Hailed as ‘the new Anton Rubinstein’ early in his career, Walter Gieseking sought to convey all the excitement and drama in Beethoven’s piano sonatas. This 1939 recording of the Waldstein Sonata was described in Gramophone as ‘distinguished by an amazing range of tone-colour, a never-failing sensitiveness to the demands of the music, and tremendously vital rhythm.’ The ‘Appassionata’ was received in America as ‘a superb recording that conveys the most subtle nuances as well as emotional vigour’, and the Sonata Op. 101 as ‘one of the finest interpretations and recording…the work emerges with a balance and clarity that could not be improved upon.’