Even I was wondering when the hell I would get around to St Annie. Now is the answer. It's basically evident immediately in her EMI recording that's she's a cut above almost everyone else, all those puny mortals. Her comparatively brisk timing creates expectations of a high energy take, and sure enough that's what one gets. There's superb dynamic gradation, with fortes sounding like fortes, and there's a forceful, almost jittery feel to her quick, high energy playing. It doesn't overwhelm or distract; it sounds the way it's supposed to sound. This is snappy, harder hitting, more aggressive Beethoven, but still humorous Beethoven. And when St Annie wants to transition into or out of high speed playing, she does so with a most impressive, most natural sounding touch. While the Scherzo is not especially fast, St Annie again plays with divergent tempi and belts out the forte notes and chords with zest and rollicks through the music, as if to say for all posterity,
this is how the Scherzo should go! She's not wrong. The Menuetto, well, it's lovely and lyrical and flows, while the Trio is more heavily accented and tense, all in perfect proportion. In the Presto, one hears how to do things again. St Annie doesn't explode of the gate. No, she starts more tentatively and relaxed, and then launches into the music with gusto. She then backs off a bit, and then does it again. She knows to play up the dynamic contrasts, yes she does. There's bite, wit, drive, the whole shebang. A great recording.
Her Hungaroton recording is, too. Oh, yes it is. Stylistically very similar - duh - but benefitting from better recorded sound and quicker decays from the Bosendorfer she uses, everything is essentially turned up to 11. The one drawback is that the pianist's technique seems less secure, even with the superduperspliced editing technique that was used. That written, she seems even more intent on pushing things as far as possible, approaching a degree of recklessness in the fastest passages. But it's musically
pure recklessness. I don't listen to St Annie as much as I probably ought to nowadays, though I've so thoroughly incorporated her approach into my listening experience that even now, with long listening droughts, I still subconsciously compare every artist, every recording to her, and find pretty much all them wanting. Then, when I revisit Fischer's playing, she's even better than I remember, and I remember her as basically the best. That's why she's a saint.