Born in Odessa, ‘the cradle of Russian pianism’ in 1890, Benno Moiseiwitsch was one of the great pianists of the twentieth century. Volume 9 of the Naxos Moiseiwitsch Edition features a superlative reading of Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight’ Sonata, of which the critic of The Gramophone wrote: ‘Moiseiwitsch has surely never made such a good recording as this’. The 1941 recording of the ‘Pathétique’ Sonata is also exceptionally fine, with Moiseiwitsch’s full tone at the beginning faithfully captured by the engineers. The tempo of the Allegro di molto e con brio is urgent and fast, while the pianist’s sublime tonal qualities can be heard to full advantage in the Adagio.