Beethoven - Piano Sonata 23 [Barenboim]
Here's a lovely triptych of Beethoven's Piano Sonatas, this is a delightful set, and over the preceding months i've enjoyed playing this disc [8th September 2010], the Appassionata is the longest of the three on this disc, again i feel the booklet cover is quite ingenious, a photo [by Clive Barda] of Barenboim in his own world with his piano.
I'm certainly familiar with the Appassionata, yet i haven't listened to it for a while, and when i get round to listening to something that i haven't heard for a while, the work is all that more endearing, rather like a friend you haven't seen for some time.
I really enjoyed the central middle movement Andante, Barenboim takes it slow but beautifully [8:05], Lisitsa below [5:47] takes it rather fast, the truth is somewhere inbetween, but both interpretations are valid, Barenboim opens with a slow but sure tempo, rather like an Adagio [it's actually written Andante by Beethoven], Barenboim gets all the tiny little hesitations just right, especially in the left hand bass, this slow 'introduction' [0:00-2:12] is actually the theme for four variations that follow, and it's the two middle variations i like the best, each variation quickens the pace until the last, which slows things back down to the slowness of the opening, bringing us back to a symmetrical completeness, Variation 2 [3:55-5:24], is a beautifully sustained romance, here those hesitations are done away with, it has such a gorgeous flowing line, it breaks your heart, in the following Variation 2 [5:24-6:48], the speed picks up some more, and also the volume, it becomes fairly virtuosic, and for me is probably the highlight of the Sonata, especially in the second half of this variation [5:46+], there's some gorgeous left hand legato work by Barenboim [6:06+], while the right hand becomes louder and louder in the treble, it's a joy to just examine the structure of this piece, it holds many precious revelations if you care to look closer.
Here's Valentina Lisitsa playing the second movement on YouTube.
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