GREAT RECORDINGS phase 13

BEETHOVEN: PIANO SONATAS
Nos.21 'Waldstein', 22
23 'Appassionata', 25, 27 & 30-32
Artur Schnabel

5 62880 2
(Angel: 5 62881 2) (2CDs)

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'One of the towering classics of the gramophone. These are virtuoso readings that demonstrate a blazing interpretative vision as well as a breathtaking manner of execution.' (Gramophone)

Awards: Diapason d'Or, Choc du Monde de la Musique & Prix de l'Académie Charles Cros, France; Caecilia Prijs, Belgium; Gramophone, UK

In 1927 Walter Legge joined HMV as a young recruit, principally as editor of the company's monthly retailing magazine, but he so impressed the legendary record producer Fred Gaisberg that he was soon playing an active role in the recording studio. By 1931 Legge was in a position to be able to introduce a series of 'Society Editions': recordings, of important repertoire and featuring notable international interpreters, financed by public subscription.

The first 'Society Edition' was of Elena Gerhardt singing Wolf and its success was followed throughout the 1930s by a string of issues, featuring not only singers but also instrumentalists (among them Kreisler, Casals, Edwin Fischer and Wanda Landowska), orchestras and conductors.

The series succeeded in placing before the public many recording premieres and none was more important than the complete Beethoven piano sonatas played by Artur Schnabel (1882-1951), the leading Beethoven exponent of the time. The recordings remain classics of the gramophone and this 2-CD selection includes the finest of them: a 'Waldstein' that is still considered one of the greatest Beethoven recordings ever made and Schnabel's visionary readings of the last three sonatas.