The last five piano sonatas, the Diabelli Variations and the Bagatelles, Op. 126 represent Beethoven at the summit of his mastery in each of these forms.

“The last five piano sonatas, the Diabelli Variations and the Bagatelles, Op. 126 represent Beethoven at the summit of his mastery in each of these forms. All are transcendent creations, unequalled in their emotional range, conceptual daring, and ever-expanding treatment of piano sonorities and textures.”

Andrew Rangell
 

“This recording [Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations] can stand with the finest ever made; it is a major achievement of musical understanding (and of questioning) and a staggering display of imaginative keyboard colorations.”    

Boston Globe

“Beethoven sonatas 28 and especially 29 (“Hammerklavier”) are immense in their emotional range and technical challenges. Andrew Rangell possesses the intelligence and dexterity to reckon nobly with these humbling conceptions.”  

  TIME Magazine

“Contrary to my expectations that he would play straight man to Beethoven’s moments of raucous, rowdy humor, Rangell proves capable of being quite the clown. Just listen to one of the more absurdist variations, No. 9, to hear how delightfully daffy in response to Beethoven’s dippiness Rangell can be. This is a fun-filled Diabelli I’d rate among the best.”

                Fanfare

Album Credits

Beethoven: The Final Masterworks For Piano / Andrew Rangell  • STNS 30007

Release Date: 12/06/2011

Sonata No. 28, Op. 101 & Sonata No. 29, Op. 106 recorded at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, Troy New York in January, 1990.
Producer: Edwin I. Lawrence
Engineers: Douglas Brown, David H. Halters, Brian C. Peters
Post-Session Producer: Edwin I. Lawrence, Andrew Rangell
Piano: Steinway Model D

Sonata No. 30, Op. 109, Sonata No. 31, Op. 110 & Sonata No. 32, Op. 111 recorded at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, Troy, New York in March, 1991.
Producer: David H. Walters
Engineers: David H. Walters, Douglas Brown
Post-Session Producer: Andrew Rangell
Piano: Steinway Model D

Diabelli Variations, Op. 120 recorded live at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City in April 1977.
Engineers: WNCN
Post-Production: Joel Gordon
Piano: Steinway Model D

Bagatelles, Op. 126 recorded at Studio 1, WGBH, Boston in March 1995.
Engineer: Allen Mattes
Editor: Evan Hirsh
Producer: Andrew Rangell
Piano: Steinway Model D (Hambeurg)

Mastering: Brad Michel
Aart Direction: Oberlander Group

About the Artist

One of our most eloquent and probing interpreters of the major keyboard works of Bach and Beethoven, pianist Andrew Rangell is also acclaimed for a wide variety of recordings, which range from the music of Sweelinck, Farnaby, and Gibbons to Nielsen, Ives, Enescu, Bartók, Janáček, Schoenberg, Christian Wolff, and many others. Mr. Rangell’s Bach recordings embrace the Goldberg Variations, the Partitas, the French suites, the Art of Fugue, the Well-tempered Clavier (Bk. 1), the B minor French Overture, Italian Concerto, and smaller works.  

 Rangell made his New York debut as winner of the Malraux Award of the Concert Artists’ Guild, and has since performed and lectured throughout the United States, and in Europe, Israel, and China. He has also taught on the faculties of Dartmouth, Middlebury, and Tufts University. In the 1980s, already recognized as a distinctive recitalist and collaborative artist, Mr. Rangell gained national attention — and the award of an Avery Fisher Career Grant — for his vivid traversals of the complete Beethoven sonata–cycle in New York, Boston, Cleveland, Rochester, Denver, and other US cities. A hand injury sustained in 1991 forced Mr. Rangell to gradually alter the trajectory of his career, and eventually to place his highest priority on recording. In recent years he has created several DVDs for children — integrating his special talents as author, illustrator, narrator, and pianist.

About Steinway & Sons label

The STEINWAY & SONS music label produces exceptional albums of solo piano music across all genres. The label — a division of STEINWAY & SONS, maker of the world’s finest pianos — is a perfect vessel for producing the finest quality recordings by some of the most talented pianists in the world.