Artur Schnabel's recordings of Beethoven's piano sonatas

His Master's Voice trademark

Artur Schnabel (17 April 1882 – 15 August 1951) was an Austrian pianist and composer who is considered to be among the greatest and most important musicians of the 20th century. Schnabel continues to be celebrated particularly for his performances of Beethoven and Schubert. Proclaimed by the American music critic, journalist, and writer on music Harold C. Schonberg as "the man who invented Beethoven",[17] Schnabel's pedagogical lineage included Beethoven himself. When he was around ten years old, he began studying with Theodor Leschetizky, who was a student of Carl Czerny. Czerny was Beethoven's student, in addition to being his close friend and assistant.[18] In 1927, on the occasion of the centenary of Beethoven's death, Schnabel performed all 32 Beethoven piano sonatas for the first time in a series of seven recitals at the theatre of the Volksbühne in Berlin.[19][7] He performed the complete cycle three more times in his life; in London in 1934, at New York's Carnegie Hall in 1934,[20] and at the Berliner Philharmonie from 1932 to 1933.[21]

Schnabel witnessed the development of the technology of sound reproduction throughout his life; the player piano, the radio, and the phonograph record were all invented during his lifetime.[4] In 1905, he recorded several piano rolls on a Welte-Mignon, including works of Chopin, Bach, Schubert, Brahms, Weber, and Josef Strauss.[4][22] These are Schnabel's first known recordings, albeit not of sound. A few weeks after making the piano rolls, Schnabel wrote in the Welte Autograph Book: "With the artistic excellence of the Welte-Mignon, the extreme limits of possibility in the mechanical reproduction of music appear to have been reached. ... Instead of all traces of his art disappearing with the last note played, the Pianist has now the consoling certainty that his performances will survive him."[22] About a year later, Ludwig Hupfeld placed another reproducing piano on the German market. Schnabel also made several rolls on this new instrument, including a Chopin etude, a Schumann romance, and a Weber rondo.[23] In 1922, Schnabel made rolls on an American Piano Company (Ampico) instrument during his first American tour as part of a contractual obligation. In addition to works of Bach, Brahms, Schubert, and Weber, he recorded two pieces of Beethoven.[23]

The Great Depression struck shortly after Schnabel's first performances of the 32 Beethoven piano sonatas in Berlin’s Volksbühne. As a result, record companies experienced a drop in sales.[7] The British record label His Master's Voice (HMV) made plans to release "Society" recordings, where wealthier classical music consumers could obtain recordings of "works or groups of musical works that appeal in the first instance more cultivated than to the general musical taste" by advance subscription.[7] In 1929,[19] Schnabel was approached by Fred Gaisberg, the artists' representative of Gramophone Company, the parent company of HMV.[24] Gaisberg put forward a proposal to record all the works that Beethoven had written for the piano.[25][note 1] Before this proposal was made, Schnabel had refused to make records for years.[19] He said that recordings went "against the very nature of performance, for the nature of performance is to happen but once, to be absolutely ephemeral and unrepeatable."[25] However, Schnabel would eventually choose to take on the project, and the Beethoven Society (referred to in some sources as the Beethoven Sonata Society) was formed, via which the records would be sold.[26] The Beethoven Society was established less than a year after the Hugo Wolf Society, which produced recordings of songs by Hugo Wolf, was created in 1931.[7]

In mid-January,[27] Schnabel tested the gramophone for the first time.[26] He reported that the tests produced records that were "ugly in sound" but "musically satisfactory", which Cesar Saerchinger noted was "a seemingly curious distinction for a man who was praised throughout his career for his beautiful tone."[26] In early February, Schnabel signed his contract.[26]

Principal recording of the complete sonatas for HMV took place from January 1932 to November 1935, with touch-up recording made to several sonatas in 1937.[6][28] All of the sonatas were recorded in Abbey Road Studios's Studio No. 3[29] with Schnabel playing a C. Bechstein grand piano.[2] The recordings were made on 78 rpm discs with each side holding approximately four minutes of music; "suitable breaks in the music, where one side ends and the next begins, had to be carefully worked out".[3] The first recording session took place on 21 January 1932.[8] The Piano Sonata No. 31 in A♭ major (Op. 110) was completed that day.[30][3] Schnabel also recorded two other sonatas that day, but problems related to the side-break placements prevented him from completing them successfully;[3][31] they were finished later. Concurrently with the sonatas, Schnabel also recorded all five Beethoven piano concertos under the baton of Sir Malcolm Sargent.[32]