Thank you for this video. Ms. Dovgan plays "The Tempest" beautifully, if just a bit slowly in the first movement. She’s beautiful, too, and so young. And so poised. Too bad she wipes her nose at the beginning (1:10).
My favorite young pianist no one so far has mentioned: Igor Levit. But it must be the Russian blood, not the air, that gets into the fingers; Levit was born in Gorky, but has lived in Germany for years. His recording of the late Beethoven sonatas is superb; I’m eager to hear what Ms. Dovgan does with them. He also has several really interesting "recital" albums, my favorite being three variations pieces from very different eras: Bach’s "Goldberg Variations," Beethoven’s "Diabelli Variations," and Rzewsi’s "The People United Will Never Be Defeated," which is the stunning highlight of the set (3 CDs).
My favorite complete set of the Beethoven sonatas, however, is the one by Richard Goode. Not showy at all, but perfectly judged, always intelligent, revealing lines of counterpoint you don’t usually hear in other pianists. Well recorded, too, although again not in a showy way: like you’re in the third row center, not inside the piano.
Grimaud has been mentioned; also a fave. Her recording of the Beethoven Fifth Concerto is my favorite in a crowded field, largely because it is so well recorded. And there’s a DGG SACD of the Beethoven Choral Fantasy, a great and somewhat overlooked piece, that is my primary reference recording: solo piano, full orchestra, solo voices and full chorus. On the same CD, she plays "The Tempest," but Ms. Dovgan’s performance tops hers. The CD is titled "Credo" and contains the astonishing piece by that name by Arvo Pärt. Not a piano showpiece by any means, but a frightening musical composition, superbly well performed and recorded.
Pollini, of course. Schnabel, just because (thrilling to hear those "authentic" tempi—although Beethoven’s use of the metronome is problematic for late works). Never liked Kempf, even when he was the only pianist I knew well (in college). He was a Nazi, too.
As for Horowitz...what can anyone say? No one had such a perfect technique (although Pogorelic comes close occasionally; too bad he burned out so early). My problem with Horowitz is that he shines with "pianistic" pieces—Chopin, Scriabin—and much less so with more interesting music. As far as I know, he never even recorded the Everest the the piano repertoire, Beethoven’s Op. 106. He did record Op. 111, another great and hugely important sonata (see Thomas Mann’s discussion of it in his novel Doktor Faustus), but his interpretation leaves me cold.
