When these recordings first appeared in the 1970s they met with a degree of critical reserve. Brendel's versions of these pieces for Turnabout were generally considered to have greater spontaneity and directness of approach.
However, the immediate impression here is one of extreme technical and expressive refinement. Brendel's fluent playing eloquently describes Beethoven's increasingly flexible solutions to problems of form, such as in the dramatic concentration of the recitative-and-arioso slow movement of the Op. 110 Sonata, or the contrapuntal detail in the fugal finale of the Hammerklavier. Moreover, the elegance of these performances is further enhanced by superb recording quality. The piano sound, which is highly attractive throughout, has a particularly lustrous quality in the limpid opening of the E major Sonata and the closing pages of Op. 111.
Those who feel that the sound is too soft-centred should try the Scherzo of the Hammerklavier, which has plenty of improvisatory sweep, or the opening movement of the final sonata where the music's sense of mystery is aptly caught.
In a market already crowded with reissues, the advantages of these discs are that they offer excellently recorded, highly-polished performan-ces of sustained musical concentration at bargain price.'