With this reissue Vanguard Classics embarks on what I hope will be a full-scale survey of Bruce Hungerford’s Beethoven recordings. Between 1965 and 1977 (when he died in a car accident at age 54), the pianist recorded 22 out of the composer’s 32 sonatas. Notwithstanding its truncated status, Hungerford’s Beethoven cycle deserves to be ranked among the complete reference versions of Schnabel, Kempff, Arrau, Frank, Nat, and Goode. Fleetness, clarity, and reserve characterize Hungerford’s projection of the F minor sonata’s outer movements, while the A major and E-flat major sonatas’ rollicking astringency and forward-moving drive prove even more convincing. Like Glenn Gould and Friederich Gulda, Hungerford takes the C minor sonata’s third-movement Prestissimo at face value, and in the process manages more characterized, differentiated articulation.
Some listeners, however, may be distracted by unduly prominent pedal noises that create a kind of thumping counterpoint to the music. Playing time is not particularly generous: the producers easily could have included an extra sonata per disc with room to spare. But don’t let these quibbles prevent you from hearing Hungerford’s highly distinctive and distinguished Beethoven playing.
