Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 29 Hammerklavier & 15 Variations & Fugue Eroica

French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard is a Beethovenian of distinction, and here he offers two of the composer’s greatest piano works with real authority. Featuring the same theme as the finale of *Symphony No. 3*, the *Eroica Variations* are done with a wonderful sense of detail and a superb feeling for the work’s narrative (theme and variations being a form that always fascinated Beethoven). The mighty *Hammerklavier* is, again, beautifully detailed, with a magnificent display of the piece’s huge and imposing architecture. The slow movement, a degree or two cooler than how it is performed by many other pianists, has a lovely sense of poetry.