Beethoven: Complete Piano Sonatas – review

Earlier in the year EMI announced their exclusive contract with the 24-year-old Korean pianist HJ Lim with the release of a two-disc set of Beethoven sonatas that included the Hammerklavier Op 106 and Les Adieux Op 81a. Now, with almost indecent haste comes the whole cycle (she omits the two little sonatas of Op 49), with each of the eight discs containing a thematic selection. For instance, the three sonatas of Op 2 appear under the heading of Assertion of an Inflexible Personality; the D major Op 28, the Waldstein Op 53 and the F major Op 54 are grouped as Nature; while the Pathétique Op 13, finds itself alongside the Appassionata Op 57 and the final C minor work Op 111 as Destiny. In the end, the labels hardly matter. Lim clearly has an outstanding technique – many of her speeds, especially in the Hammerklavier, are bewilderingly fast – but her phrasing and articulation seem almost mechanical, and the sound of her Yamaha piano is wiry and unvaried. Despite the histrionics, there never seems to be any sense of an inquiring mind or real musical intelligence behind the performances – it's all surface glitter. Even at the bargain price for which the whole cycle is currently available as a download, it can't be recommended.