A few names I can think of are Brendel, Pollini, and Arrau. I think Brendel has deliberate melody statements, Pollini has sweeping tempos, Arrau plays a Mozart-like Beethoven. Thoughts!

i have almost all Beethoven sonatas from Brendel and like most of it, except a few that i prefer somebody else's. i have Pollini's Diabelli variations, a few sonatas and 5th concerto and i like them all. Pollini's live recording of Waldestein is the best of such i have ever heard. i also have a few Arrau's Beethoven sonatas and 4th and 5th concertos. Arrau sounds heavier than Brendel or Pollini, but i wouldn't think it sounds anywhere close to Mozart.

They are 3 of my favourites, the Beethoven on Richters Liszt Concerti CD is amazing as well.

I like Richter's recording of the Beethoven Appassionata and Pathetique Sonatas, six Bagatelles, and the Choral Fantasy (on Melodiya - very difficult to find, unfortunately).

I love Arrau's DVD of the 32nd Sonata, but I don't recall being very much impressed with some of his other Beethoven sonatas. But then I do recall that Arrau has been said to be very inconsistant, and I have not heard enough of his playing to verify if I agree with this statement or not.

Vladimir Ashkenazy is also very good with Beethoven. I have two of his Beethoven Recordings ("Moonlight, Appassionata, and Waldstein Sonatas", from Penguin Classics, and "Favorite Beethoven Sonatas", from Decca)

Richard Goode made an excellent set of the 32 sonatas, but I don't really care for Kempff's.

Rudolf Serkin's Emperor Concerto is very, very good (with Leonard Bernstein conducting the NYP). Ashkenazy's and Brendel's 3rd Concerto is very good also.

I've got the dream recording of the Triple Concerto - Richter, Rostropovich, and Oistrakh! :p

And on the subject of other instruments:

Nathan Milstein - Violin Concerto

Jacqueline du Pré / Barenboim and Mstislav Rostropovich / Richter are both very good with the cello sonatas.

Karajan's 1963 recording of the 9 symphonies is soooooo good...

I guess I can't really decide on a "favorite" Beethoven artist, because so many artists are so good at so many different Beethoven works.

King Arthur doesn't get much respect on this forum. I still prefer his sonata recordings -- warts and all -- over anyone else's.

King Arthur?

Arthur Rubinstein? I don't like his Beethoven at all.

Arthur Schnabel? I haven't heard his Beethoven at all.

Arthur who?

1. Brendel
2. Goode
3. Arrau


Those are the only three that I will buy when it comes to Beethoven.

I'm interested in hearing how King Arthur would play Beethoven. My guess is, very well, since he was so chivalric and noble.

Richard Goode is probably my current favorite.

Pollini's Hammerklavier is hard to beat.

Schnabel does some really amazing things in certain places. And in the slow movements of the late sonatas, I don't think anyone can touch him, but we all wish that he would practice the technical sections more (in some passages, I think he misses every single note).

I don't have an overall "favorite", but for specefic sonatas:

op. 57 - Richter unsurpassed
op. 51 - Goode and Gilels
Moonlight- Gilels
early sonatas- Peraiha
op. 109-111 Feltsman & Jerome Rose

Well, sure, in several movements my enjoyment in genuinely hampered by the wrong notes (or worse, by the tendency to rush through difficult passages). But when I voluntary listen to recordings of Beethoven sonatas, I usually pull Schnabel off the shelf, despite having many alternatives.

It's not only the late sonatas. Most of the slow movements, and many of the not-so-slow movements, are sublime. In the slow movement of Op.7 for example, I hear a depth of concentration and a sincerity of expression that reveals what's truly important, an essential and deeply affecting communication that has never been surpassed by any pianist playing anything. What Brendel and Pollini have to offer, even on their best days, can't compete with this, as far as my own listening preferences are concerned.

I'm jealous :p

Regarding the Hammerklavier, there is a pianist (who is female and whose name isnt in my head right now) who made a recording with the BBC with op.111 as well, which are superb. She didn't do any other recordings apart from that one.

Gotta get another plug in for Gulda's Beethoven :

IMHO Friedrich Gulda is the superlative Beethoven interpreter and he pretty much exclusively tends to my Beethoven sonata needs in peerless manner. I can't imagine a better Beethoven interpreter, to the point where I don't actively seek out other Beethoven recordings cause they all just leave me wanting, and appreciating all the more, Gulda's.

I'm mystified as to why he isn't mentioned alot more often in the context of Beethoven. If it's for lack of exposure then you're really missing out on some truly amazing stuff....

I mentioned this in the underrated pianist forum, but I think Misha Dichter is the best interpreter of Beethoven, from what I've heard. He did a CD on Philips classic, now discontinued I think, with the Pathetique, Moonlight and 28th sonatas, all the best I've heard, especially the 1st Mvmt of the Pathetique and the 3rd of the Moonlight (which is amazing, one of the pieces that made me want to play the piano). I would e-mail someone an mp3 of it, but you'd have to delete it after 24 hours.

I've got a soft spot for some of the recent Kovaceich recordings on EMI. When he's good, he gets to the heart of the music, especially the late sonatas. Plus he is electric live.

Definately Backhaus.

Sonatas:

1) Wilhelm Kempff
2) Artur Schnabel
3) Wilhelm Backhaus
4) Claudio Arrau
5) Alfred Brendel
6) Rudolf Serkin

Concerti:

Concerto no.1) Kempff, Schnabel, Pollini
Concerto no.2) Arrau, Kempff
Concerto no.3) Kempff, Gilels, Richter, Schnabel
Concerto no.4) Kempff, Brendel, Arrau
Concerto no.5) Kempff

Variations: Schnabel, Kempff, Brendel

Violin sonatas: Kempff with Menuhin

Violin Concerto: Yehudi Menuhin

Cello sonatas: Richter- Rostropovich, Kempff- Fournier

Symphonies: Bernstein, Karajan

Choral Fantasy: Kempff, Richter, Brendel

Triple concerto: Kempff, Richter

String quartets: Alban Berg quartet

Piano trios: Kempff-Fourneir-Szygeti (sp?)

A few favourites of mine for Beethoven:

For overall spirit, pace and authority (of course he even looks like Beethoven in his late record covers), I like Backhaus. His opus 111(recorded in his 70s) is unsurpassed, in my opinion. Even better than Serkin (recorded in his 60s), and superior to any performance I ever heard by Kempff, Gillels, Schnabel, Hungerford, Solomon, Petri, Levy, Arrau, Brendel, Gould, Badura-Skoda, etc. I guess Backhaus plays the way I imagine Beethoven would have wanted to play, if he could. With Authority! And depth.

For some individual sonatas, I love Richter in sonatas 12, 23, 30 and 31. Kempff and Serkin are close in 29, although I prefer Kempff's 50's recording for its peerless phrasing and long lines. Serkin is tops in 8, and very strong in 23 and 30, 31, and 32 (but not so good in his last recordings). Hungerford is a very clean, straightforward Beethoven player in all his sonatas, but especially in Moonlight. Petri is fascinating in 30, 31, and 32, while Levy is almost as outstanding in the same sonatas. Schnabel, of course, is a landmark in all of them, particularly in all slow and sublime sections. Incidentally, I remember reading Arrau's comment in his book that, when he heard Schnabel play all of the Beethoven sonatas in Germany in the 1920s, Schnabel was technically perfect, even in the most difficult and quickest passages. Arrau stated that Schnabel's technique was absolutely perfect - nothing like what he recorded just 10 years later, when he "invented" Beethoven for the 20th Century!

You can't go wrong with du Pré ! ! (my fav cellist)

But for Beethoven piano works I'd say probably Brendel for sonatas and Ashkenazy for concertos.

Freedom

Beethoven Sonatas: Arrau, Bernard Roberts, Schnabel, Kempf, Rosen in the late sonatas

i have a Gulda's sonata CD and like his op.54 best, and it's the best op.54 i heard played. his Waldstein is amazing as well and is unsurpassed until i heard Pollini's.

You want some good waldstein?

Listen to Schnabel

My first Super Teacher was a student of Lezhititsky and a classmate of Artur Schnabel's - so, of course, I have Artur and, again of course, Maurizio - say, didn't he win the Grammy Award for his late Beethoven...?

Sonatas(Complete Sets):
Annie Fischer
Claudio Arrau
Wilhelm Backhaus
Anton Kuerti
Arthur Schnabel

Sonatas(Incomplete):
Richter(No. 3, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 23, 27 - 32)
Levy(21, 23, 27 - 32)
Serkin

*I do not care for Pollini's Beethoven recordings.

Concerti(sets):
Fleisher/Szell
Zimerman/Bernstein
Kempff/Leitner

Concerti(Various)
Richter(1, 3)
Kapell(2, 3)
Arrau(4 and 5 with Haitink)
Gilels(3)
Michelangeli(1, 3)
Serkin(4 and 5)

My favorite set of the Beethoven Sonatas is played by Gerard Willems on the Stuart & Sons Piano, on ABC Classics. There is also a set of the Concerti, which I haven't acquired yet. If I lost all my other Beethoven Sonata recordings, I wouldn't be bothered too much.