Description
Volume 1 of Russell Sherman’s bold and controversial vision of the Beethoven Piano Sonatas. [All thirty-two sonatas are being recorded and released by GM Recordings as five double-CD sets.] This album and Volume 2 (GM 2053) have generated enormous amounts of press, controversy and praise, being selected along the way as Stereo Review’s ‘Pick of the Month’ and one of the Boston Globe’s Top Ten Classical Releases of the Year in 1996 and 1997. Also available in the series is Volume 3 (GM 2057).
Sherman began his studies at the age of six, and by the age of eleven, was studying with the renowned Eduard Steuermann, friend of Ferruccio Busoni and Arnold Schoenberg. A child prodigy from New York, Sherman graduated from Columbia University in Humanities at the age of fifteen and soon thereafter played solo piano with Leonard Bernstein’s orchestra. Featured on National Public Radio, he has earned a reputation over the years as an interpreter of remarkable insight and imagination both in standard piano repertory and in his vigorous advocacy of contemporary music.
PERFORMERS
Russell Sherman, piano
PROGRAM
Disk 1
Beethoven: Sonata #1 in F Minor, Opus 2, #1 21:08
1. I. Allegro 6:02
2. II. Adagio 5:52
3. III. Menuetto: Allegretto 3:34
4. IV. Prestissimo 5:21
Beethoven: Sonata #16 in G Major, Opus 31, #1 23:48
5. I. Allegro vivace 6:43
6. II. Adagio grazioso 10:10
7. III. Rondo: Allegretto 6:44
Beethoven: Sonata #32 in C Minor, Opus 111 27:29
8. I. Maestoso: Allegro con brio ed appassionato 9:08
9. II. Arietta: Adagio molto semplice e cantabile 18:17
Disk 2
Beethoven: Sonata #9 in E Major, Opus 14, #1 14:05
1. I. Allegro 6:09
2. II. Allegretto 4:22
3. III. Rondo: Allegro comodo 3:22
Beethoven: Sonata #21 in C Major (“Waldstein”), Opus 53 25:30
4. I. Allegro con brio 10:49
5. II. Introduzione: Adagio molto 4:36
6. III. Rondo: Allegretto moderato 9:56
Beethoven: Sonata #30 in E Major, Opus 109 21:43
8. I. Vivace ma non troppo; Adagio espressivo 4:12
9. II. Prestissimo 2:30
10. III. Andante molto cantabile ed espressivo 14:56
Recorded on 27-30 December 1993 and 27-30 December 1994 at the Campion Center in Weston, Massachusetts.
Producer: Gunther Schuller
ALSO AVAILABLE
for downloads and streaming on Amazon as well as other digital sites.
