Alice Sara Ott and Penelope Crawford play Beethoven

[Todd]

   


Lately, when it comes to LvB sonatas, I've been listening to nothing but ladies.  I'm working my way through Idil Biret's cycle that I recently acquired from the great nation of France, and I also recently picked up and listened to these two recordings.

First up is the latest by one of DG's young talents, Ms Alice Sara Ott.  The disc has two big C major works – that's the advertising hook, you see – as well as the Andante Favori and the Rage over a Lost Penny Rondo.  As Ms Ott displays throughout, she can certainly play well.  The only problem is that she really doesn't offer much.  First of all, the overall approach is way too laid back.  The opener, Op 2/3, is a virtuosic showpiece, yet Ms Ott offers something so soft-edged and dull as to almost be soporific.  Where's the energy, the bite?  It's hard to think of a wimpier ending movement.  The same pretty much applies to the grossly underpowered Waldstein.  After listening to it twice, I can't recall any passage that held my attention.  The Andante Favori is quite lovely, but that's about it.  The concluding Rondo is OK, but why listen to OK when one can listen to Esteban Sanchez, who actually makes the piece sound like more than it is.  There is no doubt that Ms Ott's playing is strikingly beautiful – it makes me think she could play some lovely Debussy – but she rides the sustain pedal too much, doesn't play with much oomph, and the processed sound from DG doesn't help.  The disc is pretty but pointless.

Penelope Crawford offers something entirely different.  I'll just go straight to my conclusion: This is one of the best recordings of the last three sonatas that I have ever heard.  And, Ms Crawford uses a fortepiano, which typically ain't my thing.  Ms Crawford is on the staff at University of Michigan, and before that was at Oberlin, and she also has a number of other recordings out there, though this is the first time I've heard her playing.  Sounds like the academic life has served her well, because every  note and phrase in every work sounds both thoroughly thought through and perfectly suited to the moment.  I can't say that there is a great deal of "spontaneity" in her playing, if you will, but everything flows naturally.  That late LvB transcendence is there from the get go, but there's some grit in the repeated chords of Op 110 before the inverted fugue, as well as in the opening movement of Op 111, just as there should be.  The swift passages are swift and agile and controlled, the slower passages contemplative and flowing.  The variations in 109 and 111 are all handled deftly, with a nice boogie woogie variation in 111 that shows how inventive it must have sounded to contemporaries of Lou.  The trills in 111, well, they're pretty nice, too.  Something else that's nice – surprisingly so, for me – is the 1835 Graf that Ms Crawford uses.  It's not as tinkly or thin as some other fortepianos I've heard, and it definitely sounds better than the reproductions used by Ronald Brautigam.  It offers enough tonal variation to satisfy this fan of modern grands, and even shows a nice dynamic range.  In a few passages the sound is nicely limited in a way I can't adequately describe.  No doubt aficionados of the instrument would know what I am referring to.  The instrument also sounds as though it is tuned differently than normal – an Amazon reviewer states that it is "well tempered."  Whatever the case may be, the instrument sounds superb.  And the sound quality of the recording is as good as it gets.  This is an embarrassingly good disc.  It may not hurt to seek out some other recordings by this artist.

[Oldnslow]

Todd, have you heard Alexie Lubimov in Opus 109-111 on fortepiano(Zig Zag). He plays an 1825 Graf. Very beautiful recording, as are his  Schubert Impromptus on fortepiano.

[The new erato]

What label is the Crawford on? Not many hits on amazon.co.uk ot mdt.co.uk.

[Todd]

Todd, have you heard Alexie Lubimov in Opus 109-111 on fortepiano(Zig Zag). He plays an 1825 Graf. Very beautiful recording, as are his  Schubert Impromptus on fortepiano.

I have not, but as I will be importing Francois Frederic Guy's first volume of LvB sonatas, also on ZigZag, I may have to add Mr Lubimov to my cart.

What label is the Crawford on? Not many hits on amazon.co.uk ot mdt.co.uk.

A micro-label called Musica Omnia.

[Brian]

Todd, have you heard Alexie Lubimov in Opus 109-111 on fortepiano(Zig Zag). He plays an 1825 Graf. Very beautiful recording, as are his  Schubert Impromptus on fortepiano.

I've been tasked with reviewing both Lubimov and Crawford this year; my preference is definitely for Crawford's. Her instrument is slightly warmer in tone (his is an Aloiss Graf, not Conrad), in fact she might have the best instrument that's been used to record these works, as Paul Komen's is similarly broad in its palette but a little muffled-sounding. Lubimov's is an idiosyncratic interpretation, capable of good things but also of leaving me a bit disappointed. I do love his Schubert impromptus, but if I could only take one fortepiano Beethoven CD to the desert island, it would probably be Crawford's (or Brautigam's Waldstein/Appassionata).

[Oldnslow]

I found Penelope Crawford's Beethoven very fine, as did Todd and others. I do prefer the earlier fortepianos of Lubimov (and Brautigam's replicas), however, for Beethoven. Crawford's piano sounds more like pianos developed after Beethoven's time, almost like a Pleyel or Erard. I also picked up an earlier (1991) CD of Crawford playing Mozart (K284/475/457/511) where she plays on an earlier Graf (replica) and the sound is more typical of fortepianos during Mozart and Beethoven's time. Once the ear adjusts to it, I find it the clarity and timbre of the period instruments to be more interesting (and more authentic).  If the artist goes beyond period pianos for the time of the music, why not just play on a modern grand? 

[Leon]

I recently d/l the Penelope Crawford recording of the late Beethoven Piano Sonatas and was very impressed. 

[asin]B004GV76PQ[/asin]

One could be forgiven if after hearing this recording they would be surprised to learn it was made using a period instrument and for some HIP/PI aficionados that actually may be cause for alarm (make no mistake, this is without doubt a period performance).  However, these are late works and as such are, arguably, more appropriately played on a later forte-piano which is more similar to the modern grand than what one usually thinks of as a period keyboard. 

Add to this the fact that her playing is some of the best Beethoven I've had the pleasure to experience and I am left with only one complaint: when will she record the other sonatas?

[Todd]

when will she record the other sonatas?

I have asked the same question. 

[Todd]

The second disc of Beethoven sonatas is every bit as good as the first.  Op 78 is refreshingly direct and no-nonsense, with perfectly judged tempi and dynamics.  Op 81a is a bit on the cool, formal side emotionally, and a few passages in the final movement sound just a bit too deliberate and slow, possibly to prevent loss of control (which I judge a good thing), but the tradeoff is that the piece's overall architecture is unusually well served.  Op 90 is possibly the best Beethoven Ms Crawford has recorded.  The opening movement is suitably strident and intense, with marvellous left hand playing, spiced up by the quicker decay and different balance of the bass notes.  The second movement flows beautifully, and Crawford uses the moderator pedal (or whichever special pedal is used) judiciously and to superb effect.  She does the same thing in Op 101.  The opening movement does a fine job of establishing a nice late-LvB soundworld, the march is vigourous, and the last movement boasts clear (though not best in class) fugal playing and an ethereal touch, enhanced by the moderator pedal and emphasized right hand playing in some passages.  Overall, a supremely satisfying disc.  I do hope Crawford sees fit to record the rest of the cycle. 

Superb sound, though not as close to perfect as the first volume.

[Brian]

I just now found out about this:



Schubert - Sonata D. 845
Mendelssohn - Songs without Words (Felix AND Fanny)
Schumann - Waldszenen
1835 Graf piano
recorded in 1998

Listening over the lunch hour.

[Brian]

Listening over the lunch hour.

All pretty much as I expected it to be, but "Vogel als Prophet" with the moderator/mute pedal is pure magic.