A key thread in pianist Jonathan Biss’s decade-long Beethoven immersion has been his journey to record all 32 of the composer’s piano sonatas, which he began in 2011 and completes with the release of the cycle’s ninth and final volume by Orchid Classics. Comprising Sonatas Nos. 7, 18 and 32, the new album is one of many highlights of Biss’s season, coinciding with the worldwide celebrations of Beethoven’s 250th birthday. Biss says, “Beethoven’s sonatas have been a constant presence in my life for nearly as long as I have been playing the piano. ‘Presence’ is too mild a word, though: ‘force’ comes a bit closer to conveying the space he occupies in my heart and head.”
Jonathan Biss: Beethoven Piano Sonatas, Vol 9
