Clementi: Sonata in C Major, Op. 37 No. 1

Howard Shelley’s acclaimed series of the complete Piano Sonatas of Clementi reaches its penultimate volume. In the latter half of the 1790s, when all the sonatas and sonatinas heard in this recording (with the exception of the Sonata Op 46) were published, Clementi apparently devoted his energies mainly to teaching. His pupils included members of wellplaced families in London who were able to meet his reported fee of one guinea per lesson. He also had among his students aspiring professionals, including J B Cramer, Theresa Jansen, Benoit-August Bertini, and John Field.

The sonatas heard here, owing to their technical difficulty, appear for the most part to be addressed to such students and other accomplished pianists—and perhaps for Clementi’s own performance in private circles. The sonatinas are clearly intended for less advanced pupils; today they are Clementi’s most well-known works as countless young pianists are still given them for instruction. Therefore this set should be of particular interest to many of those pupils and their teachers.

Albert Wong was aged 11 at the time of the recording in 2001.

The only complete Clementi cycle played on fortepiano.

Also named as the “Clementi” sonatas due to the newly invented technique that was for the first time used at that time, explained in the booklet note.

Muzio Clementi (1752-1832) was one of the most influential pianist composers of the late classical period. A friend of Beethoven, the teacher of John Field, and rival to Mozart as a piano virtuoso. He was also a publisher and a piano manufacturer. His upbringing was unconventional to say the least - his family ‘sold’ him to an English nobleman Peter Beckford, who took him to his country estate in Dorset where he received the education of a young Englishman, and taught music to the daughters of the Beckford family. Clementi eventually moved to London where he quickly made the acquaintance of Salomon, Dussek, Cramer and Haydn and made his name as one of the foremost composers for the piano of his time. He was also closely associated with the technical development of the piano towards the grand pianos we are used to today in concert halls.

His late sonatas inhabit an early romantic world, and are very impressive works that for-shadow Beethoven in places.The works in this 3CD set date from the years 1791-1802 when Clementi was based in London. The second of the op34 Sonatas in G minor is an especially striking work, and is followed by a wonderful free spirited Capriccio, which sounds almost improvisatory - a good example of Clementi’s forward looking nature as a composer. The op36 Sonatinas have proved the most long lived of all his compositions, and known to all aspiring pianists. They get more difficult (progressive) as their mood and character changes. Clementi’s pedagogic works ‘Gradus ad Parnassum’ and ‘Introduction to the art of piano playing’ remain in print today, and were admired by Beethoven.These 3 sonatinas appeared in the latter work.