Beethoven: Complete Sonatas Vol. 1 (Op. 109-111)

This new release from MDG presents Beethoven's piano sonatas op. 109, 110 and 111, performed by pianist Jin Ju. Jin Ju is a hugely flexible and versatile pianist; her concert in the Vatican in front of Pope Benedict and an audience of 5,000, in which she played music from three centuries on seven different historical pianos, is almost legendary.

Now the Chinese artist has taken on Beethoven's last three piano sonatas and, of course, chosen a special instrument for it: the Steinway concert grand "Manfred B?rki" from 1901, whose warm colours shine with Ju's playing.

The Sonatas op. 109, 110 and 111 are closely interwoven, themes and motives of the three works refer to each other, and cross connections can be detected again and again. It is no coincidence that both op. 109 and op. 111 end with weighty variation movements that could not be more different: While op. 109 returns to the initial theme at the end, op. 111 virtually deconstructs this theme...

Beethoven's posterity has much speculated that there must be something extra-musical, beyond the purely aesthetic, behind the immense architecture of these three sonatas. In Jin Ju's performance, this question plays no role at all: the flawlessly clear, expressive and richly colored playing of the multiple award-winning pianist requires no external explanations in order to be immediately moving.

This new release is also captured in the very best sound quality. The high-resolution Super Audio CD allows for a true three-dimensional reproduction that conjures up the extraordinary instrument in an exceedingly vivid way in the living room at home.