Alfred Brendel is generally considered one of the leading Beethoven pianists of our time. I have found his Beethoven recordings to be intellectually convincing, but emotionally rather bland. I've heard some Brendel concert tapes, however, that carried more emotional conviction. Hence, I was doubly disappointed at this , which does come from a concert performance but doesn't seem to work up much excitement either. Brendel 's rather detached approach is more effective in the . But Richard Goode's performances in his complete set (Nonesuch 79328-2) or Sviatoslav Richter's thrilling (Praga PR 254 022) are only some of the recordings that tell me more about these sonatas than Brendel does.