Choosing a reference recording for a complete set of Beethoven sonatas really depends on your view of the composer and of the works themselves. Do you prefer a more “classical” approach, or something more heroic in the Lisztian Romantic tradition? Should the early works be viewed in light of the later ones?

• Claudio Arrau Beethoven Piano Concerto

Can any single pianist project all of the riches that this music contains? For my money, Arrau comes the closest in answering this last question, and this latest reissue of the sonatas comes with his absolutely fabulous recordings of the three great variation sets (C minor, “Eroica,” and “Diabelli”), plus the Variations on an Original Theme in F major, Op. 34 for good measure. Arrau, as we all know, belongs clearly to the Romantic school, to which he adds his own particularly rich keyboard sonority and brand of Germanic seriousness of purpose.

These are, uniformly, “big” performances, grand in gesture, and yet you couldn’t say that Arrau treats the early works too heavily. There’s plenty of lightness and grace, say, in the prestissimo finale of the C Minor Sonata, Op. 1 (first sound clip), or the two Op. Where Arrau does take things more deliberately, in the more Romantically inclined middle period and late sonatas, the music can certainly withstand the individuality of the approach. Consider for example the measured opening of the “Waldstein” Sonata (second sound clip), where the tempo allows for a particularly keen but never exaggerated observance of small details (the grace notes in the main theme), while the ample dynamic range makes the climaxes seem even more threatening and explosive then they otherwise would.

Claudio Arrau plays Beethoven's opus 111. Opus 111 is the publication number given to Beethoven’s last piano sonata (no. 32 in C minor). Outwardly, the.

There are many elements that Arrau brings to these works that few others have matched. His trills are gorgeous, nowhere more so than at the conclusion of the Arietta of Sonata No. He also has a real flair for Beethoven’s fugal writing, so critical to the “Hammerklavier” Sonata, the Sonata No. 31, and the variation sets. Beethoven’s contrapuntal writing almost always sounds strained, even tortured, and Arrau manages to project the music’s expressive tension without ever calling into question his actual technique. If the music sounds effortful, this is because Beethoven clearly wanted it to.

Claudio Arrau Beethoven Piano Concerto

The mid-60s sonics have held up very well, capturing Arrau’s big but never harsh sonority quite well. Note that this set includes his 1952 mono version of the Diabellis, not his much later Philips remake. However, as Dan Davis pointed out in these pages, the timings between the two are remarkably similar, belying the notion that Arrau invariably became slower and stodgier as he aged. Even if this isn’t your only set of Beethoven sonatas, it surely ought to be one of them. David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com Works on This Recording.