# Best cheapest Beethoven Sonata Cycle.



## Iforgotmypassword

I'm sure that this has been asked many a time, but I didn't see any threads when I searched so my apologies if I'm beating a dead horse with this one. I looked online at a complete box set of Beethoven's sonatas by Stephen Kovacevich and the thing was nearly $200 which is about $155 out of my price range. So yeah, are there any quality recordings that capture the true emotion, the anger and frustration and tension as well as the beauty withing Beethoven's sonatas for under say $50? I really would like to get a full cycle and go through all of the pieces but I can't justify settling for a less than an amazing recording and sadly I fear that I just simply can not afford such a thing at the moment. We shall see I guess, please feel free to let me know what you're favorite cycle is and what it cost. Thanks.


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## Ukko

You really need to drop one of the superlatives. The Naxos Schnabel may be the 'best' compromise.


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## Iforgotmypassword

Yeah, that's what I feared. Thanks for the advice...


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## Conor71

The Gulda set always comes highly recommended on one of the other Classical forums - it can be had for a shade under $50 through Amazon 3rd Party sellers and also comes with the Piano Concertos :










Link: http://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-Piano-Sonata-Concerto-Box/dp/B000BQV52A/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1308179601&sr=1-1

I have 2 sets of the Sonatas and really not an expert but I think the Barenboim set may be right up your alley although it has its fair share of detractors! - Cost = about $40 on Amazon:










Link:









The other set I own is the Kempff - can't say that it's an angsty reading but it is very cheap and well regarded! - cost = $30 or less 3rd Party:










Link: http://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-Complete-Piano-Sonatas-Nos/dp/B001CGJ3QS/ref=sr_1_2?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1308180009&sr=1-2


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## Vaneyes

Gulda, Ashkenazy complete, or Gilels incomplete (missing Nos.1, 9, 22, 24, 32).


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## kv466

I'd go with the Gulda, since Gould'a didn't put them all out...still, if you can...get versions of Glenn doing the Tempest and Appasionata at least...you'll never hear them the same...enjoy


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## joen_cph

*Schnabel* can go down to about $20 on the membran label here in Europe; right now Amazon says 13$. The sound is too poor for it to be the only set to have, probably also for it to be the introductory set for these works, but there are a lot of interesting performances, often very different from today´s performance style. *Gilels* Beethoven set of selected sonatas and the 5 concerti on Brilliant 7CD (24$ currently) is an extremely good supplement with good sound, his Appassionata there is the most dramatic around, even more than Richter´s old performance at Carnegie Hall. I haven´t heard much of the Gilels DG set which includes many more sonatas and goes for $37, but it seemed somewhat more restrained, if concise and monumental, in the playing. The two sets of *Gould* playing Beethoven at 20$ each also contain some incredible - and some scandalous - performances; sonatas 30-32 are magical and goes for $4 on a CD there.

No matter what you buy later on, these will provide a lot of joy, also when comparing them to others - for their individuality and temper.

I have the complete stereo *Kempff* (would recommend his No.29) and the early vox complete *Brendel *(not much of interest as I recall; some of his philips recordings are better though). *Barenboim*´s early Beethoven emi set doesn´t appeal to me. Also have the complete *Kuerti* which is sometimes very good (No.17 for instance), sometimes less, but not recommendable as the only set. And have the *Gulda* set on Amadeo; he plays in a rather linear style, often downplaying contrasts and culminations in the music a bit. It is the same set as issued on Brilliant. The "Waldstein" is one of the best and most interesting there.


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## Iforgotmypassword

Conor71 said:


>


Thanks a lot for the reccomendations everybody, Ill shop around a little but I'm thinking that I might get this one when I get some money.


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## itywltmt

Can't beat FREE:
http://public-domain-archive.com/classic/compositions.php?lang=eng&composer_no=4

I own the Ashkenazy DECCA re-issue from about six or seven years ago, I think. Budget priced and all very good


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## Sofronitsky

I'd go with Gulda. People say they don't like him but I've never understood that. I watched a TV special of him playing the moonlight sonata once and at the 3rd movement I almost **** my pants. Definitely the most angsty of the cheap sets.


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## StlukesguildOhio

I have the Kempff set which I find to be quite stellar. I also have any number of single discs of performances by Horowitz, Ashkenazy, Gilels, Rubinstein, Pollini, etc... but I am very much looking seriously at this recent release:


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## Ukko

StlukesguildOhio said:


> I have the Kempff set which I find to be quite stellar. I also have any number of single discs of performances by Horowitz, Ashkenazy, Gilels, Rubinstein, Pollini, etc... but I am very much looking seriously at this recent release:


My reaction to Brendel's Beethoven is odd (though not unique to me). I enjoy it when I hear it, but there is no 'aftertaste'; no emotional echo.


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## amfortas

After quite a while of listening to samples and reading reviews here in this old thread and on Amazon, I've gone with the Gulda complete cycle. Along with the pianist's technical mastery and interpretive zeal, the set offered the best combination of reasonable price, good sound, and numerical ordering of the sonatas (a rarity).

A very belated thanks to the above posters for their recommendations.


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## Vasks

On a slightly related issue, I always thought the Annie Fischer set was permanently OOP, but I see it's listed at MDT. What gives?


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## DavidA

Vasks said:


> On a slightly related issue, I always thought the Annie Fischer set was permanently OOP, but I see it's listed at MDT. What gives?


I have some of Annie Fischer. A fantastic pianist. Magical!


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## DavidA

I downloaded Kempff's 1952 mono set for about £3-99. The sound is perfectly acceptable and the performances superb - better, I think than the later stereo set.


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## Manxfeeder

DavidA said:


> I downloaded Kempff's 1952 mono set for about £3-99. The sound is perfectly acceptable and the performances superb - better, I think than the later stereo set.


That looks interesting. Thanks for the heads-up.


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## Bas

The complete Gulda is magnificent.








(Includes great performances of the concerto's)

For a more conventional approach - I can't speak as to which of the two is "better" or more correct - I'd advice this Barenboim cycle:









Both at price points somewhere between $3 - $5 per disc.


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## Bogdan

Vasks said:


> On a slightly related issue, I always thought the Annie Fischer set was permanently OOP, but I see it's listed at MDT. What gives?


It has been repackaged, and it is available, for example here:

http://www.amazon.ca/Ludwig-Van-Complete-Piano-Sonatas/dp/B00005UOMP/

What you get will look different from the picture you see there.


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## Triplets

Claudio Arrau, anyone? I have his set, along with Richard Goode and the stereo Kempff set.


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## Itullian

Triplets said:


> Claudio Arrau, anyone? I have his set, along with Richard Goode and the stereo Kempff set.


The Gilels is a must too, although not quite complete.


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## KenOC

Itullian said:


> The Gilels is a must too, although not quite complete.


Gilels is superb. Also Buchbinder's latest set, although we're moving away a bit from the "cheapest" specification.


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## Varick

I think the original VOX Sonata Set by Brendel is a great way to go. I'm not a Brendel fan, in fact my attitude towards him is EXACTLY those of Ukko's. However, I will say this about Alfred, he approaches the Beethoven Sonatas in a very cerebral way. They are excellent studies of the sonatas and for that, I will never regret owning them.

V


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## bigshot

I agree. If cheapness is the requirement, it's Brendel.


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## hpowders

Varick said:


> I think the original VOX Sonata Set by Brendel is a great way to go. I'm not a Brendel fan, in fact my attitude towards him is EXACTLY those of Ukko's. However, I will say this about Alfred, he approaches the Beethoven Sonatas in a very cerebral way. They are excellent studies of the sonatas and for that, I will never regret owning them.
> 
> V


Yes, that set is a terrific bargain, though I find many other pianists move me much more in Beethoven.


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## Triplets

KenOC said:


> Gilels is superb. Also Buchbinder's latest set, although we're moving away a bit from the "cheapest" specification.


That is why I didn't nominate Annie Fischer either. Very pricey at present but oh, what playing!


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## Triplets

hpowders said:


> Yes, that set is a terrific bargain, though I find many other pianists move me much more in Beethoven.


 I have the Vox Brendel set. I recently burned it to a hard drive and discarded the discs. Be careful if you do this because the metadata is horribly mislabeled and it was laborious to retype everything.
It is certainly cheap and surprisingly well recorded (if you had owned any of the lps, you will be in for a pleasant surprise). I read an interview with Brendel where he admitted that he learned at least half of the Sonatas for the recordings and had never played them before an audience. This was one reason that he wanted to rerecord them, as his interpretations matured.


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## hpowders

Triplets said:


> That is why I didn't nominate Annie Fischer either. Very pricey at present but oh, what playing!


I have the Annie Fischer complete Beethoven keyboard sonata set. While the sound is wanting in places, her brilliant performances are the standard for me.


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## hpowders

Triplets said:


> I have the Vox Brendel set. I recently burned it to a hard drive and discarded the discs. Be careful if you do this because the metadata is horribly mislabeled and it was laborious to retype everything.
> It is certainly cheap and surprisingly well recorded (if you had owned any of the lps, you will be in for a pleasant surprise). I read an interval with Brendel where he admitted that he learned at least half of the Sonatas for the recordings and had never played them before an audience. This was one reason that he wanted to rerecord them, as his interpretations matured.


He really did record a lot for Vox back in the day. Vox seemed to be the Naxos of an earlier time.


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## Steve Wright

Iforgotmypassword said:


> I'm sure that this has been asked many a time, but I didn't see any threads when I searched so my apologies if I'm beating a dead horse with this one. I looked online at a complete box set of Beethoven's sonatas by Stephen Kovacevich and the thing was nearly $200 which is about $155 out of my price range. So yeah, are there any quality recordings that capture the true emotion, the anger and frustration and tension as well as the beauty withing Beethoven's sonatas for under say $50? I really would like to get a full cycle and go through all of the pieces but I can't justify settling for a less than an amazing recording and sadly I fear that I just simply can not afford such a thing at the moment. We shall see I guess, please feel free to let me know what you're favorite cycle is and what it cost. Thanks.


Read this thread with interest as I'm in a similar place. 
I think I am going to go for Kempff 2 (stereo) - affordable (under £20), very well liked - plus I have, and love, his Schubert late sonatas so I think I like his style.
Feel free to disabuse me, anyone!


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## Steve Wright

Steve Wright said:


> Read this thread with interest as I'm in a similar place.
> I think I am going to go for Kempff 2 (stereo) - affordable (under £20), very well liked - plus I have, and love, his Schubert late sonatas so I think I like his style.
> Feel free to disabuse me, anyone!


Also his late Brahms piano pieces - op.116-119 - wonderful stuff.


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## Ukko

Steve Wright said:


> Read this thread with interest as I'm in a similar place.
> I think I am going to go for Kempff 2 (stereo) - affordable (under £20), very well liked - plus I have, and love, his Schubert late sonatas so I think I like his style.
> Feel free to disabuse me, anyone!


Hah. You appear to be invulnerable to my disabuse. Anyway, I have sufficiently expressed my opinion above. Kempff's Schubert surpasses his Beethoven. Both are surpassed by my guy.


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## Blancrocher

It seems that Pollini's recently released 8-cd box is now selling for under $30 new from some outlets. For those who haven't already collected their favorite Pollini/Beethoven releases, this is one to consider.

http://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-Com...=1426429612&sr=8-1&keywords=pollini+beethoven


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## Steve Wright

I like what I hear of Schiff a lot. Am I right in thinking, though, that there is not a Complete Schiff - rather a series of CDs to be bought separately? Not necessarily a problem if so, of course...


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## Albert7

HJ Lim' sonata cycle is the cheapest on iTunes at ten bucks USD. Not bad for its pricing.


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## Albert7

Blancrocher said:


> It seems that Pollini's recently released 8-cd box is now selling for under $30 new from some outlets. For those who haven't already collected their favorite Pollini/Beethoven releases, this is one to consider.
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-Com...=1426429612&sr=8-1&keywords=pollini+beethoven


Agreed that this it the best Beethoven sonata cycle ever. Here is the iTunes version is really nice and easy to download.


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## Steve Wright

Triplets said:


> Claudio Arrau, anyone? I have his set, along with Richard Goode and the stereo Kempff set.


I am looking seriously at Arrau for my first complete sonatas. Someone said on another thread that he was the middle way between Kempff (lyrical) and Gilels (tempetsuous), which sounds about right for me.
Does anyone know the difference / can anyone advise which to choose between these 2 Arrau sets?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Beethoven-Piano-Sonatas-Decca-Collectors/dp/B007CW2FCA/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1426439468&sr=1-1&keywords=beethoven+complete+sonatas+arrau

http://www.amazon.co.uk/COMPLETE-BEETHOVEN-PIANO-SONATAS/dp/B005MF0ZNU/ref=sr_1_2?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1426439496&sr=1-2&keywords=beethoven+complete+sonatas+arrau
Thanks


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## Triplets

Kempff is a great set. Not the best, but reasonably priced, and has given me a lot of pleasure.


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## Albert7

Kempff is wonderful too for older recordings. I haven't heard the Fischer cycle yet but I plan on embark on that relatively soon.


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## KenOC

Steve, here's another one of those lists, Beethoven sonata cycles with comments (not mine, other peoples'). Schiff has always been a great favorite of mine, but I don't think it's boxed or maybe even totally available right now. I'm currently enjoying Buchbinder's brand new cycle (not the old one) recorded live without edits, but with a totally silent audience.

Pollini generally seems a bit to purposefully objective to me. Gilels can't be beat, in general, though his set isn't quite complete. I have quite a few other sets, including the Jando set which was only about ten bucks for a download last time I looked. I can answer questions about some of them.

The list: http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/syltguides/fullview/R3QZP1D2U2Q1EK/ref=cm_srch_res_rpsy_alt_1

And whatever you get, don't forget Schiff's detailed and illuminating lectures, for free. The page seems to have moved -- I'll try to find it.


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## Steve Wright

KenOC said:


> Steve, here's another one of those lists, Beethoven sonata cycles with comments (not mine, other peoples'). Schiff has always been a great favorite of mine, but I don't think it's boxed or maybe even totally available right now. I'm currently enjoying Buchbinder's brand new cycle (not the old one) recorded live without edits, but with a totally silent audience.
> 
> Pollini generally seems a bit to purposefully objective to me. Gilels can't be beat, in general, though his set isn't quite complete. I have quite a few other sets, including the Jando set which was only about ten bucks for a download last time I looked. I can answer questions about some of them.
> 
> The list: http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/syltguides/fullview/R3QZP1D2U2Q1EK/ref=cm_srch_res_rpsy_alt_1
> 
> And whatever you get, don't forget Schiff's detailed and illuminating lectures, for free. The page seems to have moved -- I'll try to find it.


Thanks KenOC, as enormously helpful as you were with the LvB String Quartets!
In the end I opted for Claudio Arrau, in this version with the Piano Concertos (now very expensive but I got a 2nd hand, VGC on eBay for £26):
http://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-Complete-Piano-Sonatas-Concertos/product-reviews/B0017P4C9W/ref=cm_cr_dp_see_all_btm?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

The set seems to have lots of very warm reviews, and a few other comments on threads have suggested to me that he might be the man for me, somwhere between Gilels and Kempff. 
And I am always swayed, probably too much, by words like 'mysteries', 'glints' and so forth.
What do you think of my choice? Give it to me straight!


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## KenOC

Steve Wright said:


> What do you think of my choice? Give it to me straight!


Never heard that cycle, sorry! So let us know what you think after you've listened for a while.

BTW the Schiff lectures on the sonatas, all 18 hours worth, have disappeared from the Wigmore Hall site. If you want these (and you should) you can download them for the next few days from http://1drv.ms/1BNkK1R . There is one lecture for each sonata, except for the Hammerklavier which gets two.


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## shadowdancer

Steve Wright said:


> Does anyone know the difference / can anyone advise which to choose between these 2 Arrau sets?
> http://www.amazon.co.uk/Beethoven-Piano-Sonatas-Decca-Collectors/dp/B007CW2FCA/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1426439468&sr=1-1&keywords=beethoven+complete+sonatas+arrau
> Thanks


I am a proud owner of this one above.
Go for it.
Arrau's interpretation are solid and, as usual in my opinion only, one of the best Hammerklavier (Op 106) around.

Cheers.


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## Blancrocher

Some may enjoy this survey of Beethoven sonata cycles from the Ionarts website.

http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2009/05/beethoven-sonatas-survey-of-complete.html

I've posted it before, but I see it's been updated since. I'm happy to be able to report that Arrau fares very well in it, Steve Wright!


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## Steve Wright

KenOC said:


> BTW the Schiff lectures on the sonatas, all 18 hours worth, have disappeared from the Wigmore Hall site. If you want these (and you should) you can download them for the next few days from http://1drv.ms/1BNkK1R . There is one lecture for each sonata, except for the Hammerklavier which gets two.


Thanks very much KenOC, that's brilliant! I have downloaded them. Look forward to finding some time for both them and Arrau.


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## Steve Wright

shadowdancer said:


> I am a proud owner of this one above.
> Go for it.
> Arrau's interpretation are solid and, as usual in my opinion only, one of the best Hammerklavier (Op 106) around.
> 
> Cheers.


Thanks shadowdancer! I'm already enjoying his Waldstein and Hammerklavier very much.


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