiny group….What distinguishes... — BBC Music Magazine, September 2021, 5 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 2nd Jul 2021
Catalogue No: PTC5186724
Label: Pentatone
Length: 66 minutes

International Classical Music Awards

2022

Nominated - Solo Instrument

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Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 29 in B-flat major, Op. 106 'Hammerklavier'

Work length43:47

$11.00

$14.15

$19.25

Pierre-Laurent Aimard (piano)

I. Allegro

Track length11:57

$3.00

$3.85

$5.25

II. Scherzo. Assai vivace

Track length2:53

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

III. Adagio sostenuto

Track length16:46

$4.00

$5.15

$7.00

IV. Largo - Allegro risoluto

Track length12:11

$3.00

$3.85

$5.25

Beethoven: Eroica Variations, Op. 35

Work length23:02

$17.00

$22.10

$29.75

Pierre-Laurent Aimard (piano)

Introduzione col basso del tema

Track length3:25

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Var. 1

Track length0:38

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Var. 2

Track length0:50

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Var. 3

Track length0:43

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Var. 4

Track length0:40

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Var. 5

Track length0:52

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Var. 6

Track length0:39

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Var. 7

Track length0:39

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Var. 8

Track length0:53

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Var. 9

Track length0:40

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Var. 10

Track length0:37

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Var. 11

Track length0:47

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Var. 12

Track length0:42

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Var. 13

Track length0:40

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Var. 14

Track length1:16

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Var. 15

Track length4:30

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Finale. Alla fuga

Track length4:31

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

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About

After his acclaimed interpretation of Messiaen’s Catalogue d’Oiseaux, pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard returns to PENTATONE with a recording of Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata and Eroica Variations. The Hammerklavier Sonata is one of the pinnacles of Beethoven’s creative output, and arguably one of the highest mountains to climb for any pianist. To Aimard, it poses one of the most frightening tests of a performer’s life, but one that is as irresistible as it is insurmountable.

The dazzling Eroica Variations are nicknamed after Beethoven’s iconoclastic Third Symphony, and employ the melody he would later use as the main theme of the symphony’s finale. Beethoven’s fondness for this melody is evident, as he also used it in his ballet music for The Creatures of Prometheus, as well as in the seventh of his 12 Contredanses.

Widely acclaimed as a key figure in the music of our time and as a uniquely significant interpreter of piano repertoire from every age, Pierre-Laurent Aimard enjoys an internationally celebrated career. He started his exclusive engagement to PENTATONE with a complete recording of Messiaen’s Catalogue d’Oiseaux (2018).

Reviews

September 2021

There are some recorded performances so remarkable that to praise them seems insolent. This recording of Beethoven’s largest, longest piano sonata is among that tiny group….What distinguishes Aimard’s account – this goes, too, for the far from meagre ‘filler’, the exuberant Eroica Variations – is that it is free from idiosyncrasy.

Nov/Dec 2021

This is a disc of extraordinary power and insight that makes no concessions to period practice. Nowhere is Alfred Brendel’s universe connoted, to cite an example of such considerations in a modern instrument setting. This is Beethoven as viewed from the mountaintop of temporally transcendent discovery, and a resonant recording enhances the aesthetic.

September 2021

No doubt there are other recordings that are equally lucid…but I’m struggling to think of any that matches, still less surpasses the Frenchman in the firstmovement development section or the mighty fugal finale.

Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 29 'Hammerklavier' & Eroica Variations

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