Title: Stiff and labored
Product review: This series has received so much hype (not just here but everywhere). None of AF's shortcomings have been mentioned yet: the stiff fingerwork, the tempo rushes, the missed chords, the lack of real dynamics. She sounds stiff and tense, and that's how these recordings come off. As for "insights," I don't hear anything markedly different from her peers. Things aren't helped by the clunky sound and the too-close miking. (I know we won't get the rolled sound of a Steinway from a Bosendorfer, but these recordings, all of them, still sound claustrophobic). Volume eight comes off the best overall, but in the competition of Arrau, Schnabel, Levy (who didn't record anywhere near all of them, but who should be sought out nonetheless), Richter (ditto), Kovacevich, et al, these are lightweight. (Interestingly, she does a very fine Op. 109 on a BBC Legends disc that's probably out of print now, accompanied by a "Pastorale" sonata and a mixed-bag Op. 111. If you see that, you should grab it.)
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