The title "first steps to glory" is well-chosen. Three quarters of these recordings were made by a young man who was not yet eighteen years old, while the first quarter was recorded when young Daniel (Barenboim) was barely 13... We can only express our surprise at his striking maturity, even though his reading of Beethoven's monumental sonatas – including their highest peak, the 32nd – sometimes puts a lot of weight on the virtuoso aspect, rather than a deeper analysis of their sound and structure. But the document remains fascinating, underlining how much, in his marrow, Barenboim the pianist is a musician and intimately musical, natural and utterly uninhibited. The most recent recordings date from 1959 and the oldest from 1955, including some stunning Preludes by Shostakovich, with readings of great clarity. © SM/Qobuz