BEETHOVEN: Sonatas, Opus 90; Opus 101, Opus...

BEETHOVEN: Sonatas, Opus 90; Opus 101, Opus 106. John O’Conor, piano. Telarc CD-80335. Approaching a conclusion in his projected nine-recording series devoted to the 32 piano sonatas of Beethoven, O’Conor offers again grace, clarity and directness of expression in his penultimate volume. Every note seems well-considered, the slow movement of the “Hammerklavier” particularly engrossing, yet utterly without over-interpretation. The Fugues in Opus 101 and Opus 106 hold no terrors for O’Conor, who simply lays out the composer’s thought, apprehendably. Authoritative, fluent and poetic playing, clarified to a fault.