University of Virginia Library

Many Recordings

The Hammerklavier Sonatas,
presents technical and
interpretative problems that are
conquerable only by the great
masters of the keyboard; yet, oddly
enough, it seems that there are
more great recordings of this sonata
than there are of any of the other
32 that Beethoven wrote. Egon
Petri, for example, recorded the
Hammerklavier Sonatas
twice-superbly both times; Felix
von Weingartner committed his
magnificent orchestration of the
work to disc, and the
interpretations of Artur Schnabel,
Yves Nat, and Wilhelm Backhaus
are all preserved. For me, at least,
there are few recordings, though,
that are the equal of the absolutely
incomparable reading of
Mieczyslaw Horszowski who
recorded the Hammerklavier Sonata
some twenty years ago.