Complete Piano Sonatas Nos 1-32 [Blu-ray]

It's very, very good...
...if your expectations are not out of line with what is being presented.

These performances were recorded in ca. 1984 on 35mm film then much later transferred to BD format, with some recordings presenting better than others as he moves from room to room in notable Vienna palaces/living spaces, changing the available light and acoustics with each passing piece. The sound quality and image quality are commensurate with a 35mm film process: if you are expecting surround DTS-HD and 4000+ pixel digital images at high frame rates from a Red Epic or an ARRI Alexa, you're probably going to be disappointed. These videos are very good 35mm quality overall, except perhaps the Appassionata in F minor, no. 23, which suffers from low-light shallow depth-of-field focus issues. The sound is in stereo format, not 5.1 or 7.1, etc.

In terms of the performance itself, Barenboim has an amazingly disarming command of these compositions, once you realize that all 32 sonatas are...

Third of Four
OVERVIEW:
Daniel Barenboim memorized the 32 Beethoven piano sonatas when he was only 17 years of age, and has performed them for half a century. During that time he has recorded at least four complete cycles:
(1) His first recording for Westminster is excerpted in the 3-LP set "Prodigy and Genius: Barenboim and Beethoven." One copy is currently available on eBay.
(2) At the age of 24 he signed a contract with EMI to record his second cycle (1966/69), and it appeared on quality vinyl in a 1970 boxed set, used copies of which can still be found by those who seek to do so. Earlier this year, EMI re-released the cycle on CD, in a significantly better mastering than the previous 1998 CD release.
(3) Metropolitan Video produced and Jean-Pierre Ponnelle directed a third cycle in various acoustically excellent and photogenic settings from 1981 to 1984, and DGG released the soundtrack on audio cassette, "digital LP" and CD (the cover photograph shows Barenboim in the same...

Excellent, but I prefer the live set from Berlin
This set was recorded in 1983 and 1984 in four different "palaces" and castles, showing Barenboim at what one might call his middle period. His first recording of the Beethoven sonatas on disc, in his mid-twenties, bore the impetuousness of youth. His later interpretations, such as the mid-1980s cycle for DG, show wisdom acquired through experience. These films are from that period, and catch Barenboim at a stage where he had been playing these works for decades. His performances here are polished and refined, though lacking the sparkle of the 2005 live recordings. Barenboim is generally expressionless as he performs, and, while he gets a bit animated at times, his face betrays very little.

The filming is unadventurous. Edits are conservative, there are lots of long shots, and not many showing Barenboim's dazzling finger-work. There is much attention to the surroundings; the buildings are merely the setting for the music, however, and shouldn't be more than that. There are...

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