Irene Scopelliti wrote:

>op78-79 I don't know

Boy, I do!  This is embarrassing to confess, and perhaps someone with a
more developed sense of shame than I wouldn't admit it, but Op. 79 is the
work that revealed to me just how great a Beethoven pianist Schnabel was.
I have a number of other highly thought of performances-- I'm not going to
name names because my intention is not to praise Schnabel at the expense of
other worthy pianists--but the performance of Op. 79 from Schnabel's 30's
recordings of the complete sonatas gets the "unbuttoned humor" of this
work so completely right that others seem like they "don't get it" (or are
simply too straightlaced to show it) by comparison.  This really is playing
that lets you hear the "music behind the notes," and while Op. 79 is not
perhaps the most elevated composition of the group, I don't think it is a
lesser accomplishment to play a work like this in such a revelatory manner.
Listening to Schnabel play this little sonata I finally understood the
fuss.

Nick
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