Piano Sonata in B minor

Franz Liszt

B minor

Clifford Curzon

1963

Gil's top choice. A 'really, really powerful interpretation' with 'very well recorded DECA sound.' Curzon 'married the virtuosity with the intellectual side,' showing 'powerful tone,' 'wonderful virtuosity,' and 'beautifully poetic' playing.

Label: DECA

Martha Argerich

1971

A 'very famous version.' 'Very strong and powerful and virtuosic, but very impassioned, too. She just goes for it.' Very well recorded.

Apple Music — Liszt’s Piano Sonata within a recital collection.

Claudio Arrau

1970

An 'iconic version.' 'Very romantically phrased, very powerful sonorities, beautiful legato playing... a very searching artist, very, very emotional,' and 'sumptuously recorded.'

Sviatoslav Richter

1966 Live bootleg recording

A 'bootleg live recording' (coupled with his concertos). The sound is 'not ideal,' but 'it's really, really thrilling,' combining 'virtuosity, the powerful sonorities, along with a probing, searching, artistic mind.'

Apple Music — Piano Sonata on an album with the two piano concertos.

Vladimir Horowitz

1932

'One of the classic piano solo recordings.' It shows his 'powerful sonorities,' 'incredible virtuosity' (he 'could just do anything'), and brings out the 'dramatic aspects of the work.'

Label: EMI / Naxos

Simon Barere

1947 Live at Carnegie Hall

Gil's 'desert island Liszt sonata.' A 'jaw-dropping' live performance that is 'off the charts' in its virtuosity, power, creativity, imagination, and spontaneity. Sound is 'not ideal.'