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Eller: Complete Piano Music, Vol. 3
Toccata Apr 2013
CD
$20.99

ELISABETH JACQUET DE LA GUERRE: JUDITH & SEMELE

EVIDENCE CLASSICS

$20.17 Dec 30, 2022

Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre was a virtuoso harpsichordist, as well as the author of many pioneering works. She left an abundant output of cantatas, both secular and sacred. Here the soprano Mailys de Villoutreys, Heloise Gaillard and her Ensemble Amarillis pay tribute to her with the cantatas Judith and Semele, inspired by two women who embody virtue and courage on the one hand, temerity and pride on the other. Whether intimate or more operatic, both works highlight the composer's innate sense of drama. This recording also includes some of her instrumental works. The Suite in G major, from her Pieces de clavecin of 1707, is a pioneering work, representing the new genre of accompanied harpsichord music. Her Trio Sonata No.4, in a totally new instrumentation, shows the influence of Corelli, while the art of ornamentation in this, one of her finest achievements, is purely French.

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ELISABETH JACQUET DE LA GUERRE: JUDITH & SEMELE
EVIDENCE CLASSICS Dec 2022
CD
$20.17

Haydn: Keyboard Works, Vol. 2

Signum Classics

$27.99 Jun 26, 2026

This second volume of Peter Donohoe's Haydn Keyboard Works series brings together a wide-ranging selection of sonatas, partitas, capriccios and fantasias spanning almost the composer's entire career. From the early Partita in G major to the dramatic B minor Sonata and the late works of the 1780s, the programme traces both Haydn's stylistic development and the evolution of the keyboard itself. Folk-inspired pieces such as the Capriccio in G major and the Fantasia in C major sit alongside sonatas of elegance, wit and expressive depth. Donohoe's clarity, rhythmic vitality and architectural insight illuminate Haydn's invention and craftsmanship throughout.

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Haydn: Keyboard Works, Vol. 2
Signum Classics Jun 2026
CD
$27.99

Mix & Match

Capricho Latino / Rachel Barton Pine

Cedille

$19.99 Jun 28, 2011

From start to finish, I was absolutely mesmerized by this CD. There isn’t a really weak link among the 14 pieces, and Barton Pine’s prowess as a violinist has, I think, never been more boldly or excitingly displayed.

3460021.aa_Violinist_Rachel_Barton_Pine.html

CAPRICHO LATINO • Rachel Barton Pine (vn); 1 Héctor Elizondo (narr) • ÇEDILLE 125 (79:41)

ALBÉNIZ Asturias (Leyenda). CORDERO Rapsodia Panameña. TRADITIONAL Balada Española. ESPÉJO Prélude Ibérique. QUIROGA Emigrantes Celtas. Terra!! Á Nosa!! YSAŸE Sonata No. 6. GONZÁLEZ Epitalamio Tanguero. J. WHITE Etude No. 6. TARREGA Recuerdos de la Alhambra. RODRIGO Capriccio. SEREBRIER Aires de Tango. PIAZZOLLA Tango Etude No. 3 con Libertango. 1 RIDOUT Ferdinand the Bull

I was at a bit of a disadvantage in reviewing this CD as the promo copy I received had track listings by the composers’ last names but no identifiers of the works or composers’ first names and dates. Of course, I knew who Albéniz, Ysaÿe, Rodrigo, Serebrier, and Piazzolla were, but the only two pieces I recognized by ear were the Albéniz Asturias and Rodrigo’s Capriccio (though I’d forgotten the title of the latter). A few days later I received a full track listing but no liner notes, yet I noticed that the Serebrier piece was dedicated to Rachel Barton Pine, and the González to both Rachel and her husband, Greg.

Despite the confusion, I enjoyed the CD immensely. Judging from her other CDs I’ve listened to after this (Handel sonatas, Instrument of the Devil, and Violin Concertos by Black Composers ), Barton Pine’s style tends more toward the lyric than the dramatic, but her playing here is very dramatic indeed, with sharp attacks, cleanly articulated pizzicato, and impeccable turns. One thing that surprised me was the rich, dark quality of her tone, almost viola-like in places. I would describe it (not negatively) as a “junior Oistrakh.” Every note in her range has a full, rich sound at every dynamic level and, aside from those moments when she is purposely vehement, her bowing is never rough.

Despite the extreme challenges of doing an entire CD unaccompanied, Barton Pine never lets up in creating a rhythmic underpinning for herself. I assume that Roque Cordero’s Rapsodia Panameña is based on different folk music and rhythms than the Panamanian music that reached our shores in the early 20th century, as those were essentially in habanera rhythm and this piece is not. Of course, since Cordero was a late 20th-century composer, the language has elements of bitonality throughout, and there are very quick changes from short but intense lyrical passages to rhythmic outbursts and back, but the piece holds together very well indeed. Jesus Florido’s arrangement of a traditional Spanish ballad consists of almost continual contrapuntal 16ths in which the violinist must emphasize the melody without sacrificing cleanliness of attack. César Espéjo’s Prélude Ibérique, written for Szeryng, has a very similar style though the tonal base is less spiky, and there is a long passage in 16ths that is exciting but more in the nature of a continuous melody than rhythmic accompaniment.

Manuel Quiroga, also known as Quiroga Losada, is the only composer represented by more than one work: a passionate lament in C Minor ( Emigrantes Celtas ), punctuated by short, staccato stabs; and a fiery, rhythmic piece in Terra!! Á Nosa!! which, at times, resembles a Celtic tune in melody and construction. The Ysaÿe sonata—dedicated to Quiroga Losada—has a strong Andalusian flavor. Typically of Ysaÿe, the music is more passionate and evocative of mood than an academic theme-and-devlopment. Later passages of this sonata, using a rhythmic underpinning to the melody, show his knowledge of the unaccompanied partitas of Bach. Compared with this dense piece, the etude by José White sounds almost jolly and simplistic, even repetitive, but nonetheless pleasing. The Serebrier Aires de Tango is really something, feeding into Barton Pine’s reputation for having one of the best staccato techniques on earth, but if anything her transcription of Piazzolla’s Tango Etude is even wilder, and in fact practically steals the show. Those who remember the Disney version of Ferdinand, the Bull with the Delicate Ego will not necessarily like all of Alan Rideout’s more modern version, but it’s a very amusing piece. Héctor Elizondo has a somewhat hoarse speaking voice, but is an interesting and whimsical narrator.

Bottom line: From start to finish, I was absolutely mesmerized by this CD. There isn’t a really weak link among the 14 pieces, and Barton Pine’s prowess as a violinist has, I think, never been more boldly or excitingly displayed.

FANFARE: Lynn René Bayley

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Capricho Latino / Rachel Barton Pine
Cedille Jun 2011
CD
$19.99

Geminiani: Violin Sonatas, Op. 4 / Ruhadze, Nepomnyashchaya

Brilliant Classics

$16.99 Nov 17, 2023

Ruhadze plays Geminiani: the latest volume in a revelatory project breathing new life into the founding figures of the Italian violin school of the 18th century.

While Geminiani's Op. 1 collection dates from 1714, just two years after he'd settled in London, Op. 4 was published in 1739, alongside a revision of Op. 1. In the meanwhile he had become known, not only in England but across Europe, for the brilliance and imagination of his playing, which transfers itself so readily on to the pages of these sonatas. They posed the stiffest challenge to violinists of their time – perhaps only Geminiani himself could have done them full justice – and yet now they come alive under the fingers of Ruhadze with new energy in which flamboyance is balanced with grace and elegance.

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Geminiani: Violin Sonatas, Op. 4 / Ruhadze, Nepomnyashchaya
Brilliant Classics Nov 2023
CD
$16.99

MOZART: SONATAS FOR PIANO & VIOLIN

DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON

$27.49 Jul 28, 2023

Renaud Capucon/Kit Armstrong -"Mozart: Sonatas For Piano & Violin" / This box set of 16 Sonatas for Violin and Piano played by Renaud Capucon and Kit Armstrong showcases the brilliance of Mozart's chamber music. Mozart's mastery of both instruments is evident in his compositions. 4 CD Box-Set

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MOZART: SONATAS FOR PIANO & VIOLIN
DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON Jul 2023
CD
$27.49

CONCERT / VIOLIN SONATA
HARMONIA MUNDI Jul 2017
CD
$18.49

Mayer: Symphony No. 4, Piano Concerto, String Quartet, Piano Sonata

Capriccio

$22.99 Oct 05, 2018

“Miss E. Mayer is a rare phenomenon. [...] here we can see a female composer writing not merely for the pianoforte, but also solving the arduous task of orchestral composition, swarming with thousands of secrets. And how she solves it!” (Neue Berliner Musikzeitung 32, 1878) In the German-speaking area, it was Clara Schumann and Fanny Hensel that towered beyond the borders and, at the turn of the 20th century, it was Amy Beach in the USA and even more so Ethel Smyth in Great Britain that became icons of the women’s movement in music. Still hardly present is the music by the German Romantic composer Emilie Mayer. At the age of five, she began receiving piano lessons, and in the early 1840s none other than Carl Loewe in Stettin was her teacher. In her music, presented here, we encounter familiar classical form patterns, yet the focus is placed on the colorfulness of her music, which constantly holds new phrases and impulses, and with which she presents herself as one of the most important female representatives of Central European music in the 19th century.

REVIEW:

This is a very satisfying collection of works, most of which wouldn’t win any prizes for originality, but which nonetheless make for very enjoyable listening. I would judge the B-Minor Symphony, however, to be, if not a masterpiece, at least an important work and a significant contribution to the German Romantic symphonic literature. Strongly recommended.

–Fanfare

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Mayer: Symphony No. 4, Piano Concerto, String Quartet, Piano Sonata
Capriccio Oct 2018
CD
$22.99

SCRIABIN: THE COMPLETE PIANO SONATAS
UNIVERSAL JAPAN Jan 2022
CD
$22.49

Vine: Complete Piano Sonatas / Xiaoya Liu

Dynamic

$18.99 May 20, 2022

Carl Vine is one of Australia’s most eminent and internationally admired composers. His four piano sonatas span three decades and trace his diverse musical development. The earliest sonata is exuberant, pulsating with driving rhythms, while No. 2 enshrines a jazz-inspired toccata alongside memorable virtuoso pyrotechnics. Vivid fantasia elements mark out No. 3, juxtaposing the aphorism, reflection and turbulence of No. 4. With their traditional forms Vine’s sonatas are sophisticated, lyrical, urgent and compelling contemporary statements. Pianist Xiaoya Liu has captured the imagination of worldwide audiences through her pro-found artistry and charismatic performances as concerto soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician across Asia, Europe, and the United States with orchestras such as the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra, Marquette Symphony Orchestra, Round Rock Symphony, University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra, GSIM Festival Orchestra and in venues including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Hill Auditorium, Palazzo Biscari, and Shanghai Concert Hall.

REVIEW:

Austrian composer Carl Vine has a maximalist approach both to expression and to pianistic technique—but there are moments when I wonder whether the technical difficulty is necessary in conveying the emotional content. The first theme of the First Sonata’s second movement, for example, is a lightning-fast flurry of 16th notes that requires both hands to remain stretched to a 10th through much of the passage and to leap as much as an octave and a half between iterations of the figuration. This places the hands in a near-continual stress position, but the musical effect is reminiscent of the final movement in Chopin’s “Funeral March” Sonata, in which Chopin allows the hands to remain in a relaxed position. Liu (and others) play the passage as if effortlessly, but I have a clear idea of the effort they must have put into mastering it, and I can’t say the passage merits that level of difficulty (and—frankly—physical discomfort if not risk of injury). Likewise, the opening of the Second Sonata involves bold chords in the treble punctuated by low bass octaves and cascades of arpeggios that span the entire range of the piano. The effect is colorful, but does it absolutely require a race from the next-to-highest octave of the piano to its lowest note and back? It’s not that I object in any way to virtuosity or athleticism in music; I’m just not always convinced that Vine’s music needs to be quite as busy as it often is. And the very few times that Xiaoya Liu is anything other than exquisitely subtle in her playing—times when she places a melody in undifferentiated accented relief rather than phrasing it with her characteristic sensitivity—it is because the writing is so thick and the physical demands so intense that she could hardly do otherwise.

But that criticism does not detract from my impression that each one of Vine’s four sonatas is tremendously expressive and is a substantial addition to the piano sonata repertoire. Xiaoya Liu gives each one a searching, thoughtful interpretation. And the sound quality is excellent throughout the recording. I give it a very strong recommendation.

-- Fanfare

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Vine: Complete Piano Sonatas / Xiaoya Liu
Dynamic May 2022
CD
$18.99

Scarlatti: Complete Piano Sonatas, Vol. 10

TACET Musikproduktion

$21.99 Jun 13, 2025

As all volumes of the complete recording of Domenico Scarlatti's piano sonatas are released on CD, all the booklets also contain texts on the music. Thomas Seedorf has accompanied the series as musicologist from the beginning. In most cases, Christoph Ullrich contributes his own thoughts. Both very different. In each volume, both have a theme that is particularly appropriate to the sonatas collected. In this case, Thomas Seedorf focuses on the music-historical categorisation of Scarlatti, which is particularly interesting in comparison to his two colleagues born in the same year, Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel. Christoph Ullrich devotes himself to the 'being a child' of artists in general, that of Domenico Scarlatti in particular and his own. Both texts are very enriching. Not much more needs to be said about the music. Anyone who has listened to one of the 13 volumes already released knows about the delightful standard of Christoph Ullrich's Scarlatti. Enjoy listening!

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Scarlatti: Complete Piano Sonatas, Vol. 10
TACET Musikproduktion Jun 2025
CD
$21.99

Beethoven: Violin Sonatas, Op. 12 & Op. 24

BIS

SACD

$21.99 Jun 05, 2026

For her first solo album with BIS Records, Alina Ibragimova, together with Cedric Tiberghien, embarks on recording of Beethoven's entire violin sonatas. As one might expect, the first violinist of the Chiaroscuro Quartet presents these chamber music masterpieces on period instruments. While she plays a gut-stringed instrument, Tiberghien plays a fortepiano, a copy of a Viennese instrument from 1794. This new interpretation of Beethoven's violin sonatas brings us as close as possible to the soundscape that listeners present at the première of these works would have heard at the turn of the 19th century. This first volume contains the three violin sonatas Opus 12, the first that Beethoven published in Vienna, where he had already established himself as Mozart's successor. As was customary at the time, they are written 'for harpsichord or fortepiano, with the accompaniment of a violin', but following Mozart's example, they are truly for both instruments in equal measure. The disc concludes with the 'Spring' Sonata, the most popular and probably the most poetic of the violin sonatas. We look forward to continuing this undoubtedly landmark recording series, with a second and third instalment soon to come.

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Beethoven: Violin Sonatas, Op. 12 & Op. 24
BIS Jun 2026
SACD
$21.99

Mix & Match

CHOPIN: SONATE OP. 65; SCHUMANN: ADAGIO

DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON

Vinyl

$41.51 Dec 05, 2025

Limited 180gm vinyl LP pressing. Chopin's 4-movement Cello Sonata op. 65 dates from 1845/46 and combined the attractions of his ornamented writing for piano, here free from reminiscences of his native folk music. With an understanding of the individual character of the cello, one forgets that his creative concepts had been wholly pianistic in origin. Schumann wrote few works for cello and piano, but those are of considerable importance. The Adagio and Allegro op. 70 for cello and piano of 1849 is characteristic of Schumann's blend of eloquent melancholy with spontaneous naturalness, while the piano part is marked by brilliant virtuosity. Perfect understanding and harmony mark this recording by Argerich & Rostropovich. The Original Source Series features 4-track recordings from the '70s. Remastered using 100% analogue techniques to create the highest possible audio quality. Produced on 180g vinyl by Optimal and housed in deluxe gatefold, featuring additional photos and/or recording documentation.

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CHOPIN: SONATE OP. 65; SCHUMANN: ADAGIO
DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON Dec 2025
Vinyl
$41.51

Montgeroult: Complete Piano Sonatas / Pierini

Brilliant Classics

$18.99 Aug 25, 2023

Madame Hélène de Montgeroult (1764–1836) lived in a time when significant historical events were shaping France and Europe. Montgeroult's musical oeuvre is distinguished by its interpretive versatility. The collection of nine sonatas presented here spans from 1795 to 1811. The three sonatas that make up her Op. 1 are three distinct pieces, each with its own mood. The Op. 2 set was engraved in Paris in 1800, with reprints issued in the ensuing years testament to its success at the time. It can be seen as an expansion of Op. 1's stylistic language, sharing the same compositional features, but greater in length. With the last three sonatas, Op. 5, published by Érard in 1811, Montgeroult rose to mastery. These sonatas are considerably longer and more complex in their formal structure than their predecessors. Overall, the three sonatas in the Op. 5 set expand the form while retaining a Classical-like structure, comparable to later Clementi sonatas or those of other composers of the time, and forecasting the later experimentations of the Romantic generation.

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Montgeroult: Complete Piano Sonatas / Pierini
Brilliant Classics Aug 2023
CD
$18.99

BACH: SONATAS AND PARTIES

NONESUCH

$14.99 Nov 07, 2025

Nonesuch Records releases mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile's Bach: Sonatas and Partitas, Vol. 2 on November 7, 2025. The two-LP album comprises Partita No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1004; Sonata No. 3 in C major, BWV 1005; and Partita No. 3 in E major, BWV 1006. For his second recording of Bach Violin Sonatas and Partitas, twelve years after the first volume, Chris Thile opted for a more personal approach to the revered master composer's works. This time, he allowed himself to take liberties with the scores, which he recorded in multiple, somewhat untraditional, locations of personal significance: Reservoir Studios and Tompkins Square Park in New York City; Farrell Recital Hall at Murray State University in Murray, KY; and Blackberry Farm in Walland, TN.

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BACH: SONATAS AND PARTIES
NONESUCH Nov 2025
CD
$14.99

Mix & Match

Schubert: String Quartets, D. 887, D. 703

Evil Penguin

$16.99 May 08, 2026

Schubert's late string quartets are important for their unprecedented emotional depth, formal expansion, and daring harmonic language. They transform classical quartet traditions by infusing them with romantic intensity, confronting themes of mortality, inner conflict, and lyric beauty. Through large-scale structures, stark contrasts, and expressive unity, these works reshaped the expressive possibilities of chamber music and influenced the development of the Romantic quartet tradition.

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Schubert: String Quartets, D. 887, D. 703
Evil Penguin May 2026
CD
$16.99

Mix & Match

Bach: Sonate à Cembalo è Vola da Gamba
Alpha Apr 2012
CD
$20.99

Schubert / Maurizio and Daniele Pollini

DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON

$14.99 Dec 06, 2024

The great Italian legend of the piano Maurizio Pollini sadly passed away on 23rd March 2024. This album recorded together with his son Daniele, is dedicated to three different aspects of Schubert's piano oeuvre covering: the sonatas, the collections of short pieces, and music for four hands. The first time that both musicians performed a piano work for four hands: Schubert's great F minor Fantasy. The release is accompanied by a 16-page booklet with an essay by Maurizio Pollini's long-time companion Paolo Petazzi. “Schubert was certainly one of my father’s most beloved composers. As a boy, listening to his beautiful performances of the Sonatas D 960 and D 894 made me understand the greatness of Schubert’s music.” - Daniele Pollini

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Schubert / Maurizio and Daniele Pollini
DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON Dec 2024
CD
$14.99

Schubert: Music for Piano Trio / C. Tetzlaff, T. Tetzlaff, Vogt

Ondine

$26.99 Feb 03, 2023

This new double-album by pianist Lars Vogt, violinist Christian Tetzlaff and cellist Tanja Tetzlaff includes some of Franz Schubert's greatest works of chamber music, including his Piano Trios and the Arpeggione Sonata in breath-taking interpretations. Pianist Lars Vogt tragically passed away on September 5, 2022 due to a serious illness before this album of Schubert’s chamber music was released. This album stands as a testament of his outstanding chamber musicianship together with his long-time chamber music partners Christian Tetzlaff and Tanja Tetzlaff. “If not much time remains, then it’s a worthy farewell. - - Incomprehensible. Such expression. Such fragility, such love.”

REVIEWS:

These are studio recordings made in separate sessions in 2021. Everything one could want in Schubert’s Piano Trios is present: rhythmic buoyancy, beautiful phrasing, united ensemble playing that still leaves room for individual voices, and inner joy in the music-making. There’s also the ineffable feeling of sympathy among three friends who feel free to be themselves without departing from the wholeness of a performance.

-- Fanfare

These 2020–2021 recordings containing the complete extant works for piano trio of Franz Schubert and featuring the well-known trio of cellist Tanja Tetzlaff, pianist Lars Vogt, and Tanja’s brother, violinist Christian Tetzlaff, are being released at this time partly in memory of Vogt’s untimely passing in September of last year. The recollections of both Tetzlaffs and their dignified expressions of sorrow for the loss of a longtime friend and collaborator who will certainly be very difficult to replace as the piano voice of the trio are most eloquent and moving.

In two well-filled CDs we are given all the music Schubert is known to have written for piano, violin and cello, including Piano Trios No. 1 in B-flat, D898 (Op. 99) and No. 2 in E-flat Major, D929 (Op. 100), the indescribably lovely Notturno in E-flat, D897, which was originally intended as the slow movement of Trio No. 1; a “Rondo brillant” in B Minor. D895; and a fine arrangement for cello and piano of the “Arpeggione” Sonata in A Minor, D821. The last-named gave new viability to a richly textured work originally written for a hybrid instrument that was soon considered strictly from Vaudeville and vanished from the musical scene.

All these works receive a stamp of excellence for the artistry Vogt and the Tetzlaffs apply here.

-- Audio Video Club of Atlanta (Phil Muse)

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Schubert: Music for Piano Trio / C. Tetzlaff, T. Tetzlaff, Vogt
Ondine Feb 2023
CD
$26.99

Beethoven: Piano Sonatas No 30, 31, 32 / Mari Kodama

PENTATONE

SACD

$21.99 Mar 27, 2012

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.
3621810.az_BEETHOVEN_Piano_Sonatas_Nos.html

BEETHOVEN Piano Sonatas: Nos. 30–32 • Mari Kodama (pn) • PENTATONE 5186389 (63:21)

I haven’t been following Mari Kodama’s Beethoven piano sonata cycle—in fact, this is the first disc in the series I’ve heard—but for those who have, this is her seventh installment; all previous ones have been peer reviewed in past issues. I note that colleague Lynn René Bayley’s review of this latest addition to Kodama’s now over two-thirds completed cycle is scheduled to appear in Fanfare 35:6, but since that issue hasn’t been published yet as I write this, I can’t know what Bayley had to say. Not that it matters, of course, since we contributors work independently of each other and often reach quite different conclusions.

For those who have taken note of Kodama’s Beethoven sonata survey, FYI, all but nine of the sonatas have been released. Still to appear are Nos. 11–13, 15, 20, 22, and 27–29. Having never heard Kodama in anything before, I approached her Beethoven as a tabula rasa and I must admit to being very favorably impressed. There’s clarity to her voicing and a lyrical spontaneity to her readings, especially in the opening movements of the E-Major and A?-Major sonatas (Nos. 30 and 31) that catch just the right tone of Beethoven’s poeticized utopian vision.

As regular readers will know, the concluding “Gesangvoll” movement of the E-Major Sonata holds special resonance for me, and it’s usually the touchstone by which I embrace or reject a performance. Kodama does not disappoint. Her broad, stately, quiet, and deeply contemplative statement of the opening theme communicates, as it should, a sense of reverential mystery. Some listeners may perceive Kodama’s tempo as being a bit slow, but it’s more of a perception than reality. She takes 13:12 for the movement compared to Craig Sheppard’s 12:50 and Maurizio Pollini’s 12:37, not that big a difference in a movement of this length. If you want to know what slow really is, try Andrew Rangell at 15:22. I think the perception of Kodama’s capaciousness is more the result of her approach to phrasing than it is to underlying tempo. She has a way of ever-so-slightly hesitating on the brink of cadential resolutions that, for me, gives the music its special otherworldly quality.

When it comes to the Sturm und Drang of the C-Minor Sonata’s first movement, Kodama’s fingers prove to be as nimble as anyone else’s, but I’m not sure she invests the music with the same degree of vehemence and venomous bite as do some others, for example Freddy Kempf, who attacks the Allegro at a faster tempo and with tremendous ferocity in his BIS recording. What worked superbly well for Kodama in the “Gesangvoll” movement of the Sonata No. 30 doesn’t necessarily work to her advantage in the Sonata No. 32. Some of her phrasing choices strike me as slightly distorting of Beethoven’s rhythmic patterns and disrupting to the headlong rush. It’s an interpretive issue, not a technical one.

Overall, I’d rate Kodama’s Beethoven very highly, at least as much as I’ve heard of it, which, so far, is just this one disc. As for the recording, PentaTone’s team of Dutch engineers has done a bang-up job of capturing Kodama’s Steinway D-274 in ringing tone and solid sound. All modern piano recordings should sound this good. If you’ve been collecting Kodama’s Beethoven cycle, there’s no reason to stop now. If you haven’t been collecting it, the only reason I can think of to not start with this latest release is that if you’re like me you prefer to begin at the beginning. But then that could be your cue to go out and acquire all seven discs released so far.

FANFARE: Jerry Dubins

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Beethoven: Piano Sonatas No 30, 31, 32 / Mari Kodama
PENTATONE Mar 2012
SACD
$21.99