Post by TatonikAre these the ones Rosen recorded for Nonesuch? I came across them in a
discography and was curious about them. Were they ever released on CD?
How would you characterize their deficiencies? Mostly technical or
interpretive?
As to your first question:
Beethoven: The Great Middle Period Sonatas
Sonatas op. 31, nos.1-3
Sonata no. 21 in C major, op. 53, “Waldstein”
Sonata no. 23 in F minor, op. 57, “Appassionata”
Sonata no. 24 in F sharp major, op. 78, “À Thérèse”
Sonata no. 26 in E flat major, op. 81a, “Les adieux”
Charles Rosen, piano
LP: Nonesuch NC 78010, (P) 1981
CD: Globe Records, (P) 2013
There’s also another single disc Nonesuch release with Rosen featuring Beethoven sonatas:
Beethoven:
Piano Sonata, op. 26 (“Funeral March)
Piano Sonatas, op. 27, nos. 1 & 2 (“Moonlight”)
Bagatelles, op. 119
Charles Rosen, piano
LP only: Nonesuch 79122, (P) 1985
I don’t remember my impression of this disc very well. The Middle Period set strikes me as interpretively very odd, and the sound of the playing is somehow harsh and clangorous, relatively speaking. Haven’t listened in a while, though. As it turns out I compiled a discography of all of Rosen’s recordings for publication in a Festschrift published in Rosen’s honor: Robert Curry, David Gable, & Robert Marshall, editors, Variations on the Canon: Essays on Music from Bach to Boulez in Honor of Charles Rosen on his 80th Birthday (University of Rochester Press, Eastman Studies in Music Series, 2009). The essay on Boulez in this book is also by me. (If you look at the Library of Congress Rosen discography it was clumsily plagiarized from me.)
There’s also a recording of the Diabelli Variations that might interest you. I like it a lot more than any of the Nonesuch Beethoven:
Beethoven: Variations on a Waltz of Diabelli
LP: IMP Classics, (P) 1977
CD reissue: [IMP Classics] Carlton Classics, (P) 1995
If you’re a Rosen fan, you might enjoy Robert Winter’s review of the Sony release, Charles Rosen: The Complete Epic and Columbia Album Collection:
Robert Winter, “Versatile, Fearless Charles Rosen at the Piano,” The New York Review of Books v. 63, no. 6, April 7, 2016
https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2016/04/07/versatile-fearless-charles-rosen-at-the-piano/
-Tassilo, unashamed admirer of Rosen, pianist & critic