This troika of piano sonatas shows off some of Beethoven"s most crystalline writing: from the impressionistic, sensual Moonlight to the somewhat mournful Appassionata to the wonderful, intricate aural shoving match of Waldstein. On the grounds of their sheer power, these three took novelist and erstwhile liner notician John Fowles by quiet storm. He writes in his notes to the CD that he"s easily brought to tears, and that Beethoven "knew how to move people quasi-divinely." What happens in Ashkenazy"s performance may--or may not--be divine. But what happens is certainly disruptive of calm, even while issuing forth a level of meditative quality that does ultimately serve to excite. There is no shortage of music in the classical annals that will astonish listeners with virtuosity and technical panache. These piano pieces will instead amaze the ears with their emotive powers, so much so that the technical brilliance of them--or Beethoven"s entire late canon--might even escape the listening mind. And then you may be left, like John Fowles, crying. For more. --Andrew Bartlett