Classical

Murray Perahia Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Deutsche Grammophon Out now

Murray Perahia is almost unique among the great pianists of today, by recording so sparingly. Not since the distant days of Clifford Curzon has a London-based pianist been so reluctant to set down his greatest interpretations.

Curzon, arguably the most distinguished of all British-born pianists, was actually frightened of the recording process. This is not the case with Perahia; he merely wants to totally think through an interpretation and work on it in performance, sometimes for decades, before he sets it down as a permanent record, in every sense, of his capabilities. Looking at his Beethoven recordings, since he began in New York in 1978 with the Piano Sonata No 4, Perahia has recorded only 15 sonatas over the following four decades. By the way, all of these are available on five CDs on a handily priced Sony set. Now, under his new contract with Deutsche Grammophon, he is resuming work with the mighty Hammerklavier (No29), and a more user-friendly, meltingly lyrical Moonlight (No14).

With sonatas as often recorded as these, and by so many great pianists, it’s idle to talk of best recordings. All I really need to say is that with great music like this, any serious collector will want more than one recording, probably several. Perahia should join that select group.

My only disappointment is that these two sonatas last only 55 minutes. But I imagine Perahia didn’t feel there was anything else he wanted to set down worthy of permanence. Credit to him for that, I suppose. DM