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Following his highly acclaimed Beethoven ‘Moonlight’, ‘Pathétique’ and ‘Waldstein’ Sonatas release, Hyperion’s Gramophone-award-winning artist Steven Osborne turns his talents to Beethoven’s complete Bagatelles. Though the composer himself referred to these thirty short piano works, which he penned throughout his life, as ‘trifles’, these are nonetheless trifles from the mind of a genius. In this polished album, Osborne lends his remarkable artistry to everything from the Six Bagatelles of Op 126, which at times occupy the same rarefied spiritual world as the late quartets and were the very last works Beethoven ever wrote for the piano, to the composer’s most famous stand-alone piano piece, the mysterious little A minor Bagatelle known to all the world as ‘Für Elise’.
Beethoven: 7 Bagatelles, Op. 33
No. 1 In E Flat: Andante Grazioso, Quasi Allegretto
No. 2 In C: Scherzo; Trio
No. 3 In F: Allegretto
No. 4 In A: Andante
No. 5 In C: Allegro Ma Non Troppo
No. 6 In D: Allegretto Quasi Andante
No. 7 In A Flat: Presto
Beethoven: 11 Bagatelles, Op. 119
No. 1 In G Minor: Allegretto
No. 2 In C: Andante Con Moto
No. 3 In D: À L'Allemande
No. 4 In A: Andante Cantabile
No. 5 In C Minor: Risoluto
No. 6 In G: Andante; Allegretto
No. 7 In C: Allegro Ma Non Troppo
No. 8 In C: Moderato Cantabile
No. 9 In A Minor: Vivace Moderato
No. 10 In A: Allegramente
No. 11 In B Flat: Andante Ma Non Troppo
Beethoven: 6 Bagatelles, Op. 126
No. 1 In G: Andante Con Moto
No. 2 In G Minor: Allegro
No. 3 In E Flat: Andante
No. 4 In B Minor: Presto
No. 5 In G: Quasi Allegretto
No. 6 In E Flat: Presto
Beethoven: Allegretto Quasi Andante In G Minor, WoO 61a
Allegretto Quasi Andante In G Minor, WoO 61a
Beethoven: Bagatelle In C, WoO 56
Bagatelle In C, WoO 56
Beethoven: Bagatelle In C Minor, WoO 52
Bagatelle In C Minor, WoO 52
Beethoven: Bagatelle In B Flat, WoO 60
Bagatelle In B Flat, WoO 60
Beethoven: Allegretto In B Minor, WoO 61
Allegretto In B Minor, WoO 61
Beethoven: Klavierstück In A Minor, WoO 59, "Für Elise"
Klavierstück In A Minor, WoO 59, "Für Elise"
16th April 2012
“[Beethoven's] Leipzig publisher complained that they were such insignificant trifles no one would believe they were by Beethoven: not only slight but on the whole easy too. The joy of having a player of Steven Osborne's spare, rhythmically incisive brilliance shows the idiocy of the publisher's words.”
22nd April 2012
“vigorously and sparklingly played by Steven Osborne, who must bring his pianistic intelligence to bear on elementary and virtuosic performance levels alike.”
19th April 2012
*****
“the range is enormous...Osborne encompasses this transition in masterly fashion. This disc follows on from his one of Beethoven sonatas, and it ignites a similar joy in the way that he conveys ideas so lucidly and with such subtle shades of tone, distilling the essence of each miniature with potency and freshness.”
July 2012
“It's a part of [Osborne's] personal excursion to seek the individual potency of each Bagatelle...Osborne has delved deep to extract so much from cameos that pack emotional enormity within small spaces.”
June 2012
“The air of faux naivete Osborne brings to these trifles is particualrly persuasive, with understatement providing the perfect setting and foil for Beethoven's droll humour...Whatever preconceptions you may bring to these pieces, the crystal clarity of Osborne's exquisitely polished pianism is an unalloyed joy to the ear...Osborne's new recording will take its place without apology in any company.”
August 2012
***
“His playing is immaculately polished, but here he misses something of the arresting brusqueness, heartfelt lyricism, madcap zaniness, and tender melancholy...Osborne's most expressive playing comes in the reflective moments of the Op. 126 Bagatelles.”
July 2012
“Despite playing on a modern grand, Osborne’s attack, tone and phrasing suggest an awareness of period performance practice. Climaxes are powerfully telling, yet always remain within “classical” parameters...[Osborne is] captivating, with a gentle touch that produces an astonishing inwardness.”
Click on any of the works listed above for alternative recordings.
No. 1 In E Flat: Andante Grazioso, Quasi Allegretto
