So, My personal feelings regarding Beethoven aside, I will make one
further concession...

I just purchased Grigory Sokolov's recording of the Diabelli Variations.
I have to admit that in his hands, it's an entirely new work to me! 
The variations are actually exciting and captivating!

If you are not familiar with Sokolov's work, he won the Tchaikovsky
competition at the age of 16 - enough to make any pianist, including
myself, green with envy and awe - and never records in a studio. All of
this recordings are of live performances.  He seldom comes to the states,
though I did have the honour of seeing him perform whilst I was a student
at the Oberlin Conservatory.  If you ever have the chance, I URGE you
to see him perform.  The man is simply profound.

So back to Beethoven...

Before we hastily point 'I told you so' fingers at me, we all know that
Sokolov is an exceptional and extremely rare musician in the truest sense
of the term ...  and, of course, he's Russian, which brings me back to
my original point in that I do vehemently believe that they are more
contemplative than most other musicians.

So there are now two Beethoven works that I will listen to without
cringing.

(Still relishing the button pushing)

olivier solanet
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http://web.mac.com/solaneto

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