Beethoven: Piano Sonatas, Opp. 109, 110, 111

Refined and subtle in her pianism, Japanese virtuoso Mitsuko Uchida proved along a fabulous career a strong and constant affinity with Viennese classical style. Therefore, she was expected to approach Beethoven's keyboard treasure at a certain moment. Signed by her, a magnificent traversal of Schubert's piano works emerged in recorded form some years ago. Also, she explored with great success Mozart realm (sonatas and concertos), so the Titan's masterpieces were still waiting for her inspiration. The final trilogy of the 32 sonatas ranks among the most intriguing and demanding works, especially shaped for such refined interpreters. And the proper moment occurred recently (2006) to the great delight of Uchida's fans. A wondrous (yet very sober and restrained) version of opp. 109, 110 & 111 featured all the elegance in Uchida's playing. The drama of this final pronouncement is all confined in these three sonatas. How delicate though deeply felt sound they in Uchida's hands! How desolate and hopeful are they with Uchida conveying their intimate atmosphere!Definitely, a must for all who love pianistic refinement!

These are the first late Beethoven performances since Schnabel that make me feel, yet, that is exactly. how it needs to be played.Would I be greedy to hope for the Diabelli Variations from her?

Never heard the late sonatas played with so much sensitivity. These are inspired performances.

Lyrical in the extreme. Ms. Uchida sings.

Excellent recording; prompt delivery; Good price.

While this is my first exposure to Uchida's Beethoven, I've been a big fan of her Mozart recordings for a long time. I've heard many, many recordings of the 111, and have been looking for a passionate as well as precise reading in modern sound. Unfortunately, this disc falls short--I can't quite tell if the muddled tone is more due to the recording or musician, but there are a number of points in the 111 where Uchida is stretched technically beyond what she can deliver--timings suffer, which gets in the way of me being able to enjoy the work.You can definitely do better--in stereo, Pollini and Kovacevich shine in these works (giving Pollini the slight edge in technical ability, and Kovacevich in passion), or if sound quality isn't as important get Solomon's set on EMI.

I admire Mitsuko Uchida's scholarship, and her clearly planned trajectory in choice of repertory. My impression, which is solely based on my observation of her career, is that she wisely chose to begin with Mozart, as that simply was what she knew she could play with all her heart, bringing to the music intelligence, the perfect techinique (and as a pianist, believe me, that technique is maybe not even "teachable" but a karmic gift...)There is good reason why we have had to wait awhile for Uchida to give us these recordings of Beethoven 109,110, 111. Articlate is the one word I find that best sums her playing of these works. Others reviews have expressed the beauty of the engineering of these recordings. I'm sure Uchida-san stayed through the process that gives these recordings much of their beauty. All her hard work to express all she felt it, the meaning of these Sonatas she would not allowed to be lost in the long work of the acoustics, the engineering; praise her for staying on the job to give us that.I listen to her as she is: a singular artist, with a very hard-won understanding of this music, that she would not attempt to record until she felt she could give all the music was due. Her interpretations are undeniably beautiful, articulating every detail, but never lost in the details at the expense of the depth of the message of the whole, true to the score, to her in-depth musicological research. But most of all, personal, daring to play late Beethoven is just that, DARING. But she did not do these works until she was fully prepared.Articulate, I say, in the many senses: the technique, the touch, the tone, the attention to this absolute music never falls out of her hands, and into the personal, above the written score. Yet, I must also say, when I listen to my all-time favorite Beethoven pianist, Annie Fischer, there is in Fischer's playing something, sometimes, more convincing, maybe not as beautiful, but that is Fischer's great gift. I have written long enough. Thank you, dear Uchida-san for these beautiful recordings that are in themselves, greatly enlightening performances of these treacherously difficult works. You have given us such a gift, at great expense to you in all the hard work that has gone into them. Yet, in listening, you magically make them sound as though they flow as easily and naturally as a mountain spring, as torrential as a tornado, as deep and profound as the tides that are affected by the moon. You have given us the great universe that is Beethoven. Brava! Brava, Uchida-san.I must add, a specific editorial note; that is, in the last variation in 109, Uchida displays something fantastic. After all the permutations of the theme Beethoven has delivered upon the performer to make into a part of the whole of the work, there is this final variation, ultimate. As Uchida plays it, I feel she has grasped everything form the previous variations, and from those that are so deeply grounded in the Earth, she finds the fragments, the material, to create a veritable constellation of stars; the final variation, in her hands, is as though she is flinging, the melody, like so many stars, into the skies, where each note shines brilliantly, yet in perfect movement, stars or planets, who cares, they all are flung through the power of her magnificent technique and hard-won mastery, into, for us, even the blind, can witness through this playing, the experience of witnessing, on a cloudless night, the stars at play, through her playing. Again, grazia, brava, Uchida-san. and many thanks for all the hard work that you undertook to give us nothing less than your very best.I would like to take time to explain my personal history of experiencing Uchida over her career.Of course, we were first given her great recordings of Mozart. While many of Mozart's piano Sonatas are among his least works, Uchida makes every one of them worthy of listening and study. While I find certain other interpretors of Mozart more convincing in certain of these works, overall, her Mozart set is indisprensible and a superb guide for young pianists.The concertos are in a word, ravishing.The remainder of this review is purely personal, and may be of no interest to most readers, but I feel compelled to share the following.When Uchida moved to Schubert, that occured at a time in my life that brought me into a relationship with this great pianist that was something, again, the word, "karmic" must be used. I was dying, very likely, lying for weeks, into months, with almost constant, 104 degree fevers, and the only thing I could tolerate was listening on my portable CD player to her Schubert B-flat, mostly, and other Schubert. I can't explain why, but as a lover of so much music, none could I follow, none made sense, none could reach me, I couldn't concentrate, I couldn't bear the sound, except for these works. Something profoundly personal was happening. I was beginning what has become a wonderful relationship with this glorious musician, and even more profoundly, the rich and mysterious, marvelous personality that is my dear Mitsuko Uchida.Let it be noted, I have had never the privilege of knowing Uchida in person, but as a musician, her heart is much with me, I feel I can claim a personal relationship, because she gives that through music, and, as a musician, the language of the heart for me is music, and so, I feel, I know her in that sense. Her playing does not stop with the sound of her touch, but moves on, into my heart, soul, and has literally inspired me to continue living. Let it sound fanatical to those who don't know this kind of relationship with music and musicians.I am a pianist. I did my undergraduate studies with Edward Kilenyi, and continued to work with various teachers over the years. I have played a range of repertory from most of the WTC, many Beethoven Sonatas (Kilenyi was one of the greatest Beethoven pianists of our age... that is not well-known, because he stopped performing and devoted his time to teaching and the quieter life as husband to a marvelous lady and father to his children.) But I had the privilege of sitting with Kilenyi, the protege of Ernst von Dohnanyi and having some of the most ascerbic, witty, and profoundly brilliant teaching on Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Brahms, Debussy, that I could possibly imagine. His insights were astonishing, his playing was incomparable, personal and universal at once.Then, I moved on and lived in NYC and LA for 25 years, and heard all the greatest musicians. As I prefer to call her, "Uchida-san" with the honorific, came into my musical world. I heard her in recital, I heard her play 4 of the 5 Beethoven concertos with my beloved Esa-Pekka Salonen. Every performance was revelatory, incandescent, marvelous. Perhaps the most stunning moment was when she played the 4 short pieces of (pardon, I have some memory loss due to illness, it was Webern, I think, maybe Berg, after which she programmed the rarely played b minor Rondo of Mozart). The audience was spell bound by the 4 short pieces, and did not applaud at the end, and she seemlessly went into the Mozart. Her playing of that strange and marvelous work was as modern as the music preceeding it. Her inpretation was just astounding.Preceeding this was the Chopin b-flat minor Sonata. It was my first hearing of Uchida-san playing Chopin. I couldnt' quite imagine it. Until she bounded onto the stage like a sprite, and landed on that octave that opens the Sonata with all the power of a mad Romantic. Kilenyi had played it in recital; I'd heard many others, but Uchida made it her own. The last movement, strange and timeless, was the perfect preparation for the aforementioned music of Berg/Webern?/Mozart. She is a genius for programming, an art in itself.The second half of the recital was the huge, easily boring Schubert G major. Not one moment was anyting less than riveting. And she dared take all repeats, as one should, but it is a daring effort. Captivating, consistently throughout the recital. Daring, magnificent, lyrical, tragic, everything Schubert had written, she played out in full understanding. And the audience went mad.I was among the mad, and remain so for this dear, devoted musician who I sincerely believe saved my life.

I heard Mistuko Uchida played op. 109 live. At the time I thought the tempo was a bit slow. She picked up the tempo nicely in this recording. Every phrase, down to every note in the CD was beautifully done. However, they are not overly "smooth and sweet" as her Mozart was often complained about. There are fire, sparks, and bite at all the right spots. For Mistuko fans---she wrote her own program note for this recording. It is quite worth reading (with her personal hand-writing and hand-drew musical samples too), especially if you are interested in music theory or musicology. I Highly recommend this CD.

Beethoven's late piano sonatas attain a musical, emotional and intellectual pinnacle. Commensurate are the requirements for an exemplary rendition such as the one we experience in the present disc with Mitsuko Uchida performing. Superb technical skills are an absolute must but they are complemented here - as they should - with emotional richness, and intellectual prowess which are the driving forces that catalyze and imbue the technique with richness of content, depth and meaning.These last three sonatas, Opp. 109, 110 and 111, close the cycle of thirty-two piano sonatas started in 1795; they were composed in the years 1820-1822 when Beethoven was also working on the 'Missa solemnis'.There are many links between the three sonatas and the hint that Beethoven used Op.109 as a source of inspiration for the other two.The character and flow of each piece is quite different, but all three have a first movement in a sonata form. Both Op.109 and Op.110 share a short first movement, a very short, brisk second movement, and a long third movement - longer than the first two movements added together. Op.111 has only two movements but it is one of the most definitive and complete endings imaginable.Op.111 is darkly dramatic, in total contrast to the lyricism of the preceding sonatas. The opening jump signals the tragedy and drama to follow. The fierce, dark energy of the first movement finds a brief respite in a second subject of intense luminosity. When the drama dies down, there is just one more movement to follow, a set of variations on an Arietta - calm of mind all passion spent.The three sonatas may not be thought of as a single unit - but when performed in close sequence something extraordinary and mysterious happens to the music. Together represent a long journey, ending in silence.

Mitsuko Uchida won't be the first name most people think of in the context of Beethoven's piano sonatas, but on this album she makes a compelling case. The three late works that are included come to a generous total running time of an hour and seven minutes, and each is played with precision and great thoughtfulness. There is no hint at all of just running through the notes. And there are also no fireworks or needless drama. In listening to this album, I was reminded of Uchida's magisterial Schubert cycle  Mitsuko Uchida plays Schubert .If you are reading this review, the chances are that you already have one or more versions of these timeless works. Maybe by Brendel, Kempff, Arrau, or Gilels. Even if you do, don't be put off adding this distinctive and distinguished interpretation. And if you like it, you should also like  Beethoven Piano Sonatas Nos.28 and 29 (Uchida) . Mitsuko Uchida plays SchubertBeethoven Piano Sonatas Nos.28 and 29 (Uchida)

Two caveats: don't be put off by the rather strange photo of Mitsuko Uchida on the front of the CD, and don't make this your only version of these three works.Otherwise, my comments are entirely positive. I bought this disk after seeing & hearing Uchida play a Mozart piano concerto at the Barbican in London last week (a wholly delightful performance). First of all, this is probably the best recording of solo piano that I've come across. Everything is entirely clear, even small quiet details register properly, while the loudest passages are comfortably accommodated. The recording strikes an ideal balance between "air" and hall ambience around the sound and clarity on the other hand.Turning to the performances, I was convinced by all three sonatas and indeed I think the way Uchida plays them is entirely successful - though I can see some listeners saying the playing is too "clean" (to my mind this is akin to saying you don't want someone who can play all the notes because you prefer some rough edges in a performance - which I don't agree with). Uchida's technical excellence enabled me to concentrate on the music itself, and I'm sure that increased not only my pleasure but also my understanding of these works. Uchida's notes in the booklet with the CD are well worth reading, as they illuminate the three works very well.The reviewers in the Penguin Guide damned this disk with faint praise, saying they thought Uchida gave the listener beauty at the expense of truth. I beg to disagree. There's certainly no doubt that hers is beautiful playing, but I found she conveys the full range of emotions in these sonatas and at times I was struck by how authoritative her left hand was too, which doesn't suggest any lack of sheer power. At times I found my mind thinking of J S Bach in some of the fugal music but at all times I was struck by the way Uchida articulates the special qualities of these works that make them uniquely Beethoven too.To sum up, deeply satisfying performances, extremely well recorded. As with any of the truly great works, I would never want to confine myself to a single interpreter, and I will still cherish the recordings by Emil Gilels and Artur Schnabel as well (to name but two).

This is not only piano playing but also musical thinking of a very high order. In her fascinating notes that accompany this disc, Uchida is at pains to emphasise the connections and interrelationships between Beethoven's last three piano sonatas. Certainly the impact to be had from playing all three sonatas at a sitting is cumulative, growingly intense and finally overwhelming.Make no mistake. These are great performances of these ground-breaking pieces. They achieve a perfect balance of intellectual rigour (in the voicing of fugal and contrapuntal passages, for example, or in the elucidation of Beethoven's fascination with and elaboration of variation form in his late period) with passion and emotion.To take just the first movement of Op.109, at the start Uchida manages to capture the feeling that this is music caught, as it were, in media res, that it was going on before the sonata begins and that it just emerges from the silence. The opening theme is delivered with ideal simplicity, but Beethoven's stark elisions of sonata form mean we are carried alarmingly quickly into startling harmonic territory: Uchida disguises nothing in the arpeggios that drag us from key to key, before the sunlight emerges with clarity in the second subject. Within just a couple of minutes, we have been through a daring development section, a modified recapitulation and an extended coda that restores us to the simplicity of the opening. Uchida makes this frighteningly concentrated thought absolutely cogent and clear.The variation movement that ends Op.109 lasts twice as long as the other two movements together and covers a vast emotional range. Uchida has the measure equally of the seemingly naïve melodic simplicity of the theme and the changing tempos, moods, dynamics and rhythmic complexities that Beethoven subjects it to.In Op.110, it is again the stark contrasts inherent in the material that Uchida brings out. The lyricism of the opening movement against the disturbing rhythmic lurches of the second: the sad (dolente) lament of the Arioso introduction to the fierce grandeur of the fugue which follows it and to which the whole sonata seems to have been aiming. Note also the intense darkness with which Uchida invests the chords that lead from the reprise of this Arioso into the return of the fugue.Op.111, in these performances, is the towering pinnacle not only of this disc but of the whole cycle of Beethoven piano sonatas. There is immense power in Uchida's performance of the opening movement. She never shies away from the expressionist leaps and harsh dissonances implicit in much of the dark C Minor writing. But it is the final set of variations that crowns it all. Another deceptively simple theme, played here with intense quietude, leads into an even greater range of variations than those in Op.109. Uchida guides us unerringly through the increasing rhythmic complexity of the early variations, back through the theme decorated with what she rightly calls 'celestial arabesques' into areas of severe darkness and brilliant light with all those wild and wonderful extended trills that so fascinated late Beethoven and finally to a sublimely ethereal calm at the end. This is a superlative performance of this many facetted movement.The piano sound on this CD is a delight as well. Recorded at the Snape Maltings, this is decidedly not one of those in-yer-face, brilliantly lit, clattery piano sounds. There is the feeling of a real hall ambience here, with the space for the sound to breathe and grow before it reaches the microphones and our ears. This doesn't imply any compromises in dynamic range or tonal colour; simply an ideal, best seat-in-the-house naturalness.Need I say more? A real winner.

Very sensitive playing with lots of expression from Uchida. I like it very much.