Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Volume 6: Sonatas Nos 22-26 (Incl Appassionata)

Andras Schiff's landmark Beethoven cycle, recorded live in Zürich's Tonhalle, now reaches its sixth volume with music written between 1804 and 1810, including the celebrated "Appassionata" op. 57 is preceded by the F-major Sonata Op. 54 whose mood is, as Schifff notes, partly song-like, party heavily accented. The Op 78 Sonata takes us into a very lyrical as well as a capriciously playful world. The sonata Op.79 is incisive and extrovert and the "Les Adieux" Sonata "presents us with a wonderful portrayal of a spiritual state between farewell, absence and joyful reunion."

"Three of these middle-period works are short, but what riches they deliver, and all abundantly and robustly realised by Schiff." BBC Music Five Stars