Honma’s performances add to our understanding and appreciation of these great works
Tamami Honma
Beethoven Complete 35 Piano Sonatas
Divine Art ddx21001
4 stars
Do we need another recording of the complete set of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas – this one also joined by the composer's three early sonatas, published when he was 13, plus his Andante Favori, originally composed for the ‘Waldstein’? It's a fair question but this is the first time all 35 sonatas have been recorded by a woman pianist and such events are oxygen to artists and labels desperate to cut through a crowded market.
Novelty aside, do Honma’s performances add to our understanding and appreciation of these great works? Absolutely. Her sensitivity, power, pin-sharp clarity and all-consuming commitment to this music would surely earn five stars from Beethoven.
But there's a problem: her piano. Honma's instrument is not identified but in its spare and brittle tone, its harshness in fortissimo and lack of cantabile warmth, not to mention its occasional off-key moments, it sounds, at times, like the Graf pianos Beethoven himself favoured. It grabs the attention in a very Beethoven-like way but can be wearing. That aside, a truly admirable and musical account of these monumental works.
John Evans