Luogo e data di registrazione		-
	Original Editions		Telefunken | 6.35596 FK - Vol.3 | 3 LPs | LC 0366 | durata: 53' 24" · 41' 14" · 49' 53" | (p) 1982 | ANA | stereo | (Nr. 4, 26) Telefunken | 6.35596 FK - Vol.4 | 3 LPs | LC 0366 | durata: 55' 39" · 42' 47" · 65' 59" | (p) 1982 | ANA | stereo | (Nr. 13)  Teldec | 6.43206 AZ | 1 LP | LC 3706 | durata 60' 00" | (p) & (c) 1985 | DDD/DMM | stereo
	Edizione CD		Teldec | 8.43206 ZK | 1 CD | LC 3706 | (c) 1985 | DDD/DMM | stereo
	Executive Producer		-
	Recording Engineer		-
	Cover design		Holger Matthies
	Note		-

THE 32 PIANO SONATAS (10 CDs DMM)		Piano Sonatas Nr. 4 Es-dur, Op. 7 The E-flat major sonata was composed in 1796/97, shortly after Beethoven’s first three “essays” in the medium, op. 1, and is among the least often played sonatas, although it is, after the Hammerklavier sonata, the longest. Op. 7 was given the nickname - subsequently forgotten - “Die Verliebte” (In Love), perhaps because of Beethoven’s supposed reverence for the dedicatee, Countess Keglevies (one of his noble pupils), or perhaps on account of the “gran espressivo” of the slow movement. In any case, this largo, which opens with such simple “question-and-answer” phrasing, has such a wide scale of expression, that it quite surpasses the largo appassionato of op. 1/2, though the latter is quite comparable in terms of the type of movement. The dynamic contrasts are blunt yet refined, the rhythmic and articulatory differcntiations are subtly calculated against considerable harmonic breadth. (However, the extravagances of key in the largo produce a link with the first movement - a connection between two sonata movements, in other words, which has nothing to do with thematic relationships.) The first subject of the first movement is one of those Beethovenian themes which play on the listener’s uncertainty as to where “the subject” actually begins - with the four-bar block of the E-flat minor chord, or with the figuration that follows? (A similar dilemma occurs in the Eroica and the sonata op. 22.) Right up to the end of this lively, virtuoso movement, which reintroduces the opening bars, this time piled up on one another in inverse order, these contrasting elements (which also appear in new combinations) and the simultaneous close linking of the different subjects result in a dialectic interplay loaded with tension. The third movement is, formally speaking, a schcrzo, but does not appear to be one - nor is it described thus. With the melody hidden in its stormy middle section, the movement recalls Schubertian characteristics from a distance. Piano Sonatas Nr. 13 Es-dur, Op. 27 "Sonata quasi una Fantasia" In three piano sonatas written in rapid succession in l800-01 Beethoven departed, for the first time, from the traditional sonata form. Op. 26 begins with an "Andante con variazioni”, the second movement is a scherzo, and the third replaces the slow movement with the famous funeral march. In the sonatas of op. 27, both described as being “quasi una fantasia”, the first movements are quite freely structured, evidently as a follow-up to op. 26. In No. 1 it almost gives the impression of a free improvisation (as the word “fantasia” implies) on a short, songlike phrase vaguely suggesting a set of variations. The allegro middle section provides a contrast both in key (C as against E flat) and metre, although it is based on the harmonic scheme of the opening section. Unlike op. 27, No. 2, however, there is no break between the movements, as Czerny so rightly remarked, this sonata is really a fantasia, and all its movements merely serve to create a single unified piece. The second movement is a scherzo entirely in crotehets, except that in the last repeat the two hands are a quaver apart. The third (adagio) is surprisingly brief - three sections of eight bars each, which seems somewhat inappropriate to its expansive theme. Finally the last and, as in op. 27, No. 2, the longest movement is the most formally complete in itself: a large-scale rondo in six sections with sonata elements, almost entirely in loose two-part writing, frequently contrapuntal, and altogether clearly reminiscent of the last movement of op. 26. Quite unexpectedly the first bars of the Adagio turn up again just before the short presto coda, further evidence of the free fantasia-like form, but also an anticipation of the "flash-back” technique of later works such as sonata op. 101, where the opening of the work is quoted before the final fugue. Piano Sonatas Nr. 26 Es-dur, Op. 81a "Les adieux" The sonata was composed in 1809/10, directly after the sonatas op. 78 and 79, and at the same time as the string quartet op. 74, the Piano Concerto no. 5 and the Egmont music. It is Beethoven’s only sonata which - in contrast to the many sonatas to which a particular content or context is attributed, or which have been given titles felt to be appropriate, like the Moonlight or the Appassionata - has a “real” programme. And it is this very sonata which we fail to call by its correct name! The publisher Breitkopf brought out two different editions of the sonata - one with the original German title, and another on his own initiative with the title in internationally fashionable French. The latter came in for harsh criticism from Beethoven: “Why on earth change the title? ”Lebewohl” (farewell) is nothing like ”Les Adieux” - the former is an intimate goodbye between two friends, while the latter would be used with a group of people.” The correct title is ”Lebewohl, Abwesenheit und Wiedersehn. (Farewell, Absence and Reunion.) Sonata for Pianoforte dedicated to his Imperial Highness Rudolph of Austria.” Archduke Rudolph, the son of Emperor Leopold II, later Archbishop of Olmütz (Beethoven belatedly composed the Missa Solemnis for his enthronement as Archbishop) had been Beethoven’s pupil, patron and friend since 1804, and the composer dedicated a number of his most important works to him in gratitude. In May 1809 the Imperial family, including the Archduke, fled from Vienna before the approaching Napoleonic troops, and did not return until January 1810. This, then, was the inspiration for the sonata op. 81a, as is stated quite unambiguously in the manuscript: “The Farewell/Vienna, 4th May 1809/ at the departure of His Honourable and Imperial Highness the Archduke Rudolph.” The adagio introduction to the first movement (the Farewell) begins with a descending three-note motif, beneath which the composer inscribed “Le-be wohl” in the manuscript. This motif also dominates the extended coda, similar to a long drawn-out farewell, and is the springingpoint for the descending scales from which all the subjects of the allegro section are formed. The second movement (Absence), which takes up where the adagio introduction of the first movement left off, is a musical image of a long, painful parting, while the third movement (Reunion) conjures up touching happiness.
1 CD - 8.42761 ZK - (c) 1984 1 CD - 8.43027 ZK - (c) 1984 1 CD - 8.43206 ZK - (p) 1985 1 CD - 8.43415 ZK - (p) 1986 1 CD - 8.43477 ZK - (p) 1987	1 CD - 8.42913 ZK - (c) 1983 1 CD - 8.43111 ZK - (p) 1985 1 CD - 8.43334 ZK - (p) 1986 1 CD - 8.43476 ZK - (p) 1987 1 CD - 8.43478 ZK - (p) 1987