Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos. 28-32. Paul Wee, piano. BIS. $42.99 (2 SACDs).
Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 9, 13, 15, 17, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25 and 27; Fantasia in C minor, K. 475; Piano Sonatas Nos. 11 and 14. Idil Biret, piano. IBA. $45.99 (6 CDs).
If one were to encapsulate the pianism of Paul Wee in a single word, that word would be fearless. Wee seems thoroughly unafraid to tackle anything pianistic whatsoever, and equally unaffected by tradition when it comes to going along with or rejecting composers’ stated desires for their music. This matters a great deal in Beethoven, especially in the complexities of late Beethoven: Wee does not hesitate to do exactly what composers say they want done, while other pianists think "he could not possibly, truly, have meant THAT.” There are perfect examples in Sonata No. 29, to which the label “Hammerklavier” has stuck even though Beethoven also gave No. 28 that designation. Beethoven’s tempo indications for the first and last movements of No. 29, which “everyone knows” are ridiculously fast to the point of being unplayable, are scrupulously observed here, and the familiar music instantly takes on new character and tremendous effectiveness as a result. Similarly, Wee’s second-movement Prestissimo in Sonata No. 30 goes by in a flash, and the music is all the better for it. Yet Wee is just as much at home in the evanescent delicacy of Sonata No. 28 as in the drama in extremis of No. 29. To put it simply, Wee is afraid of nothing in this music, approaching all of it with attentive understanding that, coupled with his formidable technical skill, results in performance after performance being truly revelatory. Wee genuinely absorbs and then proffers the elements of these sonatas that lend them so much gravitas. He makes clear the structural importance of trills, which are not mere ornaments here, and does not hesitate to turn these sonatas into works of exceptional drama – the first movement of No. 29 being a perfect example. Indeed, listening and re-listening to Wee’s way with this sonata, which is Beethoven’s longest, clarifies instance after instance of pianistic insight. True, there is a slight holding back in the third movement, which is a trifle cool and not molto sentimento – it certainly does not wallow. But then the evanescence of the transition between the third and fourth movements is especially good, and the fugue, taken at Beethoven’s indicated speed, is a really amazing experience, verging on the impossible but somehow all kept tightly under control by sheer force of Wee’s will. The complexity-yet-clarity of the final three minutes is simply astonishing, the work ending in what is almost a “fugue of trills.” It is an exhilarating performance to hear and one whose elegance is marvelous to contemplate. And there are similar high points throughout this BIS release. Among them is the end of No. 30, which sounds not like a conclusion as much as an evaporation – a most impressive effect. The remarkable placidity of the early part of the second movement of No. 32 is also noteworthy: the music sounds like a berceuse. Wee is not only a master of the drama in all these sonatas but also is constantly aware of Beethoven’s repeated insistence on expressiveness: the indications espressivo in Nos. 30 and 31, cantabile in No. 32. The final three sonatas have a feeling of surveying the marvelous landscape visible from the top of a mountain scaled (via No. 29) with considerable drama and difficulty. At the same time, the final three sonatas are quite different from each other, and Wee differentiates them to fine effect. His handling of the second and final movement of No. 32 is especially notable. The section that many pianists handle as a sort of proto-jazz presentation is here not “jazzlike” at all – instead, its rhythmic irregularities are reflective of emotional emphases inherent in the music. And Wee definitely has a thing for Beethoven’s use of trills: toward the end of this final sonata movement, the trills become the work’s most prominent feature, as the music glides upward and outward into a realm beyond the earthly – to end in the perfection of utter simplicity. Wee is a thoroughgoing master of Beethoven’s late piano music, as comfortable with its subtleties as with its grandeur. His performances, impressive as they are in themselves, also set an interpretative standard against which other pianists who wish to appear undaunted by late Beethoven would do well to measure themselves.
It is worth pointing out that Wee, like other modern pianists, takes full advantage of a modern piano (in his case a Steinway D) whose capabilities are far beyond anything Beethoven had at his disposal: Beethoven did include, in the finale of Sonata No. 29, a bass note not available to him before but made possible by use of a Broadwood instrument he had recently received – but the newly expanded Broadwood still had only six octaves. The depth of key travel and overall resonance of modern pianos give them a sound very much at odds with what Beethoven and other composers of his time would have known – and this is especially important to remember when playing music less heaven-storming than is much of Beethoven’s. And it is this sensitivity to the composer, this ability to get “in tune” (so to speak) with compositional intent, that is a hallmark of so many performances by Idil Biret – including those of 10 concertos and three solo-piano works on a six-disc release in the ongoing Idil Biret Archive (IBA) series. Biret’s readings here were recorded between 1980 and 2019; some are live performances and some are studio recordings. The various orchestras and conductors are all at least serviceable and often very fine, and the renditions throughout show Biret’s strengths as a Mozart interpreter while also highlighting what can be thought of as flaws. She is highly attuned to the emotional content of the music and does not hesitate to bring it out – her handling of Concerto No. 22 (with the Bursa State Orchestra conducted by Ender Sakpinar) is especially compelling in this regard. But she is not interested in historically informed performance practices and does not hesitate to use modern pianos’ expressive capabilities to expand upon and underline the emotions that she finds within Mozart’s music. As a result, many of these readings sound a touch old-fashioned – not in a pejorative sense, but in the way that they unhesitatingly use Romantic-era techniques (swells, crescendo/decrescendo, pedal emphases, strong piano/forte contrasts, etc.) to communicate Biret’s feelings about what she sees as Mozart’s feelings. One good example is Concerto No. 13 (with the London Mozart Players under Patrick Gallois), which is taken throughout at a leisurely pace with very considerable warmth and which features some highly emotional and ritardando-filled sections in the finale. Interestingly, Biret, in her decades of giving concerts, was much less interested in Mozart’s solo piano works than in his concertos. One disc here includes the Fantasia in C minor, K. 475, and the 11th and 14th sonatas, and all are handled with aplomb, but there is something a trifle dismissive about Biret’s approach (including in the famous Alla Turca that ends No. 11), as if she would really rather be interacting with an orchestra than delivering Mozart by herself. Indeed, the way Biret manages the ebb and flow of material between soloist and ensemble is one of the great strengths of all the performances here, being especially noticeable in Concerto No. 9 (with the Württenberg Orchestra under Jörg Färber). The minor-key concertos, Nos. 20 (with the Sydney Orchestra conducted by Louis Fremaux) and 24 (with the London Mozart Players under John Gibbons) also come across particularly well, with Biret being sensitive to the works’ drama and pathos but knowing, in these cases, not to overdo any tendency to employ the emotive techniques to which modern pianos invite performers. Nothing in this six-CD set is less than impressive; certainly nothing is disappointing or of less than premium quality. Nevertheless, this is a release more for Biret fans than for devoted lovers of Mozart’s piano concertos: there is enough quality variability among the orchestras and in the sound of the various recordings through the years to make this a collector’s item mainly for listeners devoted to the particular excellences of this pianist. Biret’s blend of a light touch in more-upbeat movements with emotional emphasis in more-serious material is attractive throughout. But her determinedly older-style approach to Mozart, while convincing enough on its own terms, will not be to all listeners’ taste now that so many pianists have absorbed so many elements of historically informed performance practice – even when they continue presenting works of the Classical era on pianos of modern times.
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