Jonathan Biss - Beethoven: Piano Sonatas, Vol. 4 (2020) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

Jonathan Biss concludes his nine-year, nine-volume exploration of Beethoven’s piano sonatas with a recording for our times, one that asks profound questions about mankind’s fragile existence. Considered the cornerstone of the pianist’s repertoire, the cycle comprises thirty-two sonatas in a range of emotional expressions.

Jonathan says: “Beethoven’s sonatas have been a constant presence in my life for nearly as long as I have been playing the piano. ‘Presence’ is too mild a word, though: ‘force’ comes a bit closer to conveying the space he occupies in my heart and head. For playing Beethoven does not feel like a matter of choice: his concerns are so all-encompassing, his mastery so astonishing, his personality so combative (yet, somehow, also so sympathetic), one cannot look (listen?) away.

“In 2011, I began recording the sonatas; my plan is to record all 32 by 2020. I hope and expect that my relationship with Beethoven will continue for many years beyond then, but the intensity of my current immersion with his music has become one of the most profound experiences of my life.”

Tracklist:
01. Piano Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 2 No. 1: I. Allegro (3:54)
02. Piano Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 2 No. 1: II. Adagio (4:36)
03. Piano Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 2 No. 1: III. Menuetto. Allegretto (3:18)
04. Piano Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 2 No. 1: IV. Prestissimo (4:39)
05. Piano Sonata No. 6 in F Major, Op. 10 No. 2: I. Allegro (8:20)
06. Piano Sonata No. 6 in F Major, Op. 10 No. 2: II. Allegretto (3:45)
07. Piano Sonata No. 6 in F Major, Op. 10 No. 2: III. Presto (3:51)
08. Piano Sonata No. 19 in G Minor, Op. 49 No. 1 "Leichte": I. Andante (3:34)
09. Piano Sonata No. 19 in G Minor, Op. 49 No. 1 "Leichte": II. Rondo. Allegro (3:12)
10. Piano Sonata No. 23 in F Minor, Op. 57 "Appassionata": I. Allegro assai (9:36)
11. Piano Sonata No. 23 in F Minor, Op. 57 "Appassionata": II. Andante con moto (5:31)
12. Piano Sonata No. 23 in F Minor, Op. 57 "Appassionata": III. Allegro ma non troppo - Presto (8:08)