Testament Beethoven

Between 2013 and 2023 HieYon Choi recorded all 32 Beethoven sonatas at Berlin’s Teldex studio. The cycle’s physical edition is hard to source outside of South Koreas, yet can easily be found via download and streaming platforms. Her Bösendorfer grand’s mellow patina and registral distinctions don’t match the power and projection one finds in top-flight Steinways, yet they somehow suit Choi’s attention to small details of articulation and voicing. She fares best in the first 15 sonatas, with a scurrying brio and harmonic awareness that leave Julian Kim’s Op 2 No 3 at the starting gate, along with an Op 10 No 1 finale that takes Beethoven’s optimistic Prestissimo directive on fundamentalist faith, capping one of this sonata’s greatest-ever recorded interpretations. The E flat Sonata, Op 31 No 3, is a model of intelligent bravura. Granted, the pianist can be cautious to a fault (the Pathetique’s outer movements, most of the Hammerklavier, an over sedate Op 78 and low-voltage traversals of Op 31 Nos 1 and 2) or too pre-planned (Op 109). And listeners attracted to Ogasawara’s spacious Op. 111 Arietta may take issue with Choi’s terse stringency. Yet I know that I’ll be returning with pleasure to much of Choi’s cycle, especially in the early sonatas.

Waldstein Sonata – Her performance brims with tension and resilient elasticity. The clear articulation and rhythmic precision, reminiscent of Baroque style, propel the rapid passages forward. It conveys an intellectual aura — academic in nature yet grounded in fidelity to the essence of the work. Her phrasing is expansive. Through HieYon Choi, the stern and rigorous language of Beethoven unfolds with clarity. Her playing carries the breath of the great classical tradition embodied by Wilhelm Kempff and Wilhelm BackhausSonata

No. 30 – In the transition from the first to the second movement, the sustained major triad following the quarter rest is marked ‘p’ in the score, yet Choi renders it nearly ‘pppppp’, to the point of inaudibility. The second movement, in 6/8 or 9/16 (or even 12/32), as in Sonata No. 32, shows rhythmic fluctuations — sometimes fast, sometimes slow, occasionally sudden, or more hesitant than before. The weight balance between the preceding quarter note and the following eighth note is not always differentiated. Positively speaking, she perceives rhythm not as fragmented but as an organic whole, viewing the movement on a large scale; conversely, one might say that fine details are overlooked in favor of the broader architecture. The theme of the third-movement variations unfolds naturally and serenely — much like the variation theme of Sonata No. 32 or the transcendent Aria from her live Goldberg Variations. Before the theme’s return in the final variation, the soaring ascent becomes the cry of Beethoven the free spirit.

The Korean Pianist Hie-Yon Choi won awards for her Beethoven Sonata Cycle in her home country. No wonder, she studied with Klaus Hellwig in Berlin, with Hans Leygraf in Salzburg and with György Sebök in Indiana. Thus she, so to speak, grew up with the classic and romantic repertoires. Now she presents here a recording with four better known Sonatas by Beethoven. And already from the beginning of Op. 31 No. 3 you realize: Choi is more than just at home with the linguistic ductus of this music. She understands this music, reconstruct it and by doing so she can form lots of details to a big entirety. – the biggest challenge for Sonatas. She can subtly untangle Beethoven’s linear work, the deliberate confusion in elaboration of theme for the listener, fill them with life, let them become comprehensible. At the same time her way of playing is connected with magnificent sense of sound, never exaggerate the tempos, (marvelous pacing in Op. 90, the 2nd mvt.!) the dynamic, even the hard accents and eruptions sound mellifluous, without losing their meanings. In op. 81a she traces the pain of statement so convincingly that one could understand the emotions which is transformed in this music. And also, the Op. 109 which is hardly leading to comprehensible flow, she succeeds excellent! What a shame that this CD is released only at Decca Korea.

Pianist HieYon Choi’s new album
Performed on an 1828-born Bösendorfer—a deep, rich, and elegant sound
In contrast to the brilliant tone of a Steinway

A Beethoven recording one wants to keep close for a long time has just been released: an album featuring Beethoven’s Sonatas Nos. 18, 26, 27, and 30, performed by Hie-Yon Choi and issued by the Decca label.

The selection radiates calmness and intimacy. The playing is fluid and elegantly connected, marked by intelligent architecture and free of any vanity. It feels like an intimate conversation with a thoughtful friend. The warm acoustics—like listening in a well-proportioned living room—add to the perfection of the recording.