Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 29 in B-flat, „Hammerklavier“:
Allegro – Scherzo: Assai vivace – Adagio sostenuto, Appassionato e con molto sentimento – Largo, Allegro risoluto, Fuga a tre voci
38’15 (Maria Yudina) – 52’15 (Grigori Sokolov)
Yuja Wang plays Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 29 in B-flat, „Hammerklavier“ – 2016 Carnegie Hall
„Yuja is a fine pianist, but I have also heard her play thirds when she should be playing successive octaves; every pianist worth their salt knows, when they play, exactly what they are capable of during any given performance, and they act accordingly. Yuja, however, is far from mature enough to understand the Hammerklavier as deeply as András Schiff does. And this shows in her renderings.„
András Schiff – Beethoven, Sonata No. 29, Op. 106 “Hammerklavier Sonate” – Sir András Schiff plays the “Grosse Sonate” Op. 106, live at Wigmore Hall. This recital was dedicated to the memory of Bernard Haitink. 12 November 2021
„In his introductory comments before this performance, Maestro Schiff said that when he was a young man, he could play most of the notes in the sonata, but he had no idea what was going on. Today, he said, is just the opposite! I’ll take him at his word – his playing always sounds wonderful to me.
Schiff said, “When I was young I could play all the notes, but I didn’t understand the sonata at all. Nowadays it’s exactly the opposite.” He added, “But what must we do? Give up? I play it because it is one of the greatest marks of western civilisation.” So he apologised to his audience because he knew he could not play all the notes anymore.
In his lecture on the op.106,(available on YouTube-recorded in 2006) A. Schiff was of the opinion that, in the first movement, the pianists should follow Beethoven’s metronome mark of minim= 138, especially since it is the only metronome mark that is due to Beethoven himself, and that , contrary to common belief, Beethoven’s metronome was not „wrong“, that he had examined it himself etc. So what happened since? With minim=138, the first movement’s duration should be less than 8 minutes! This is of course impossible, as the fastest 1st movement so far is 8 mn 50 by Schnabel (minim=120)and we feel it’s not right. I believe a reasonable tempo should be close to 10mn or thereabout
If I recall correctly, in that particular lecture (or in a public conversation with IPO, also available on YT), M. Schiff said that probably the metronome mark was referring to the initial “Motto” (bars 1-4). After that, I agree with you, the piece is to be played most certainly with a flowing tempo, but still humanly playable.
András Schiff plays the very first note as a quarter instead of an eighth note. His tempo is even impossible to play cleanly in the first four bars.
The problem is that András here is playing a tempo that is clearly much too fast for his abilities, and he is forced to slow down all the time. And clearly that envisioned tempo can’t be true because we don’t have any evidence that it was ever performed. Even though Beethoven and Czerny were adamant that the pieces had to be performed at the exact tempo prescribed. So András Schiff playing at a significantly slower speed than what he thinks (and with lots of compromised) is not a solution. The only possible conclusion really is a different interpretation of the metronome mark. Glenn Gould demonstrates that a slower speed allows for a far clearer execution of the speed while still being impressively fast (but even Glenn Gould is forced into some compromises with his slower tempo).“
Igor Levit – Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 29, Op. 106 „Hammerklavier“ – at the Salzburg Festival 2020 („he gets confused in the third movement at 14’13 and just skips from bar 13 to 21“
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 29 in B-flat Major, Op. 106, „Hammerklavier“ – Marc-André Hamelin – at Tippet Rise Art Center on 4 September 2022. Located in Fishtail, Montana
Grigory Sokolov plays Beethoven’s Hammerklavier – „Im Gegensatz zu anderen großen Pianisten (wie vielleicht Solomon, Serkin, Richter, Brendel) lässt sich Grigory Sokolov nicht auf den in dieser Sonate vorgezeichneten und unvermeidlichen titanischen Kampf gegen die Dämonen in Beethovens Geist ein – so wie ihn aller- und neuerdings ein Daniil Trifonov mit vollem Risiko und im Einsatz seines ganzen phantastischen Könnens besteht (siehe und höre dessen hinreißendes Konzert im April 2024 in Tokyo).“ „It is stupendously executed, yet it leaves me cold. Sokolov exerts a titanic effort for his magnificent tone control, but in doing so, here at least, I find he eclipses Beethoven’s deep emotional journey somehow. This interpretation seems overly cleansed, transparent, avante-garde, emotionally confused. Not all pianists can pull off such slow tempi as this – Richter was one of the very best at it.“
Glenn Gould Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata No 29 Opus 106
Beethoven – Piano Sonata No. 29 „Hammerklavier“ in B-flat major, Op. 106 (Audio+Sheet) [Kempff]
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 29 „Hammerklavier“ – Wilhelm Backhaus – Recorded: 24 September, 1959, Beethovenhalle, Bonn
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 29 „Hammerklavier“ – Gilels – 26 January 1984, Grand Hall of Moscow Concervatoire
Und zum Schluss – wie immer – das Allerbeste (in meinen Ohren) :
Beethoven „Piano Sonata No 29“ Annie Fischer – Studio-Recording 1977-1978
Ludwig van Beethoven – Piano Sonata No.29, Op.106 „Hammerklavier“ – Maria Yudina – Recorded in 1952