Ludwig van Beethoven

The Thirty-two Sonatas
performed by
Robert Silverman
an OrpheumMasters 10-CD Box Set (KSP 830)

This album was named to the top 10 CDs of 2000 by Soundstage.com

Placed on Audiophilia.com's "A List"

A Juno Award nominee for 2000
A Grammy is the US equivalent of a Juno

Fanfare (May-June 2004) (complete 4-page review on request)

"I cannot remember enjoying the complete Beethoven sonatas as much as in these utterly engaging performances by Robert Silverman...Silverman plays these masterpieces as musically as anyone I have ever heard. The music is first, not the playing of the music. He plays them naturally, as if he has lived with them all his life ... His rendition (of the Pathétique) impressed me as the most tragic-sounding performance I have ever heard from any pianist. Few pianists utilize pauses as effectively as Silverman; they are literally breathtaking ... His ability to balance the various components of the last movement makes it a truly poetic performance...Very few pianists I've heard can do much more than just get through the turgidity of the (op. 106, the Hammerklavier) fugue of fugues, but Silverman's clear conception of the movement's destination enables him to cut through its seeming awkwardness with insight and imagination. Silverman's reverence for the (late sonatas) carries the day. He revels in Beethoven's ability to save us from the existential abyss with a glorious fugue. Few musicians so convincingly detail the thrill of fuguing their way into one of Beethoven's greatest apotheoses as does Silverman ... I recommend these as highly as possible."

"This is aristocratic playing, yet humble as well, in its approach to Beethoven's text. Silverman is a religious man in the largest sense. He takes in and personalizes the composer's spirit without violating it. This is the highest form of art."
...Ivan Moravec

Read Other Rave Reviews

The album includes a 64-page book containing Robert Silverman's illuminating notes for each of the sonatas plus an extensive introductory essay on the classical sonata. David Lemon discusses editing with the revolutionary Boesendorfer 290SE Reproducing Piano. For audiophiles, Stereophile Editor-in-chief John Atkinson provides detailed notes on the equipment and the microphone setup he used for this, the first Beethoven Sonata cycle to be recorded using high-definition (88.2/24) digital techniques.

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