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Are you going to review Paul Wee's recording of the last 5 Beethoven piano sonatas? Posted by Paul Breslin on May 19, 2026, 9:37 pm I'm waiting with keen curiosity to see what your critics make of this recording. I took a chance on it and found it thrilling, though some may find it extreme. Fast movements are very fast--the first movement of OP.106 comes in at just under 10 minutes but with no sense of desperate scrambling to get all the notes. Wee is also one of the few pianists who makes sense of the angular fugue in the last movement, a sort of companion to the Grosse Fuga in the gnarly counterpoint department. Tempo changes are like wise pronounced, as are abrupt changes in dynamics. This is sort of how I imagine Beethoven might have played these works. How Paul Wee manages to perform at this level while sustaining a full-time career as a barrister I cannot imagine. But apparently he can!

Re: Are you going to review Paul Wee's recording of the last 5 Beethoven piano sonatas? Posted by Dominic Hartley on May 21, 2026, 10:28 am, in reply to "Are you going to review Paul Wee's recording of the last 5 Beethoven piano sonatas?" Hi Paul, these are on my list certainly and I hope to put pen to paper soon. Short version, I agree they're thrilling. And what an extraordinary talent he is. Most of us would be happy with a small fraction of what he's achieved in music or the law! Previous Message I'm waiting with keen curiosity to see what your critics make of this recording. I took a chance on it and found it thrilling, though some may find it extreme. Fast movements are very fast--the first movement of OP.106 comes in at just under 10 minutes but with no sense of desperate scrambling to get all the notes. Wee is also one of the few pianists who makes sense of the angular fugue in the last movement, a sort of companion to the Grosse Fuga in the gnarly counterpoint department. Tempo changes are like wise pronounced, as are abrupt changes in dynamics. This is sort of how I imagine Beethoven might have played these works. How Paul Wee manages to perform at this level while sustaining a full-time career as a barrister I cannot imagine. But apparently he can!

Re: Are you going to review Paul Wee's recording of the last 5 Beethoven piano sonatas? Posted by Paul Breslin on May 25, 2026, 10:31 pm, in reply to "Re: Are you going to review Paul Wee's recording of the last 5 Beethoven piano sonatas?" Hi Dominic, I look forward to reading your review. A correction to my previous note: Of course, it's Grosse Fuge, not "Fuga." (Must've been tired when I posted.) And an addendum: what I didn't mention is how remarkable it is that Wee's performances do equal justice to slow, introspective passages and fast, explosive ones. Late Beethoven sometimes turns on a dime from one to the other, and Wee balances the extremes beautifully. Previous Message Hi Paul, these are on my list certainly and I hope to put pen to paper soon. Short version, I agree they're thrilling. And what an extraordinary talent he is. Most of us would be happy with a small fraction of what he's achieved in music or the law! Previous Message I'm waiting with keen curiosity to see what your critics make of this recording. I took a chance on it and found it thrilling, though some may find it extreme. Fast movements are very fast--the first movement of OP.106 comes in at just under 10 minutes but with no sense of desperate scrambling to get all the notes. Wee is also one of the few pianists who makes sense of the angular fugue in the last movement, a sort of companion to the Grosse Fuga in the gnarly counterpoint department. Tempo changes are like wise pronounced, as are abrupt changes in dynamics. This is sort of how I imagine Beethoven might have played these works. How Paul Wee manages to perform at this level while sustaining a full-time career as a barrister I cannot imagine. But apparently he can!

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