01. - 04. Piano Sonata No. 29 in B-flat major, op.106 'Hammerklavier' [40'26]
Peter Serkin- piano
Pro Arte CDD270 (recorded 1984?; CD issued 1986)
(CD-rip; flacs, cover and inlay scans - no booklet)
Recording venue: St. Mary's Chapel, St, Paul, Minnesota
Recording engineer: Russ Borud; Producer: Peter Serkin
In his survey of recordings of the Hammerklavier sonata in the January 2020 issue of Gramophone magazine, Jed Distler waxed lyrical about this recording by Peter Serkin on a Steinway grand piano and lamented that it was long out of print. Well here it is in a CD-rip kindly provided by MIMIC friend Simon. Jed Distler was much less enthusiastic about another recording by Peter Serkin of the work made a few years earlier and also issued by Pro Arte but this time with Peter Serkin playing a Conrad Graf fortepiano.
I can only assume that this was because Distler disliked the sound of the Graf so much, as many listeners appear to find the latter recording superior overall. I have not yet had the opportunity to hear that performance although I see that it has been reissued in a budget 2-disc set by Musical Concepts.
Distler had this to say about the current recording: "This extraordinary performance takes wing like
no other Hammerklavier on disc and makes most pianists sound thick by comparison."
I must say that I agree in as much as it is a very fine performance although, for me, it doesn't quite match my current favourite recording of the work - Ronald Brautigam playing a Paul McNulty fortepiano after Conrad Graf. Maybe Peter Serkin would steal top place with his recording on a Graf instrument.
And Distler's top choice from the currently available recordings? Claudio Arrau's 1963 recording for Philips.
Download from MEGA.