Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos. 1 - 3, Opp. 2:1-3

Maurizio Pollini continues his celebrated cycle of Beethoven Piano Sonatas. In this album, recorded like its predecessors in Munich's Herkulessaal, the Italian pianist turns his incomparable keyboard mastery to Opus 2, the three astonishingly individual, inventive and forward-looking sonatas comprising Beethoven's first publication in the genre, dedicated to his teacher Joseph Haydn. Composed in 1793-95, just after he went to Vienna and while he was still chiefly making his name as a pianist, Beethoven's Op. 2 needs no apology for coming first in the series of 32. In scope, variety and dramatic power, these sonatas are already authentically Beethovenian--bold, brilliantly virtuosic and, in the slow movements, often profoundly expressive works which, deservedly, have always been popular among pianists and music lovers. Pollini, a living legend, has received countless accolades for his interpretations of the Beethoven sonatas, and there is every reason to believe that this new recording will be similarly acclaimed. Writing about Pollini's previous album of Beethoven sonatas, including the "Pathétique," Stephanie von Buchau of the Oakland Tribune found that "Pollini gives a heart-stopping performance" while Jessica Duchen in Classic FM exclaimed, "there is a deliciously youthful quality about his playing of early Beethoven in this enchanting disc. His touch is light and sparkling...every moment is compelling."