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You tube has an amazing selection of different performances - this by Arrau is beyond category.

Find an artist that resonates with you because all have different approaches to the music.
I really like Alfred Brendel.

- and then get multiple versions of the late sonatas -

Helene Grimaud. I have heard more than once that she has studied with people who have a direct line back to Beethoven. Obviously I can't confirm any of that but she is magnificent.

Oh and Deutsche Grammaphone on vinyl is what I have.

not sure about Grimaud but Arrau definitely has a direct connection back to Liszt and Carl Czerny (pupil of Beethoven)

If you want real old school the starting place would be Artur Schnabel - EMI and Angel and Dante Records all put out complete sets.
The sound is not great and the old school pianists (Edwin Fischer is another great one) were less concerned with mistake free playing than with depth of feeling so i would not recommend them as a starting point - but they are very wonderful.

Beethoven's range is so great that many pianists are really good at one period or style of his work but not so good with the whole body of work. Nailing all 32 ,not to mention a set with the Diabelli Variations or incidental works - even in this age of recording studio magic is a tough mountain to summit ( which is what I think makes those old school cats so magical).

I like Brendel because he is consistently good over the whole body of work. He recorded three complete sets - one earlier in his career and the last in the 90's, and it is interesting how the interpretation changes.
His second set on Phillips is very good and one of the least expensive.

Rudolf Serkin is another in Brendels class.

The only option for vinyl is my setup in the garage and I fear any warmth gained by vinyl would be lost in the horrible acoustics (great for RnR while working in the garage)

Someday if I ever get to have extra bedroom as my "library" I hope to setup a tube amp + record player + nice set of high efficiency speakers.

Back to Beethoven, I can see that he had a huge body of work and I suppose that is why the reviews are all over the map i.e. not all performers excel at playing all of his variations on music.

If my wife said she liked the music from a movie, I'd get the sound track. The music is usually very carefully selected for sound tracks, and will evoke the feeling she wishes to re experience.

Vladimir Horowitz is another.

For you jazz officianadoes, go to about the 15:30 mark and listen for about three minutes. Tell me if you hear some good 'ol ragtime and even shades of the immortal Oscar Peterson in there.

What's Beethoven doing these days?

Decomposing

Yep...I'm keeping my day job ;)

Is that Opus 111? If that is the piece I have in mind I once thought that it was the birth of Jazz.;)

Yes it is.

Well I'll be!

Wiki:

"The third variation has a powerful, stomping, dance-like character with falling 32-part notes, and with heavy syncopation. Mitsuko Uchida has remarked that this variation, to a modern ear, has a striking resemblance to cheerful boogie-woogie,[3] and the closeness of it to jazz and ragtime, which were still eighty years into the future at the time, has often been pointed out. Jeremy Denk, for example, describes the second movement using terms like "proto-jazz" and "boogie-woogie"

Just saw this again - hahaha

Not a mystery that Charles Schulz, like countless others with lives full of deep shadows found a soul-mate in Beethoven. No other artist is able to, often in one work encompass the complete range of human being.

I read that after one horrific nighttime naval engagement during the battle for Guadalcanal the captain of one of the few American ships still afloat had Beethoven's Quartet in C Sharp Minor Opus 131 played over the loudspeakers....

Hey - If you need inspiration to set up shop I have an extra box set (vinyl) of Beethoven's complete piano music played by Brendel with Zubin Mehta - "all the Sonatas, Bagatelles, Piano Pieces, Variations plus Rondo in B Flat for piano and Orchestra, Choral Fantasy and all 5 Piano Concertos - Over 100 Complete Works "
- You may find one or two you like - Ha

Might be missing one record or two , I will check. It is a really nice set.

Let me know where to send it if you want it.
Merry Christmas - Frohe Weihnachten - Joyeux Noel - Happy Holidays - Hanukkah- Kwanza - Whatever

Happy Birthday, Ludwig!

and still going strong.