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A Staple of the Piano Repertoire in a Novel Setting By LISA YUI
Since Eugen d'Albert gave concerts of the complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas in the late 19th century, and Artur Schnabel completed his recordings of the entire set in 1935, Beethoven sonata cycles have lost some of their glamour, becoming quite unexceptional—common, even. Numerous recordings, including those of Claudio Arrau, Wilhelm Backhaus, Wilhelm Kempff, and more recently by Daniel Barenboim, Alfred Brendel, Richard Goode, and Seymour Lipkin, have been made. Each year there seem to be at least two or three "marathon concerts" in the city.
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| Lisa Yui and the others pictured on this page are among the 30 pianists to perform in the Beethoven at Yamaha series. |
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Indeed, between March 10 and May 12, another is to take place: Beethoven at Yamaha, a nine-part lecture-concert series of the 32 Beethoven Piano Sonatas, at the recently inaugurated Yamaha Artist Services Piano Salon. A diverse collection of pianists will gather in celebration of this cornerstone of the piano repertoire. This begs the question: Why yet another cycle of the complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas? Pianist Frederic Chiu, who will perform in the March 31 concert, declares: "Why yet another Beethoven sonata cycle? Because music is the greatest, most enduring of the arts, Beethoven was one of history's greatest musicians, the piano sonatas were his greatest genre, and the piano is historically the most important instrument ever invented." Calling Beethoven "a great composer" may seem as plain and bland an observation as calling Rembrandt "an excellent painter," or Shakespeare "a very fine writer." Yet, truth deserves frequent reassertion. In Beethoven's 32 Piano Sonatas, we find testimony of the monumentality of his creative genius. As the late pianist Louis Kentner proclaimed: "The essence of Beethoven, perhaps the greatest artist ever produced by civilization, lies in the piano sonatas."
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| Jed Distler |
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Let us put aside for the moment the rightfully popular barnburners: The "Tempest," "Appassionata," "Pathétique," "Les Adieux," "Moonlight." For all the sonatas are a wonder: just think of the Haydnesque wit of Op. 2, No. 2; the quiet joy of Op. 31, No. 3, the earthy muscularity of Op. 53; the startling originality of Op. 54; the concise humor of Op. 79 (with that middle movement that seems to uncannily foreshadow Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words); the colossal majesty of Op. 106 ("Hammerklavier"); the refined sublimeness of Op. 111. Beethoven never repeats an idea; he always manages to surprise. Such variety seems to call for more than one pianist. The composer and pianist Frederic Rzewski says that, "Beethoven's approach to notation is dialectical: It is precise, often atomic, while simultaneously allowing for a multiplicity of interpretations, all of which can be equally valid. This is why it continues over time to be read in new ways. Yesterday I heard an old recording of Solomon, one of my childhood heroes, playing the 'Moonlight.' I would play the first movement almost three times as fast as he did. But of course his tempo in his time was as interesting as mine might be in mine—I hope."
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| Frank Levy |
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And so, the series has not one, but an impressive collection of 30 pianists that includes Juilliard faculty, students, and alumni: Mirian Conti, Frank Levy, Jerome Lowenthal, Anna Bogolyubova, Vincent Sangare-Balse, Mei-Ting Sun, Gilles Vonsattel, Henry Wong Doe, Yu Zhang, and me. Other notable performers are Frederic Chiu, Jed Distler, Frederic Rzewski, Phillip Kawin, and Peter Vinograde. The concert on April 28 takes a different route: Beethoven in the present. "Inspired by Beethoven" presents Frederic Rzewski, Jerome Lowenthal, and Jed Distler in an evening of music primarily of works influenced by Beethoven. Distler will perform his composition, The 32 Beethoven Sonatas, a one-minute distillation of the entire 32 sonatas (he takes one bar from each sonata—untransposed—and weaves them into a single work!), along with Beethoven's 32 Variations in C Minor. Rzewski will perform the second movement of the Op. 57 Sonata ("Appassionata") followed by his own work, Andante con moto (14 Variations Without a Theme by Beethoven), itself inspired by the slow movement of the Op. 57, with improvised cadenzas. Lowenthal has programmed a collection of cadenzas for Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto, including one dedicated to him by Rzewski. It is rare for such varied programs to be created using works by a single composer. Hearing all the sonatas within a concentrated period of time, one gets a clearer perspective of the development of Beethoven's creative process. While the sonatas are not programmed in chronological order, it seemed symbolically inevitable that the first concert open with the first (Op. 2, No. 1), and the final concert close with the last (Op. 111). Each will be introduced with historical and musical commentary by me.
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| Frederic Rzewski (Photo by Françoise Walot ) |
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The series will take place at Yamaha Artist Services, Inc., which last May opened its doors to a state-of-the-art facility in the 14-story French Renaissance Elizabeth Arden Building on Fifth Avenue and 54th Street—formerly the historic Aeolian Building, the original location of the Aeolian Piano Co. The Piano Salon on the third floor is the first performance venue in the U.S. to install the Active Field Control system, which allows enhancing the acoustic characteristics of a room—it can "tune" the room's acoustics to transform it into a recital hall, symphony hall, rehearsal space, cathedral, all depending on the necessity. Attending a Beethoven sonata cycle is an event in itself, much like attempting to read Proust's In Search of Lost Time in one summer, or watching The Lord of the Rings trilogy in one sitting: It is an experience that one should try out at least once. If you have done it before—well, as one fine writer once asked, "Can one desire too much of a good thing?" All Beethoven at Yamaha concerts take place on Thursdays at 7 p.m. at Yamaha Artist Services, 689 Fifth Avenue, third floor (entrance on 54th Street). Tickets are $15 per concert; $10 with Juilliard ID; $50 for any four concerts; $100 for the entire series. For more information, call (212) 339-9995, ext. 227, or visit www.YamahaArtistServices.com.Juilliard alumna Lisa Yui is on the piano faculty of the School's Music Advancement Program (MAP). She is also on the faculty at the Manhattan School of Music, and teaches a course on the social history of the piano at Marymount Manhattan College. She is the director of the Beethoven at Yamaha series.
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