Beethoven: Sonata No.29 ‘Hammerklavier’ – Goerner

   in Piano International (Nov, 2016)
Performances of the Hammerklavier Sonata seem defined by which of the 14 declamatory opening chords you poise the blunderbuss upon. There’s a big choice of emphases that define almost your entire vision. Moreover, Beethoven, while exploiting the latest robust Broadwood pianoforte, also gives a notoriously rapid metronome marking of equally robust daring; since the metronome was even more the latest gadget, a tradition emerged that suspects that the composer hadn’t got the hang of it and misread too fast a speed. It is a tradition that has survived Schnabel’s quip that Beethoven may have been deaf but he wasn’t blind.

All of which preamble to introduce two recent recordings: Stephen Osborne …