Beethoven Project Sampler 39:09

Center for 18th Century Music, Cornell University
with
Malcolm Bilson
Tom Beghin
David Breitman
Ursula Duetschler
Zvi Meniker
Bart van Oort
and Andrew Willis

Album Notes

1. A Brief Word on the Recordings 2. Einfuhrung zu den Aufnahmen 3. Un petit mot a propos des enregistrements 4. Sonata in C Major, Opus 2 No. 3 (from IV. Allegro assai) David Breitman 5. Sonata in C Minor, Opus 13, "Pathetique" (from I. Grave - Allegro di molto e con brio) Tom Beghin 6. Sonata in G Major, Opus 31 No. 1 (from I. Allegro vivace) Ursula Deutschler 7. Sonata in C Major, Opus 53 "Waldstein" (from III. Rondo: Allegretto moderator - Prestissimo) Bart van Oort 8. Sonata in F Minor, Opus 57 "Appassionata" (from I. Allegro assai) Zvi Meniker 9. Sonata in A Major, Opus 101 (from I. Etwas lebhaft und mit der innigsten Empfindung) 10. Sonata in B-Flat Major, Opus 106 "Hammerklavier" (from I. Allegro) Andrew Willis

Album Notes

Beethoven's Complete Piano Sonatas Performed on Period Instruments

Claves Records is pleased to announce the release of its Beethoven Edition, a collection of 10 compact discs which presents the complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas including the three early so-called "Bonn sonatas" (works without opus numbers) played by seven different pianists on nine different fortepianos. The group is comprised of Malcolm Bilson and six of his artist-colleagues, all of whom have been associated with the Center for Eighteenth Century Music at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. In 1994, in New York City's Merkin Concert Hall, the group performed the set in eight concerts. Afterwards an anonymous donor offered to help finance the present recording in cooperation with Cornell University and Claves Records. The results differ from other recorded performances not only by the sounds produced; they are the culmination of intensive work by each of the musicians in researching and developing his or her own Beethoven style, learned on instruments with which Beethoven would have been familiar (for the instruments on which we learn can have a great impact on interpretation).

Recording was done in Utrecht, Holland and Ithaca, New York in 1996. A variety of instruments was used to demonstrate the diversity and colorfulness of the various pianos available in Beethoven's Vienna. In addition, the listener will find distinct styles represented by the different players, especially as regards such matters as pedalling, varying of repeats, rubato, etc. Beethoven was known to be a passionate and individualistic player who nevertheless had very particular ideas about how his music should sound, and endeavoured in his notation to convey those ideas. To combine these two elements is doubtless the most difficult task in approaching this music. Thus the individuality of each player was deemed an important factor in presenting this music.

The ten CDs are packaged in a decorative box and are accompanied by a richly illustrated booklet some 120 pages in length with program notes by the individual players in three languages.

Excerpts from the program notes, by Malcolm Bilson:

The thirty-two Beethoven piano sonatas represent the single most important group of works for any pianist. It is no exaggeration to say that piano recitals will more likely feature one of these works than one from any other group of pieces.

In 1994 I and six of my former students performed the entire series in concert on period pianos; to our knowledge the first time in history this had been done as a unit. Through a generous gift by an anonymous donor, a friend of the Cornell University Department of Music, we are now able to present the series on these discs.

This is one of the few recorded sets to include the three so-called Bonn Sonatas, written in the composer's early teens. While not of the remarkable quality of even Beethoven's earliest published works, they are sonatas by him and should, we felt, be included in such a complete set. Likewise the Andante Favori, originally intended as the second movement to Opus 53, has been included here.

Now many of the world's most serious and significant pianists (Schnabel, Serkin, Brendel, Goode, etc.) have devoted a great deal of thoughtful study to the Beethoven sonatas; in general, performance of this music represents a level of erudition and deep contemplation probably unequaled by the works of any other mainstream composer. Serious pianists, such as those mentioned above, study every aspect of these works in minute detail; virtually everything is taken into account except those instruments which inspired Beethoven, and which he had in mind when he composed. Instruments, in the plural - because in the 27 years during which these works came into being changes in Viennese piano construction were dramatic, from the 5-octave Walter type known to Mozart, through the somewhat heavier and more resonant six-octave pianos, to the six-and-one-half-octave Graf-type Beethoven had when he composed the last five sonatas - now more than twice the weight of Mozart's Walter!

The first 16 sonatas, up to Opus 31/1 inclusive, were written for a five-octave instrument, and Beethoven is known to have preferred the fortepianos of Anton Walter over those of other makers. Most of these works, and all three Bonn [Kurfürsten] sonatas will be heard here on copies of pianos by Walter. Interestingly, the early sonatas can forfeit much of their crispness when played on a 1825 Graf, and the later sonatas (even those passages from them that can be played on the 5-octave instrument) lose a great deal in richness and early 19th-century sentiment when played on a Walter.

Nine fortepianos were used for these recordings; some of them copies, some restored originals. Now the French say c'est le ton qui fait la musique, but in the case of Beethoven one might rather assert that it's the gesture that through the sound makes the music. These earlier instruments can suggest very different gestures from those proffered by the modern piano, and can lead the player down quite different paths of expression. The study of Beethoven's manuscripts and the first editions of his works may well be of great importance when approaching his music, yet one's interpretation of those sources can change dramatically when the touch and timbre of the contemporary instrument are in one's ears and under one's fingers.

These performances are not meant in any way to be considered more authentic or more original (or any other mores) than the best performances on modern pianos. Nor do we claim better end results than what is often heard on the later instrument by sensitive artists who feel deeply about these works. My colleagues and I have worked together and exchanged ideas, but what you will hear on these discs represents personal decisions and individual interpretations on the part of each player; there is no "party line."

We would like to consider these performances as a first step toward a fresh evaluation of this repertoire, one that might open up new paths of thought and suggest untried expressive possibilities in the interpretation of these signal works.

Album: Beethoven Piano Sonata Sampler A co-production with Cornell University, Ithaca, NY Recorded in Ithaca, NY and in Utrecht in 1996 Recording Engineer: Claude Gaberel, Image et Son Claves Records, 3600 Thun/Switzerland (p)(c) 1997

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