Beethoven: Sonatas Nos. 3, 7 & 19

Chronique

This Denon disc is clearly marked as containing Beethoven's Third, Seventh, and Nineteenth piano sonatas performed live in concert by Sviatoslav Richter. Where and when that concert might have been, however, is anyone's guess: the notes never indicate nor does Denon's website reveal any answers. Based on the extreme similarities of timings and interpretations, it appears highly probable that the performance of the Seventh Sonata here is the same as the performance of the Seventh on a recording recently reissued by EMI. Since that performance originated from an August 1961 recital, it seems possible that all three performances here come from that concert. If this is the case, then these recordings of the Third and Nineteenth sonatas here are new to the Richter discography and are thus a real find for the pianist's fans.
But whether they are or aren't, they are still exceptionally fine performances: vigorously muscular, deeply expressive, amazingly virtuosic, and profoundly musical. In every movement, Richter seems to find not only details that other pianists have overlooked, but also kept all the details serving the higher function of form and structure. The results are readings that capture all the qualities that make these works great: poise, wit, strength, and, in just the right proportion, sentimentality. Though the sound is dim and breaks up in sforzandos, and though the sound of EMI's issue is cleaner and more vivid than Denon's, this disc will be well worth hearing by anyone who admires the Russian pianist.

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