At first reluctant to make recordings, by the 1930s the great pianist Artur Schnabel fully accepted the new technology. His recordings of Beethoven’s piano music include all the numbered sonatas, originally issued on subscription by the Beethoven Sonata Society. Given his status as the leading Beethoven specialist of his time (or perhaps ever), each disc became the subject of intense scrutiny. The recordings on the present disc were no exception, including Sonata No. 28, Schnabel’s recital performances of which were legendary, and the longest and most demanding of Beethoven’s Sonatas, the ‘Hammerklavier’ Sonata. In his insistence on recording all thirty-two Sonatas, Schnabel left a statement that influenced how we understand and appreciate many of Beethoven’s works.