finished listening to and ended up souring on the Levit set, good riddance, never have to listen to that again. decided to go through Scherbakov's Beethoven piano sonatas set now. I've been a fan of his since his wonderful Shostakovich 24 Preludes and Fugues recording, among some other things. Liking it so far. His approach is on the sensitive, expressive side while maintaining some classical restraint without descending into full mawkishness like, say, Barenboim.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD51u2PrpEM&list=OLAK5uy_nnGkkuJ4lQTqShj3fWwz8RjEOICSW9RF0&index=77

Definitely not heroic or fiery Beethoven, which is exactly what I'm looking for right now.