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‘A little more and I would have ended my life... only my art held me back’, says Beethoven in his ‘Heiligenstadt Testament’.
Partly contemporary with this key document of summer 1802, these three sonatas open up the ‘new paths’ that were to enable the composer to surmount the prospect of almost total deafness. Paul Lewis chose to inaugurate his complete recording of the sonatas by plunging into the heart of this Tempest.
Beethoven: Piano Sonata #16 In G, Op. 31/1 - 1. Allegro Vivace
Beethoven: Piano Sonata #16 In G, Op. 31/1 - 2. Adagio Grazioso
Beethoven: Piano Sonata #16 In G, Op. 31/1 - 3. Rondo: Allegretto, Adagio, Presto
Beethoven: Piano Sonata #17 In D Minor, Op. 31/2, "Tempest" - 1. Largo, Allegro
Beethoven: Piano Sonata #17 In D Minor, Op. 31/2, "Tempest" - 2. Adagio
Beethoven: Piano Sonata #17 In D Minor, Op. 31/2, "Tempest" - 3. Allegretto
Beethoven: Piano Sonata #18 In E Flat, Op. 31/3, "The Hunt" - 1. Allegro
Beethoven: Piano Sonata #18 In E Flat, Op. 31/3, "The Hunt" - 2. Scherzo: Allegretto Vivace
Beethoven: Piano Sonata #18 In E Flat, Op. 31/3, "The Hunt" - 3. Menuetto: Moderato Grazioso
Beethoven: Piano Sonata #18 In E Flat, Op. 31/3, "The Hunt" - 4. Presto Con Fuoco
2010
“Paul Lewis launches his cycle of the 32 Beethoven sonatas with a triptych of richly varied middle-period masterpieces, the Op 31 set. A more auspicious start would be hard to imagine. True, others may characterise the first and third sonatas more playfully or show themselves more obviously attuned to Beethoven's scintillating wit and whimsy, but Lewis's unalloyed musicianship and overall mastery are worth their weight in gold; every bar declares his calibre and generosity of spirit. Sometimes his warmth and flexibility suggest Beethoven seen, as it were, through Schubert's eyes (the finale to Op 31 No 1) and he often suggests a darker, more serious side to the composer's laughter and high jinks. But he plays Beethoven's humorous afterthought at the close of the Op 31 No 1's Allegro vivace as to the manner born and his presto coda to the finale becomes a joyous chase. His way with the so-called Tempest Sonata is a reminder, too, of his outwardly relaxed mastery, quite without a sign of a skewed or telescoped phrase and with page after page given with a quiet but superbly focused intensity. His Adagio is gravely processional, his finale (that agitated, teasingly enigmatic moto perpetuo) acutely yet subtly and unobtrusively characterised. Again, while others may offer a swifter trajectory through No 3's finale, Lewis's wish to give substance to every note carries its own unswerving conviction. Harmonia Mundi's sound is excellent.”
September 2005
****
“A one-time pupil of Brendel, his former teacher's influence perhaps shows in such touches as the increased urgency at the point where the second subject of the opening work turns from major to minor; or the gentle and gracious account of the same Sonata's Allegretto finale, quite beautifully performed. Not that Lewis's interpretations are in any sense derivative: they are well-considered and personal accounts, and the so-called Tempest Sonata (Op. 31 No. 2) in particular is superbly done...”
Awards Issue 2005
“…Lewis's unalloyed musicianship and overall mastery are worth their weight in gold; every bar declares his calibre and generosity of spirit.”
Click on any of the works listed above for alternative recordings.
Beethoven: Piano Sonata #16 In G, Op. 31/1 - 1. Allegro Vivace
