Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13 "Pathétique"
Piano Sonata No. 14 in C sharp minor, Op. 27 "Moonlight"
Piano Sonata No. 24 in F sharp minor, Op. 78 "À Thérèse"
Bagatelle in A minor, WoO 59 "Für Elise"
Piano Sonata No. 17 in D minor, Op. 31 "The Tempest"
Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57 "Appassionata"
Piano Sonata No. 29 in B flat major, Op. 106 "Hammerklavier"

At long last the decision makers at harmonia mundi have opted to dissect the critically acclaimed, 10-Disc box set of the complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas performed by Paul Lewis, and extract from it the "famous" or arguably more "popular" Sonatas. Oddly enough these are all "titled" works so, glaring by their exclusion are the No. 21 "Waldstein" and No. 15 "Pastorale", which I would have included rather than "À Thérèse" and "The Tempest". But that is being niggly and based solely on personal preferences. For example, my favorite slow movement out of all 32, where I find Beethoven to be at his most profound, is from the No. 7 in D major, Op. 10 no. 3, which is nowhere near to being one of his "famous" sonatas.

Originally recorded and released as four individual volumes between 2005 and 2008, and subsequently re-released as a complete boxed set, these interpretations have always been highly regarded as strongly faithful accounts of these masterworks. Like some of the early masters like Kempff or Barenboim to name but two, Lewis doesn't overstate the ponderous or play some of the faster movements at breakneck speeds simply for the sake of velocity. His highly expressive readings are poetic, insightful, and most of all genuine. So if you passed on these recordings in the past because of their packaging, or didn't care for the superfluous (for lack of a better word) sonatas, now is your proverbial second chance to experience these Beethoven piano works at their finest.