Stewart Goodyear is the first pianist of African descent to record the complete piano sonatas and piano concertos of Beethoven, to great critical acclaim

Beethoven

The Complete Piano Sonatas

Stewart Goodyear

BBC National 

Orchestra of Wales

Andrew Constantine

Orchid Classics

Stewart Goodyear writes:

Dear Bill,

I have just discovered that I am the first and only black pianist who has recorded the complete piano sonatas and piano concerti of Beethoven. I am attaching in this email the cover of my release of my most recent recording, the complete Beethoven piano concertos. It was released on Orchid Classics this past March. 

Many thanks and best wishes,

Stewart

Dear Bill,

Here are quotes from my reviews of my Beethoven concerti recording:

"In a word, Goodyear embraces the music’s underlying athleticism and youthful energy (all the concertos were, after all, written before Beethoven turned 40)....to be sure, a big part of the sheer joy of this set comes from experiencing the kinetic rapport between pianist, orchestra, and conductor on display in each of these works." -Jonathan Blumhofer, The Arts Fuse

"This music is in his blood. A superb release, beautifully engineered." -Graham Rickson, The Arts Desk

"The results are fleet-fingered, insightful and imaginative, capturing an essential sense of improvisation in the cadenzas (Goodyear is also a composer). The slow movements have a powerful inwardness..The BBC NOW and Constantine provide engaging support and response." -The Guardian

"Goodyear is a pianist of tremendous clarity and precision. He has a beautiful, silver sound, with perfectly lucid trills that must be the envy of his colleagues. Overall, his music-making is reminiscent somehow of the young Rudolf Serkin." -Gramophone, May 2020

"The intelligent virtuosity and stylish affinity distinguishing Stewart Goodyear’s Beethoven piano sonata cycle make themselves felt throughout these accounts of the composer’s five piano concertos." - Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

The New York Times review of my recording of the complete Beethoven sonatas:

“Looking for a holiday gift? This year the record label Marquis released the Canadian pianist Stewart Goodyear’s survey of Beethoven’s piano sonatas (recorded 2010-12) as a 10-disc set. It’s a remarkable achievement for this brilliant pianist and composer who, at 40, has not been heard enough in New York. He plays these seminal works with pristine technique, infectious energy and fascinating attention to details, and uncanny clarity to the contrapuntal tangles of the gargantuan fugue in the “Hammerklavier.” Here he is performing the “Les Adieux” Sonata magnificently two years ago in Frankfurt. And one of my favorite recordings of Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker” is Mr. Goodyear’s 2015 version for solo piano — his own impressively faithful arrangement of the entire score. 

—ANTHONY TOMMASINI, The New York Times

Best wishes,

Stewart

Dear Bill,

I am also sending you a link to a recent interview I did on WQXR where I talk about my journey with Beethoven, and the racism I faced in the classical music industry:

https://www.wqxr.org/story/conversation-stewart-goodyear/

Best wishes,

Stewart

Dear Bill,

Here are two more quotes from the MusicWeb International, who recently made my recording of the Beethoven concerti Recording of the Month in May:

"Glorious, life-embracing performances, very well recorded; surely a high point of the composer’s birthday year (or any other, for that matter)."
– MusicWeb International (Dan Morgan) 

"His cycle is a major achievement and certainly places him among the foremost interpreters of these Beethoven masterpieces."

-MusicWeb International (Robert Cummings)

Best wishes,

Stewart