# Brendel`s Beethoven pf sonatas cycle



## Cyclops

I have a few of these on my shelf,his playing is just brilliant,and I want to find the rest of the CDs. Are they still widely available?


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## opus67

There's the set from Philips, which is some $150+, and then there is the (older?) set from Vox (4 2-fers, I think), totalling to about $40. (Those are amazon.com prices, btw.)


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## Cyclops

Yea the ones I have are part of the Philips set and would like to get the ones I don't have


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## hoodjem

Cyclops said:


> Yea the ones I have are part of the Philips set and would like to get the ones I don't have


Be careful. I believe that Brendel recorded the complete piano sonatas by Beethoven three times: the first one for Vox (1959-62), the second is analogue on Philips (1970-77), and the third is on Philips (1990s), but is a digital recording.

The first is interesting and good, but idiosyncratic, in okay sound. 
The second one is virtually flawless, in warm, well-balanced analogue recording--the one to have.
The third is less inspired and somewhat pedestrian, in not wonderful digital sound.


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## flamencosketches

^Point taken. I am going to get a Beethoven piano sonatas cycle in time for the holidays (and the composer's birthday), and the Brendel digital cycle was in the running. I have heard nothing of his analog Philips cycle but love what I've heard of the digital. If the analog is that much better as you say then I'll definitely have to check it out. 

Brendel's Beethoven is amazing. I was surprised to like it so much, as I think he embodies traits that I didn't think I liked in Beethoven: cleanliness, precision, classical grace, objectivity/detachment. But he is such a skillful pianist that he never loses sight of the architecture of the piece, and in any case the music speaks for itself.


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## premont

flamencosketches said:


> Brendel's Beethoven is amazing. I was surprised to like it so much, as I think he embodies traits that I didn't think I liked in Beethoven: cleanliness, precision, classical grace, objectivity/detachment. But he is such a skillful pianist that he never loses sight of the architecture of the piece, and in any case the music speaks for itself.


Precisely, and this is why I from Brendel prefer the Vox set, which exhibits these traits even more than the_ analogue_ Philips set, even if the sound of the Philips set is better.


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## flamencosketches

premont said:


> Precisely, and this is why I from Brendel prefer the Vox set, which exhibits these traits even more than the_ analogue_ Philips set, even if the sound of the Philips set is better.


Well, you've piqued my interest, my friend. I will have to look into the Vox set. It's now out on Brilliant Classics, no?


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## premont

flamencosketches said:


> Well, you've piqued my interest, my friend. I will have to look into the Vox set. It's now out on Brilliant Classics, no?


Yes, this:

https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/de...1770-1827-Klaviersonaten-Nr-1-32/hnum/1838955


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## flamencosketches

premont said:


> Yes, this:
> 
> https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/de...1770-1827-Klaviersonaten-Nr-1-32/hnum/1838955


Thanks! There's audio samples too, I'll be looking through these.


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## Josquin13

If you decide that you want to purchase Brendel's 2nd cycle, which is the 1st of his two Philips cycles (recorded between 1970-77), it is available on Universal's "Eloquence" series (not to be confused with the Australian Eloquence label), in superb Ambient Surround Sound Imaging remasters, or AMSI: which is one of the better methods for remastering recordings from the analogue era, in my opinion. It's also an attractive bargain set, as it was once available for around $20-25 (if that's no longer the case, I'd suggest that you check Amazon.de, as well as Amazon US & UK, etc., to find the best current price). The set additionally includes Brendel's 2nd 'live' cycle of Beethoven's 5 Piano Concertos, with the Chicago S.O, under conductor James Levine (which is probably my least favorite of Brendel's 3 Beethoven PC sets, though some critics prefer it...):

https://www.amazon.com/Brendel-Spie...rendel+spielt+beethoven&qid=1576003944&sr=8-1
https://www.amazon.de/Brendel-spiel...rendel+beethoven+spielt&qid=1576004199&sr=8-1

(By the way, Universal Eloquence has similarly remastered Brendel's Mozart Piano Concerto cycle with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, under the baton of Sir Neville Marriner, and his 1st Philips solo Schubert recordings in discount AMSI box sets; as well as his digital & analogue incomplete Mozart Piano Sonatas for Philips. Sound-wise, these AMSI sets bring me closer to the way my old Philips LPs sounded on a good stereo system than the other remasters that I've heard, so I'm partial to them (although I wasn't quite as crazy about the AMSI remasters for Brendel's Liszt box set).

Otherwise, the 1970-77 Philips cycle is available via a Decca box set, combined with Brendel's 1st analogue recordings of Beethoven's 5 Piano Concertos with the London Philharmonic & Bernard Haitink, which includes an excellent Choral Fantasia. IMO, this is the best of Brendel's three sets of the Piano Concertos 1-5, & he's especially fine in the first two PCs:
https://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-Co...Beethoven&qid=1576002435&s=music&sr=8-1-fkmr2

If you decide to buy Brendel's 2nd digitally recorded Philips cycle instead, know that you won't be getting one of his three Piano Concerto cycles, only the 32 Piano Sonatas: https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Pia...Beethoven&qid=1576002435&s=music&sr=8-2-fkmr2. (Please note that the Amazon MP3 listening samples on the preceding link sound like they are from Brendel's 1st cycle for Vox, and not his 3rd digital cycle for Philips--so Amazon messed up yet again...)

Either way, at some point you might want to add Brendel's digital Eroica Variations on Philips, and one (or more) of his 3 Philips Diabelli Variations recordings (two live--1970s & 2001, & one in the studio--1990), and various Bagatelles, since they're worth having & don't come in the box sets:

Brendel's Diabelli Variations, on Philips:

--Live 2001 concert in London. This is Brendel's personal favorite of his 4 Diabelli recordings (the first was for Vox, which IMO is the least of his 4 recordings): https://www.amazon.com/Alfred-Brend...del+diabelli+variations&qid=1576003066&sr=8-2

--Studio, 1990, on Philips: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000V6OMDE/ref=dm_ws_sp_ps_dp

--Live, on Philips, analogue from the 1970s: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FWBMPBT/ref=dm_ws_sp_ps_dp

Eroica Variations & Bagatelles, on Philips:

https://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-Er...hoven+eroica+variations&qid=1576003512&sr=8-1
https://www.amazon.com/Bagatelles-1...S0ZXD3P2JBD&psc=1&refRID=XZ7JW28X1S0ZXD3P2JBD

Hope that helps.


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## flamencosketches

^It does help. Thanks! That Eloquence might be the one to get. I didn't realize that issue had featured a different remaster, I thought it was just a packaging thing. 

I still need to thoroughly compare the three cycles before I make any choices... would anyone say that in artistic terms, the three traversals are significantly different from one another? Or are they fairly continuous?


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## hoodjem

flamencosketches said:


> ^Point taken. I am going to get a Beethoven piano sonatas cycle in time for the holidays (and the composer's birthday), and the Brendel digital cycle was in the running. I have heard nothing of his analog Philips cycle but love what I've heard of the digital. If the analog is that much better as you say then I'll definitely have to check it out.
> 
> Brendel's Beethoven is amazing. I was surprised to like it so much, as I think he embodies traits that I didn't think I liked in Beethoven: cleanliness, precision, classical grace, objectivity/detachment. But he is such a skillful pianist that he never loses sight of the architecture of the piece, and in any case the music speaks for itself.


Yes. Brendel is such an excellent pianist that his "worst" is still going to be very good and very interesting.


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