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 [log in to unmask]