# Beethoven piano sonata sets...How many do you own?



## Itullian

Well, we just did this for the string quartets so I figured we'd do the sonatas too.
It's the other magnificent group of works that I love.
So, how many do you have?
:tiphat:


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## Manxfeeder

Brendel (both Vox and Philips, second cycle), Annie Fischer, Yves Nat, William Kempff (mono). Plus a ton of incomplete sets by Schnabel, Solomon, Charles Rosen, and others I can't think of now.


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## KenOC

Complete or almost-complete cycles and segments:

Annie Fischer
Ashkenazy (late)
Bavouzet (all released so far)
Brendel (original from Vox)
Buchbinder
Ciccolini
Claude Frank
Francois-Frederic Guy
Geller (late)
Gilels (missing those few he died before recording)
Goode
Goodyear
Gould (all that he did that I know of)
Grinberg
Gulda
Hamelin (late)
Hungerford (all that he recorded before he was killed)
Idil Biret
Jando
Kempff 1965
Korstick
Kovacevich
Levit (late)
Lewis
Lim
Lortie
Nikolayeva 1984
Pollini
Schiff (my overall favorite)
Schnabel
Serkin (late)
Taub
Uchida (late)
Yudina

Many singletons and so forth. I know I’ve got some more floating around…


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## Itullian

^^^Wow, alphabetical order.
Cool


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## joen_cph

As regards complete sets, a lot of variation in the style and playing, but it's a far from exhaustive collection:

- Brendel, Vox (mostly uninteresting, IMO)
- Annie Fischer
- Goodyear
- Gulda, Amadeo
- Kempff, DG stereo
- Korstick
- Kuerti
- Schnabel

I skipped John Lill.

But I also have many individual recordings. The 23rd Sonata is the one I have most of (32x).
I don't plan getting any further, unless there's a rare/interesting item to be found occasionally.

#3: Yudina only recorded a few. I have them too.


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## Mandryka

KenOC said:


> Hamelin (late)


What's that?



KenOC said:


> Geller (late)


What's that?


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## Art Rock

No complete set, I have them all, but with different pianists. Bought them all fairly soon after I had switched to classical music around 1986. Beethoven was my favourite composer for the first few years, and I wanted to get most of his works on CD. I like the sonatas, love a handful, but never had the urge to get more versions.


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## CnC Bartok

Not as excited or indeed excitable about the piano sonatas. Not all 32 are absolute essentials as far as I am concerned, something you cannot say for the Symphonies or the Quartets.

Complete sets:
Claudio Arrau, plus a very nearly complete later set
Maurizio Pollini
Erik Heidsieck
Daniel Barenboim (EMI)
Wilhelm Kempff (stereo)
Artur Schnabel
Bernard Roberts

And my go-to set: John Lill

Lots of single CDs and twofers on top of those complete sets.


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## DavidA

Complete sets:

Schnabel
Kempff 2

Nearly complete:
A Fischer
Gould

Others sonatas by
Richter
Kovacevich
Pollini
Gilels etc


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## Score reader

I only have the András Schiff set, everything else is individual recordings.


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## Kjetil Heggelund

Maybe I'm the part-pooper here since I have none...They are so noisy


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## flamencosketches

I own Kempff's later set and Schnabel's. Damn! I need to catch up. Though between the two I am not left wanting anything.


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## wkasimer

Off the top of my head:

Kovacevich
Kempff x 2
Gulda x 2
Buchbinder x 2
Brendel x 3
Arrau
Korstick
Goodyear
Guy
Heidsieck
Schnabel
Annie Fischer
Kuerti
Schiff
Frank
Ashkenazy
Brautigam
Takacs
Lucchesini
Barenboim (EMI)
Nat


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## D Smith

Complete or nearly complete collections
Arrau
Barenboim 
Brendel
Fischer
Kovacevich 
Kodama
Lewis
Lim

And of course many individual recordings which I listen to just as much.


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## Rmathuln

Arrau (2)
Ashkenazy
Backhaus (the mostly-stereo set)
Barenboim (2 - EMI and DG)
Binns
Brautigam
Buchbinbder (2)
Brendel (3)
Fischer
Gilels
Gulda (2)
Heidsek
Kempff (2)
Kovacevich 
Lewis
Schnabel (Naxos and most-recent Warner box)


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## Manxfeeder

joen_cph said:


> As regards complete sets, a lot of variation in the style and playing, but it's a far from exhaustive collection:
> 
> - Brendel, Vox (mostly uninteresting, IMO)


I'd have to agree. One person described them as journeymanlike.


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## 13hm13

Only a few_ complete_ sets ... including ...


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## Itullian

Can't compete with Ken or WKasimer, but here goes 

Arrau
Kempff, both
Gilels
Goode
Lortie
Schnabel
Brendel, all 3
Kovacevich
Gulda
Franck
Pommier
Del Pueyo
Rasch


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## flamencosketches

13hm13 said:


> Only a few_ complete_ sets ... including ...
> View attachment 116056


Is that the cycle that he died shortly before finishing?


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## Bulldog

I have many dozens of Beethoven piano sonata recordings but only one full set - Russell Sherman on GM Recordings. It's likely deleted by now.


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## CnC Bartok

13hm13 said:


> Only a few_ complete_ sets ... including ...
> View attachment 116056


Sadly incomplete. Gilels died before he could complete this. I think there are 25 or 26/32 done, though. Anything by Gilels is worth having. There's no Op.111 here, but a wonderful Hammerklavier, and the best Erica Variations I've heard.


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## WildThing

Arrau
Backhaus (stereo)
Barenboim (DG)
Brautigam
Fischer
Frank
Goode
Gulda
Kempff (stereo)
Kovacevich
Schnabel

Plus the Gilels almost complete set and Serkin's 17, as he is one of my favorite Beethoven pianists. Pollini in the late sonatas too of course.


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## Barbebleu

Schnabel
Barenboim
Ashkenazy
Annie Fischer
Goodyear
Anne Øland

Plus Gould's recorded sonatas.


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## elgar's ghost

I have just the one - Kempff's celebrated mono cycle on DG recorded in 1951 and 1956. I've had this for about 20 years and always been happy with it but as I'm not a 'monophile' I occasionally ponder over getting a supplementary cycle in stereo with better sound.


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## rice

I have Kempff's later cycle and Arrau's.
Watched a youtube video of Arrau playing the appassionata and amazed.


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## premont

elgars ghost said:


> I have just the one - Kempff's celebrated mono cycle on DG recorded in 1951 and 1956. I've had this for about 20 years and always been happy with it but as I'm not a 'monophile' I occasionally ponder over getting a supplementary cycle in stereo with better sound.


If I had to choose one - and only one, it would precisely be Kempff's 1950es mono cycle.

If asked about more modern versions in a similar vein, I would choose O'Conor or Lortie or maybe Lucchesini.

But there are indeed cycles to every taste.


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## realdealblues

Off the top of my head:

Complete
Arrau (I)
Ashkenazy
Backhaus (I, II)
Barenboim (I, II, III)
Brautigam
Brendel (I, II, III)
Buchbinder (I, II)
Fischer
Frank
Guy
Goode
Goodyear
Gulda (II)
Jando
Kempff (I, II)
Korstick
Kovacevich
Lewis
Lortie
O'Conor
Pollini
Schiff
Schnabel


Incomplete
Arrau (II)
Gilels
Gould
Hungerford
Perahia
Richter
Serkin
Lots of others...

I don't know that I have a favorite. I like different ones for different reasons. Over the years I've come to really hold Buchbinder's first cycle on Teldec in really high regard and it's probably the one I recommend most because it is in excellent sound and it is flawlessly played. Tempos might be quick to some who are used to Kempff or Arrau, but I feel they are probably more in line with Beethoven's own in my opinion. They aren't sentimental or romantic, they are direct and fiery. I find them very much like Gulda's cycle but in better sound. I have favorites for each individual sonata but if pressed for a complete cycle that one usually gets my recommendation. There are less "interpretational liberties" so to speak in my opinion and give you a good baseline to start with and then expand. Want more lyrical reading then try Kempff, want a more sentimental approach, try Arrau, etc. but for a wonderful straight ahead approach, that first cycle from Buchbinder is really wonderful.


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## SixFootScowl

If you count the 84-disk (or was it 87-disk) Brilliant Classics Beethoven set then I have two but that set is not a single pianist or conductor, so I'll say I have one: Barenboim.


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## joen_cph

There's been several Brilliant sets. In the 85CD, it's Gulda. In the 87 CD box, it's Brendel/Vox. In the 100 CD Box, it's Gulda.
And further editions; I think one of the earlier sets had John Lill.

But there's also a 87-CD Box on another label
http://www.beethoven-complete-works.com/
On that label, there are several pianists, and conductors in the symphonies.


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## gardibolt

Stealing realdeal's work and building off it:



> Complete
> Arrau (I)
> Ashkenazy
> Backhaus (I or II, I'm not sure which--I think I)
> Brautigam
> Brendel (I, II, III)
> Buchbinder (I, II)
> Fischer
> Goode
> Gulda (II)
> Jando
> Kempff (II)
> Kovacevich
> Lewis
> O'Conor
> Pollini
> Schnabel


I don't have Schiff, and I really need to remedy that omission.



> Incomplete
> Arrau (II)
> Gilels
> Gould
> Hungerford
> Hurwitz (or is her cycle now complete? I've been acquiring them piecemeal so I've lost track)
> Perahia
> Richter
> Serkin
> Lots of others...


Hm, do I have any complete sets not on that quite comprehensive list? Oh wait, Llyr Williams' overrated set, maybe some others.

My favorite is still Fischer, though Arrau was my imprint complete set and I still have a fondness for his insistence on taking all the repeats.


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## flamencosketches

So who recorded the best Hammerklavier, in everyone's humble opinion? Doesn't have to be part of a complete cycle. I am trying to better understand this huge work.

I have heard Yudina, Schnabel, and Kempff. Of the three I like the Kempff.


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## CnC Bartok

Possibly Gilels, but there's a magical Hammerklavier by Solomon on EMI that's got a lot that marks it out from the crowd....


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## staxomega

Bulldog said:


> I have many dozens of Beethoven piano sonata recordings but only one full set - Russell Sherman on GM Recordings. It's likely deleted by now.


What an interesting cycle to have for a sole complete set  Sherman's cycle has been one of my favorite discoveries from late last year/this year, I raved a bit about it in the GMG Beethoven thread. You are correct that it has now been deleted, I tried buying it from GM Recordings and they have no plans to put it back in print due to lack of demand. I had to piece it together from individual volumes. One of these I will even get around to deciphering all of Sherman's liner notes 

I wrote a ranking of all my favorite complete or near complete cycles for a science based hifi forum, I'll see about tightening up the descriptions and modifying it to be more suitable for classical music lovers then start a thread about it. The Beethoven piano sonatas have been my favorite discoveries in hearing various interpretations.


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## flamencosketches

I love listening to András Schiff talk about the Beethoven sonatas but I wasn’t too impressed with his recordings of them. Maybe I owe him another shot, hmm... I love his Bach and Schubert.


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## jegreenwood

flamencosketches said:


> I love listening to András Schiff talk about the Beethoven sonatas but I wasn't too impressed with his recordings of them. Maybe I owe him another shot, hmm... I love his Bach and Schubert.


I've listened to that set of lectures twice over the years. Oddly, I don't have his recordings.

The second time, I was doing a sonata by sonata, movement by movement comparison of the 5 sets I do have:

Brendel (2nd)
Annie Fischer
Kempff (stereo)
Goode
Arrau


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## DarkAngel

I love the Brautigam series which are available in Hybrid SACD format, performed on three different keyboards (modern replicas) that evolved during Beethoven's own time, I really don't feel they take backseat to modern piano and have their own innate strengths. Now we have the money saving 9 disc boxset from BIS which is always welcome......*but there is a huge catch*

It does not include the absolutely wonderful additional solo keyboard works contained on discs 10-15, these are just as good as the sonatas and even more desireable with many of these works being rarely recorded, these are the best part of the entire series......

A terrible mistake by BIS to omit these from boxset.......


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## starthrower

Lortie is my only complete set. There are a few tempos I don't care for, but for the most part it's a fine set in great sound.

I have some singles CDs by Gilels, and O'Conor which I'm happy with. I don't care for Schiff's playing. It's a bit too precious and conservative. Flawless technically, but not very exciting.


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## KenOC

DarkAngel said:


> I love the Brautigam series which are available in Hybrid SACD format, performed on three different keyboards (modern replicas) that evolved during Beethoven's own time, I really don't feel they take backseat to modern piano and have their own innate strengths...


Fortepiano renditions of the sonatas are kind of rare. Another nice one, but the late sonatas only, is by Peter Serkin on a Graf fortepiano with a very nice sound. Cheap as CDs and also available on YouTube.


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## wkasimer

flamencosketches said:


> I love listening to András Schiff talk about the Beethoven sonatas but I wasn't too impressed with his recordings of them. Maybe I owe him another shot, hmm... I love his Bach and Schubert.


Like you, I got a lot more from his lectures than I did from the recordings.


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## howlingfantods

I have a half dozen or so (Schnabel, stereo Kempff, Arrau, stereo Backhaus, Annie Fischer, Pollini) but I hardly ever listen to them to be honest. My favorite Beethoven pianists (Richter, Sokolov, Solomon, Gilels) didn't do full cycles--Sokolov is still present tense but it's very extremely unlikely that he'll ever do a full cycle.

@flamenco -- my list of favorite Hammerklaviers is the same as my list of favorite Beethoven pianists--I care more about the late sonatas than the rest of the 32, then I care about the named middle period sonatas, and care least about the early period ones.

For one single recommendation, I'd probably pick the Richter performance from 1975 on BBC Legends. There's another 1975 performance from Prague that's also great on the "Richter in Prague" box set but he has a pretty major finger slip one point in the first movement. (Richter by the way was pretty unstable emotionally around this time--this was around the same time period he couldn't be at ease mentally unless he had his plastic lobster with him).

Solomon and Sokolov have incredible Hammerklaviers, but they have unusually slow slow movements that might be a bit of an acquired taste. But honestly super highly recommended--I probably personally rank them Sokolov then Richter then Solomon then Gilels, but it's all a hair's breadth of difference.


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## Manxfeeder

CnC Bartok said:


> There's a magical Hammerklavier by Solomon on EMI that's got a lot that marks it out from the crowd....


I agree. Personally, I want to hear the third movement as a spiritual experience, so Solomon has so far been the most spiritual one I've encountered. When I first heard it, I got so caught up that I had to tell myself to breathe.


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## premont

Manxfeeder said:


> I agree. Personally, I want to hear the third movement as a spiritual experience, so Solomon has so far been the most spiritual one I've encountered. When I first heard it, I got so caught up that I had to tell myself to breathe.


I agree too. Another one which stands out in this movement is IMO R. Serkin.


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## Manxfeeder

premont said:


> I agree too. Another one which stands out in this movement is IMO R. Serkin.


Agreed. I was about to mention that one also.


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## flamencosketches

howlingfantods said:


> I have a half dozen or so (Schnabel, stereo Kempff, Arrau, stereo Backhaus, Annie Fischer, Pollini) but I hardly ever listen to them to be honest. My favorite Beethoven pianists (Richter, Sokolov, Solomon, Gilels) didn't do full cycles--Sokolov is still present tense but it's very extremely unlikely that he'll ever do a full cycle.
> 
> @flamenco -- my list of favorite Hammerklaviers is the same as my list of favorite Beethoven pianists--I care more about the late sonatas than the rest of the 32, then I care about the named middle period sonatas, and care least about the early period ones.
> 
> For one single recommendation, I'd probably pick the Richter performance from 1975 on BBC Legends. There's another 1975 performance from Prague that's also great on the "Richter in Prague" box set but he has a pretty major finger slip one point in the first movement. (Richter by the way was pretty unstable emotionally around this time--this was around the same time period he couldn't be at ease mentally unless he had his plastic lobster with him).
> 
> Solomon and Sokolov have incredible Hammerklaviers, but they have unusually slow slow movements that might be a bit of an acquired taste. But honestly super highly recommended--I probably personally rank them Sokolov then Richter then Solomon then Gilels, but it's all a hair's breadth of difference.


Is there an extant photo anywhere of Richter with his plastic lobster?  :lol: I have Richter at Spoleto, which was recorded in 1967 (little bit before the "volatile" period you mention) and it's an excellent live disc, but there are at least a couple of MAJOR slip ups in the Chopin G minor Ballade. It's really too bad. It's not a great recording of that piece at all.

Anyway, I'll have to check out one of the Russians in this work. Haven't heard any. Anyway, Schnabel has been keeping me fascinated lately, and I also just picked up Peter Serkin's recording of the Hammerklavier on a Graf fortepiano. Recently I also got Pollini's late Beethoven sonatas set, but haven't heard any of it yet.

I have heard none of the elder Serkin's Beethoven sonatas. That is another one I would like to check out.

I do not like any of what I've heard of Solomon, in Beethoven or anything else. Just haven't been impressed. I'll come back to him at a later date when I'm feeling open to giving the guy another shot.

Any love for Robert Taub? His Beethoven sonatas cycle is available in MP3 form for extremely cheap. The guy wrote a book on the Beethoven sonatas.


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## flamencosketches

That fortepiano sounds damn good, doesn't it? The only better one I've heard is the one that András Schiff plays on his recent Schubert recordings. But I'm not a major lover of the instrument.


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## howlingfantods

flamencosketches said:


> Anyway, I'll have to check out one of the Russians in this work. Haven't heard any.


I suppose it's worth mentioning that although three of the four I listed are "Russian" (Gilels was Ukrainian, Richter half German), their interpretations couldn't be less similar, and they're on my list not as representatives of a tradition or school of playing, I just happen to think that their extant Beethoven recordings are exceptional.


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## flamencosketches

howlingfantods said:


> I suppose it's worth mentioning that although three of the four I listed are "Russian" (Gilels was Ukrainian, Richter half German), their interpretations couldn't be less similar, and they're on my list not as representatives of a tradition or school of playing, I just happen to think that their extant Beethoven recordings are exceptional.


I am a fan of Gilels and Richter and agree that they couldn't be more different. I only said Russians in that context to refer to the fact that they are all Russian, and that I was only interested in checking out the Russians you mentioned, and not Solomon. I didn't mean to imply that they belong to any Russian "school". If there's anything they taught you when you were learning piano in early 20th century Russia, it must have been "be an individual". Each of the big-name Russians has his or her own very distinctive style. Couldn't be more different from the competition culture of today's young Russian pianists, I think.


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## howlingfantods

flamencosketches said:


> I am a fan of Gilels and Richter and agree that they couldn't be more different. I only said Russians in that context to refer to the fact that they are all Russian, and that I was only interested in checking out the Russians you mentioned, and not Solomon. I didn't mean to imply that they belong to any Russian "school". If there's anything they taught you when you were learning piano in early 20th century Russia, it must have been "be an individual". Each of the big-name Russians has his or her own very distinctive style. Couldn't be more different from the competition culture of today's young Russian pianists, I think.


Cool. By the bye, if you happen to be an Amazon Prime customer, you can check out Sokolov's outstanding Hammerklavier in a Medici TV film of his 2012 concert at the Berlin Phil for free on Prime Video. I'm torn on whether I prefer his 1975 studio recording or the Berlin Phil performance, but it's a good way to sample if you're a Prime subscriber.


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## gardibolt

That Serkin fortepiano set is terrific and well worth acquiring.


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## Josquin13

For the most part, my favorite Beethoven cycles are the ones that unfortunately were never finished: by Rudolf Serkin (especially his "unreleased" studio recordings on Sony, which were selected by his son, Peter), Sviatoslav Richter, Emil Gilels, Solomon, and Bruno-Leonardo Gelber. I also like some of Glenn Gould's unfinished CBS/Sony cycle--such as his brilliant complete Op. 31, nos. 1, 2, & 3 recordings, but otherwise find Gould's Beethoven inconsistent, interpretatively.

Among complete cycles, I've most liked the sets by Artur Schnabel, Annie Fischer, Wilhelm Backhaus, Yves Nat, Eduardo Del Pueyo, Wilhelm Kempff (mono DG), Ronald Brautigam (period piano), Claude Frank, Alfred Brendel (1st & 2nd Philips cycles), Jean-Bernard Pommier, Vladimir Ashkenazy, and Claudio Arrau. Although with Arrau, I tend to prefer him in Beethoven's Piano Concertos 1-5, and the same is true for Andras Schiff--whose Beethoven Piano Sonata lectures are, nevertheless, fascinating, I agree, especially his lecture on the difficult Hammerklavier Sonata: 



. I also think that with Kempff, the earlier you can go with his Beethoven, the better it is. His 'historical' APR Beethoven recordings, for instance, show his piano technique at its best, in my opinion.

Among pianists that I'd consider to be among the finest I've heard in Beethoven, but who didn't record close to a complete set, I'd include Youra Guller, Ivo Pogorelich (Op. 111), Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Teresa Carreño (Welte piano roll), Beveridge Webster (Hammerklavier), Clara Haskil, Edwin Fischer, Zoltan Kocsis, Radu Lupu, Dame Myra Hess, and Mieczyslaw Horszowski. (I've also liked Stephen Bishop Kovacevich in the 33 Diabelli Variations & Bagatelles on Philips: 



, but generally don't find him mercurial enough in the sonatas.)

Among recent pianists, I've liked Igor Levit's somewhat 'baroque-like' approach to the Late Sonatas 28-32, but haven't heard his soon to be released complete Beethoven set (which will be issued on Sept. 13, 2019). In addition, I've liked some of the Beethoven Sonatas I've heard from Helene Grimaud, Angela Hewitt (live in recital), and on a period piano, Penelope Crawford.

Maurizio Pollini's set of Late Sonatas Nos. 28-32 on DG is excellent, too, but I haven't heard the rest of his DG cycle.

I've likewise only heard Michael Korstick's superb Hammerklavier Sonata, Op. 106 (on You Tube), where he pulls off Beethoven's difficult metronome markings at the opening brilliantly! (or at least comes very close to it--so apparently Wilhelm Kempff wasn't right, after all, when he said that Beethoven couldn't have known what he was asking for due to his deafness... see Schiff's lecture on the subject). Korstick is also very special in the nearly 1/2 hour Adagio movement, and pulls off the difficult fugue in the 4th movement about as cleanly & well as can be expected on a modern grand (as modern pianos are too resonant and unwieldy for the Fuga, in comparison to the pianos that Beethoven knew and wrote for). For the curious, here's a link to Korstick's Hammerklavier on YT: 



. Hence, I'd be very interested to hear Korstick's complete cycle, because if the rest of his 32 are as fine as his Hammerklavier, I expect Korstick's cycle should be counted as one of the best of the digital era.

I've heard other Beethoven cycles, & pianists, though certainly not all (such as the recordings by Paul Lewis, Dino Ciani, Friedrich Gulda, John O'Conor, Till Fellner, Steve Osborne, Murray Perahia, David Allen Wehr, Stewart Goodyear, Paul-Badura Skoda, etc.). Nevertheless, the pianists I've cited above would presently comprise my long list of top favorites, & not my short list.


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