Beethoven: Sonatas, Opp. 81a, 90 & 106

Beethoven: Sonatas, Opp. 81a, 90 & 106

Beethoven: Sonatas, Opp. 81a, 90 & 106
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CD Details

Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven
Performer: Ronald Brautigam
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown)
Format: Hybrid SACD - DSD, Import
CD Release Date: 2009-08-25
Music Label: Bis
Soundtracks:
  1. Piano Sonata No. 26 in E flat major ('Les Adieux'), Op. 81a: 1. Das Lebewohl (Les Adieux) Adagio - Allegro
  2. Piano Sonata No. 26 in E flat major ('Les Adieux'), Op. 81a: 2. Abwesenheit (L'Absence) Andante espressivo (In gehender Bewegung, doc
  3. Piano Sonata No. 26 in E flat major ('Les Adieux'), Op. 81a: 3. Das Wiedersehen (Le Retour) Vivacissimamente (Im lebhaftesten ZeitmaĆ?
  4. Piano Sonata No. 27 in E minor, Op. 90: 1. Mit Lebhaftigkeit und durchaus mit Empfindung und Ausdruck
  5. Piano Sonata No. 27 in E minor, Op. 90: 2. Nicht zu geschwind und sehr singbahr vorgetragen
  6. Piano Sonata No. 29 in B flat major ('Hammerklavier'), Op. 106: 1. Allegro
  7. Piano Sonata No. 29 in B flat major ('Hammerklavier'), Op. 106: 2. Scherzo. Assai vivace
  8. Piano Sonata No. 29 in B flat major ('Hammerklavier'), Op. 106: 3. Adagio sostenuto (Appassionato e con molto sentimento)
  9. Piano Sonata No. 29 in B flat major ('Hammerklavier'), Op. 106: 4. Largo - Allegro risoluto - Fuga a tre voci, con alcune licenze

Music reviews of Beethoven: Sonatas, Opp. 81a, 90 & 106

Music Review: 4.75 stars -- virtuosity mated to drive and musicality
Rating: 4 Stars

While I've never seen him in concert, I've closely followed the career of Hollander Ronald Brautigam (born 1954) since acquiring his outstanding recording of Mendelssohn's three piano concertos on BIS Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy: Piano Concertos. Since that time, he has gone on to record most of the solo piano music of Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven. This is installment No. 7 in his series of Beethoven piano sonatas, containing two named sonatas, No. 26 "Les Adieux" Op. 81a and No. 29 "Hammerklavier" Op. 106. Between them, Brautigam sandwiches the Sonata No. 27 in E minor, Op. 90.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this recording even though BBC Music Magazine gave it a rave in the October 2009 issue. I recall that review singled out the virtuosity Brautigam displayed in the finale of the Sonata No. 26 "Les Adieux" in the return section. I have a unique circumstance to relate when that time first arrived in my household.

When Brautigam made the uninterrupted transfer from the second movement "absence" section to the finale, with that long winding run up the keyboard to the introductory right hand figure, then to the majestic and viruosic music that follows, my 15-year-old brindle cat displayed untoward joy. She ran about the household as if overwhelmed by youthful verve, bearing to and fro before rampaging to the den and jumping atop the entertainment center, where she often sleeps.

Mind you, this is a 15-year-old cat, a cat overweight by any standard that spends most of her life lying on your lap, the back of the chair, or the bed, or eating. She was as turned on by Brautigam's virtuosity as anytime I've seen her in her adult life! I think Libby is a judicious critic, as well. She tolerates my musical addiction but often leaves the room when music becomes overbearing or too much minor key drama overtakes her world. She not only stuck around the "the return," she reveled in it.

I can think of no better way to tell you of the wonder of Brautigam's playing in this recording. He has always been a virtuoso of the Horowitz school, a strange thing for a fellow trained in part by Rudolf Serkin. None of Serkin's studied, almost introspective, German style is reflected in his playing here or elsewhere. Neither is he very Germanic in his pacing, which seems a couple points faster than the average German in this repertory.

Brautigam could have used a bit of reserve during the opening phrases of the Hammerklavier sonata's Adagio sostenuto. There, he was a bit too literal, moving a bit too andante (at a walking speed), and he did not immediately adjust to the legato poetry we've heard from the Pollini Beethoven: Die Späten Klaviersonaten. This is a transitory shortcoming, however, as Brautigam soon realizes the meaning of the score and translates it as well as any recording of the Sonata No. 29 I've heard.

I was at first a bit perturbed by the sound of this super audio recording until I remembered Brautigam is playing a copy of a 19th century instrument. The fortepiano was built in 2007 by Paul McNulty and is a copy of an 1819 Graf with the thin soundboard and light hammers of the era. When I took this into consideration, I reassessed and thought the sound remarkable. It played well on my 5.1 super audio setup with the rear channels being echo only. There may be a bit of balance to the center and right channels, but this seems moderated at lower volume.

Until now, my favorite recording of "Les Adieux" has been Wilhelm Backhaus's 1954 recording from his Great Pianists of the Century recording Great Pianists of the 20th Century - Wilhelm Backhaus. Backhaus still endears himself with a poetic touch that transcends the more hard-driving and virtuosic Brautigam, but the latter's overall demonstration of the sonata is on a par with anyone and is, in my opinion, ahead of the likes of Rubinstein Arthur Rubinstein: Ludwig Van Beethoven Piano Sonatas and Paul Lewis Beethoven: Piano Sonatas, Vol. 4. He is equally good in the cheerful Sonata No. 27, maybe even better, temperamentally, and his virtuosity is put to expert use in the masterly "Hammerklavier" sonata with the above-noted literalism being the only noticeable debit.

The CD comes in a sturdy one piece case that won't fracture easily. The package contains four pages on multilingual notes translated from Dutch (Roeland Hazendonk, author), a one-page bio of the performer taken almost word for word from Brautigam's Web site, and a half-page about the instrument with photos of it and the pianist. Anyone that likes this concert and is interested in hearing Beethoven on a fortepiano should investigate this issue with some urgency. Subtlety may be missing from time to time but this is exemplary playing and an outburst of musical life rare even for Beethoven.
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