Amazonレビュー
Pianist Stephen Kovacevich's cracking new Beethoven disc includes four sonatas written between 1797 and 1809, opening with the "Appassionata" (op.57 in F minor). This has real emotional power. Turn the volume up but make sure the neighbours are out. The Steinway seems to recoil at the force with which Kovacevich pounds out the chordal triplets with his alternating fists as Beethoven makes known the anguish of his deafness. But what mood swings he suffered! The ear loves the submissive serenity of Kovacevich's velvet andante. His rendition of the short Sonata No.25 in G op.79 is light-fingered, gay and carefree. It is hard to believe the composer had contemplated suicide the year before. The last movement melody really spins. Kovacevich plays Sonata No.22 in F op.54 blisteringly fast, stabbing the off-beat accents with self-assured exuberance. No one would have thought serious depression lay ahead. The last piece is the lengthy Sonata No.4 in E flat op.7, very much an angry-young-man masterpiece under Kovacevich's keen fingers. Look out for the fortissimo volley of chords 80 bars in. (I last heard this at the Wigmore Hall on a period instrument which collapsed under the strain live on the radio!) --
Rick Jones