This latest volume in his complete Beethoven sonata cycle clearly demonstrates John O'Conor's eloquent style and careful approach. The opening of the E minor Sonata, Op. 90, is crisp and positive and O'Conor's thoughtful musical characterization and close attention to detail produces some charming results.
O'Conor's fluid style is particularly effective in the A major Sonata, Op. 101, where the 6/8 first movement has a delightful, dance-like quality which seems logically to find its counterpart in the stronger rhythmic profile of the second movement. However, the sheer forward drive of the finale occasionally blurs the contrapuntal detail.
The main event is the Hammerklavier Sonata, and it is here that O'Conor's evident excitement and enthusiasm for this music is most apparent. There is plenty of panache and spontaneity, but the musical image is not always as sharply in focus as in the first two works recorded here and, to my ears, O'Conor's tendency to fast tempos does not always give enough time for his interpretation to take effect. The Scherzo, for example, sounds breathless at times, and the Adagio is not the serene experience of Gilels's performance on DG.
The catalogue is already bulging with recordings of these pieces, and many will have their champions. However, O'Conor's versions have plenty to recommend them. The piano sound is clear and bright and, although it does not have the bloom of Brendel's recently reissued recordings for Philips from the 1970s (see below), it is softer than in the Gilels version.'