In the booklet, pianist Fazil Say states
that he has waited for many years to
program the sonatas of Beethoven as
he regards them as the pinnacle of the
repertoire and did not want to perform
them until he was good and ready. In
the same essay, he quotes Beethoven:
"inner deafness is far worse than
deafness itself," going on to say
that he has recorded here works that
he could sing "with his inner voice."
Would God that he might have kept his
inner voice inside, as his humming à
la Glenn Gould and Keith Jarrett is
extremely detrimental to his otherwise
exciting and forceful playing.
That Mr. Say has chosen
three of Beethoven’s most popular and
over-recorded piano sonatas also leads
one to wonder whether it was his own
"inner-voice" that he was
following, or the outer voice of the
Naïve marketing department. That
aside, these are invigorating, vibrant
readings, Mr. Say has ample technique
and in spite of his moaning and groaning,
he plays with great sensitivity and
poise.
He rips through the
Appasionata with abandon, and
although he takes things plenty fast,
there is never a sense of breathlessness.
One gets the feeling that he is in total
control and that the music is not at
risk of getting away from him. He handles
the slow movement with grace, never
becoming melodramatic.
I was particularly
impressed with his Waldstein,
especially the last movement which is
often played too slowly for my tastes.
Say makes the grand main theme sing
amply enough, yet we still get some
of the thrill of virtuosity that is
inherent in the movement.
By the time we get
to the third sonata, I noticed a certain
sameness in the bright tone that Say
produces from the piano. Especially
when listening through headphones, which
I often do, the edginess of the sound,
particularly in the upper registers
can become a bit laborious. Nonetheless,
it is exciting playing, accurate and
expressive and is worth more than just
a casual listen. I do so hope that in
the future, Mr. Say might consider keeping
the vocal obbligati out of the picture.
Kevin Sutton
Fazil Say, piano 
