Classical Music: The Beethoven Connection Volume 2

The Beethoven Connection Volume 2

Johann Nepomuk Hummel: Grand Sonata in E Flat Major, Op. 13; Muzio Clementi: Sonata in G Minor, Op. 34 No. 2; Ludwig Berger: Grand Sonata pathétique in C Minor, Op. 1; Carl Czerny: Funeral March on the Death of Ludwig van Beethoven in C minor, Op. 146

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet

Chandos CHAN 20355
chandos.net

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet has a gift for turning musical archaeology into pure pleasure. In this second volume of The Beethoven Connection he has unearthed some lovely pieces, and he plays them with passion and a beautiful tone from his Yamaha piano. His sensitivity, expressiveness and virtuosity shine throughout the recital.

Bavouzet describes the series the way a mountaineer might. Beethoven is the summit, but you only grasp its height by climbing the neighbouring peaks, and each of them shows the others in a new light. As before, he chose the repertoire with guidance from his friend Marc Vignal, an authority on the period, and his delight in rediscovering it comes through in every bar.

Each of the four composers crossed paths with Beethoven after he settled in Vienna late in 1792, though their dealings with him differed widely. What they had in common was a dazzling command of the keyboard.

Hummel opens the disc, and Bavouzet is commanding from the outset, making the most fiendish passages sound like child's play. It is a joyous, energetic work, full of the late autumn sunshine we have all been enjoying. The playful finale is brilliantly done, and its torrent of rapid fingerwork holds no terrors for him.

The Clementi Sonata that follows is reckoned among the composer's finest, and Bavouzet gives it a lucid, thoughtful reading. He shapes the Un poco adagio beautifully. The playing is stylish once again, and the engineering is as assured as the pianism, nowhere more so than in the blazing last movement.

The excitement continues with Ludwig Berger, who taught the young Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn. His Sonate pathétique is in C minor and takes its name from Beethoven's famous sonata, a bold piece of borrowing. It begins with a slow, stormy preamble of crashing tremolos. Bavouzet observes the dynamics carefully, and his fingers get a thorough workout. This charming sonata is a welcome addition to the catalogue.

Czerny, Beethoven's devoted pupil, closes the disc with the Marcia funebre, Op. 146. He wrote it in grief at his teacher's death, and Diabelli published it soon afterwards. It is brief but heartfelt and carefully crafted, and Bavouzet plays it with evident affection.

Bavouzet set out to show us the whole mountain range. Along the way he proves that some of the lower slopes are well worth the climb in their own right.