Philips 0 438 863-2P1-1 (60 minutes: DDD).

Sonata No. 12—selected comparisons: Brendel (3/65) (R) (VOX) 115847-2 Brendel (10/93) (PHIL) 438 306-2PM

Sonatas Nos. 13 and 14—selected comparisons; GiIels (5/83) (DG) 400 036-2GH

Pollini (4/92) (DG) 427 770-2GH Brendel (9/93) (VOX) 115772-2

When a critical intelligence like Alfred Brendel's gets to work on Beethoven you can expect insights, from the shaping of tiny figures to bigger structural issues. His Op. 26 was certainly a mental refresher for me; especially enjoyable were the elegantly shaped staccato figures in the first movement's second variation, the clear voicing in Var. No. 5, and most of all the representation of the Marcia funebre as a real March, with a steady tread, rather than a slow dirge, free from pretentious affetuoso—this convinced me more than either of Brendel's earlier recorded versions.

In the two Op. 27 Sonatas and Op. 49 No. 1, the pleasures are more mixed. The little G minor Sonata certainly isn't treated as a mere filler: the first movement's simple, grave eloquence is wellconveyed; but I have heard Brendel more obviously enjoying himself in the finale in concert. Beethoven's description of both Op. 27 Sonatas as "quasi una fantasia" may refer primarily to structure, but it is the element of the fantastic that I miss most: in Op. 27 No. I the quirky turns of harmony and texture in the opening Andante-Allegro or the surprise return of the Adagio just before the end; in the Moonlight the equally surprising appearance of the light-footed Minuet after the sad, introverted musing of the opening Adagio. Brendel's pointing of the legato-staccato contrasts in that Allegretto Minuet is more effective than Pollini's in his DG version, but it's in the 1965 Vox recording that you find Brendel at his most penetrating, the Allegretto delicate but tense, the staccatos like tiny needlepricks—almost shocking after the dark inwardness of the Adagio. If it's a digital age Op. 27 set you want, then the new Brendel strikes me as less detached than Pollini while providing most of his advantages of clarity and intellectual acuity. Throw the net wider and the choice is vast, but Gilels's Op. 27 coupling has subtlety and inner intensity along with understanding, and Brendel's Vox recording (part of a generous two-disc set) is also compelling, despite the dry sound. SJ