Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 26 in E flat major, Op. 81a 'Les Adieux'

Emil Gilels in a pure Beethoven concert FROM 1980, the late phase of his artistic development. His musicianship is experienced in this late concert, performed five years before his death. An evening of the highest artistic intensity, a mature Beethoven interpretation.

Although he attended the Leipzig Conservatory at the age of ten and five years later studied with Liszt’s pupil Eugen d’Albert for a short time, Wilhelm Backhaus (1884-1969) otherwise received no formal training. He was no stranger to England, having made his London début at the age of sixteen and, when only twenty-one, in the same year that he won the Anton Rubinstein prize in Paris, he took up a post at the Royal Northern College of Music. While there Backhaus deputised for an indisposed Alexander Siloti at a Manchester Hallé Orchestra concert under the great Austro-Hungarian conductor Hans Richter (1843-1916). It was Richter who had conducted the Vienna première of Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and he offered interpretive advice to Backhaus.

In April 1960 Backhaus was at the BBC for a broadcast of three Beethoven Sonatas – Les Adieux, Op.81a, Moonlight, Op.27 No.2 and the last great Piano Sonata in C minor, Op.111. The latter two from this particular broadcast are heard here and most interesting in the C minor Sonata is the tempo Backhaus chooses for the Arietta. Marked Adagio molto semplice e cantabile and often played extremely slowly, Backhaus begins more at an Andante. In doing so he retains a constant tempo throughout and does not speed up for the later variations as some pianists do. The duration of just over thirteen minutes for this movement, including all the repeats, is almost identical to both his mono and stereo studio recordings whereas Wilhelm Kempff, in his mid 1960s recording, takes fifteen and a half minutes.

Backhaus only recorded a handful of Sonatas and Concertos by Mozart. He played K.330, K.331 and K.332, works favoured by many pianists, but he also played two of the earlier Piano Sonatas – K.282 and K.283. For the BBC recital in November 1961 Backhaus chose to play K.330 in C major and K.332 in F major. With a career beginning in the late nineteenth century and continuing to the end of the 1960s, the young Backhaus would have been influenced by the performance practices of the mid-nineteenth century in Mozart playing through the ‘Dresden china’ school of playing Mozart of the 1950s. In the outer movements Backhaus tends to slow down for the second subjects to give a different and contrasting character and in the slow movements he plays with a depth of tone and feeling that may be frowned upon by some urtext performers who think they know the ‘correct’ way to play Mozart. Backhaus knew that the music speaks for itself and his line of thought and sense of structure are always clear and never sentimental. The studio recital ended with Beethoven’s Les Adieux Sonata.

The brilliant 24-year-old Korean pianist HJ Lim, who signed an exclusive contract with EMI Classics in September 2011, has recorded her first project for the label, an ambitious traversal of the Complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas. Lim, a Yamaha exclusive artist, recorded the sonatas on a Yamaha CFX concert grand piano in July and August 2011, grouping them into eight themes. The recordings will be released as four 2-CD sets over the course of 2012 with a complete deluxe box set to be available at the conclusion of the project.

Pianists who record the Beethoven sonatas cycle usually do so at the peak of long and storied careers. With this bold and controversial recording project, HJ Lim aims to prove that at the age of 24 she is ready to record the Beethoven sonatas now. She has the intelligence and artistic vision and her powerful performances have been captivating both traditional and new audiences. She has already performed complete Beethoven sonatas cycles over eight days each in France, Germany and Japan.

One of the most exciting pianists of the younger generation, American Jonathan Biss is widely regarded for his artistry, musical intelligence and deeply felt interpretations, winning international recognition for his orchestral, recital and chamber music performances and for his award-winning recordings. He performs a diverse repertoire ranging from Mozart and Beethoven, through the Romantics to Janácek and Schoenberg as well as works by contemporary composers. This marks the debut release in Biss' complete cycle of Beethoven's Piano Sonatas for Onyx. The first volume features three works from Beethoven's early period and one from the middle - the famous 'Les Adieux'. This programme illustrates how Beethoven's sonatas developed from the early, virtuosic works of the 1790s to the assured compositions of his middle period.

"Biss is not only one of the most technically skilful of young instrumentalists (and heaven knows there are plenty of those around) but he has an emotional maturity that belies his years." Gramophone

The artist writes “I feel the French word ”Voyageurs” best covers, in a single word, the many facets of the traveler…….. Making these various aspects of traveling in the broadest sense of the word, audible is the goal of my selection of these works.” Recorded live at the Vienna Musikverein.