There are plenty of recordings of Beethoven's last three piano sonatas, each as unheard-of in structure and expression as the Ninth Symphony, and recording them seems to be something of a rite of passage for pianists. Here, Steven Osborne gives a real sense of wrestling with the material, which is all to the good. Hyperion's materials do not specify the piano used, but it's capable of quite harsh sounds; the fortepiano for which Beethoven wrote these pieces was an expressive, rather violent instrument. Your reactions to the ...
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There are plenty of recordings of Beethoven's last three piano sonatas, each as unheard-of in structure and expression as the Ninth Symphony, and recording them seems to be something of a rite of passage for pianists. Here, Steven Osborne gives a real sense of wrestling with the material, which is all to the good. Hyperion's materials do not specify the piano used, but it's capable of quite harsh sounds; the fortepiano for which Beethoven wrote these pieces was an expressive, rather violent instrument. Your reactions to the uses Osborne makes of this sound may vary according to personal preference, herewith, is one reaction: Osborne crafts a really epoch-making version of the Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109, and it's, without question, worth the price of the album. He takes quick tempos and keeps the whole sonata driving forward to where the variations in the finale can absorb the percussive elements; the culmination in the final variations has extraordinary power. Osborne has plenty of...
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