Dieter Zechlin and Takahiro Sonoda Play Beethoven

[Todd]

My Beethoven sonata collecting, both complete sets and individual discs, has fallen off over the last year or so, but every once in a while I like to try something new.  Since I've already got all the Big Names, and most of the not-so-big names, new cycles will almost invariably be by lesser known or downright obscure pianists.  These two epitomize that.  I've known the name Dieter Zechlin for a while, but only because he recorded a complete cycle for Berlin Classics for the bicentenary of Lou's birth.  Takahiro Sonoda is a name I'd not even seen until a couple months ago.  He's a Japanese pianist who recorded for decades and recorded at least two, and possibly three, complete cycles.  I ended up with his Denon cycle, recorded for the bicentenary of Lou's birth.  Who wins, as it were?

I'll start with Zechlin.  I cannot recall ever reading any glowing praise for his cycle, and one person who had heard the cycle mentioned its straight-forward and somewhat cold sound.  That about sums it up.  There is more to Zechlin, though.  For one, he tends to adopt comparatively brisk tempi.  This lends vigor and energy (if not perhaps youthful energy) to the early sonatas, and some at least superficially exciting passages in later works like the Waldstein and Hammerklavier.  It also tilts the cycle more to the earlier works.  Zechlin is at his best when playing the more exuberant works.  The Op 2 sonatas come off very well, as does Op 7, the first two Op 10 sonatas, and Op 22.  When the musical lifting becomes heavier, he begins to show his limitations.  The Op 31 sonatas, for instance, are somewhat lacking in the flexibility and humor I tend to prefer, though some of the individual movements come off very well – the opener for the first and the closer for the third, say.  The later sonatas reveal more limitations.  Zechlin sounds as though his technique is far more than up to the challenge, but his playing becomes colder, more detached.  So the aforementioned Waldstein takes on a cool slickness, the Appassionata a detached, calculated fieriness.  An at times exciting, but cool Hammerklavier ends up leading to well played but too distant late sonatas. 

I don't mean to be too hard on Mr Zechlin.  Again, his technique is very good, and he doesn't play too willfully.  It's just that he doesn't play with a great deal of character.  Overall, I'd say his cycle is decidedly average, which means that there are obviously much better available, but also much worse.  Indeed, his more or less relentlessly straight-forward approach may even be a good introduction for some.  Sound is of its age, which in LvB cycles means too close and too dry and too artificial.  To see what Zechlin can do, I also opted for his Schubert sonata set, and for some reason he's better there, especially in the more virtuosic pieces (D845 and D850).  Go figure.

Sonoda is different.  His approach to Beethoven is almost devoutly reverential.  (This is also true of Akiyoshi Sako and, even more so, Ikuyo Nakamichi – perhaps it's a relatively common approach for Japanese pianists?)  He adopts slightly slower tempi, especially at the beginning of works.  This leads to him sounding almost stiff at times.  He lingers on tiny details at times, though never for too long, and will seem to almost lose the big picture of a work to focus on little details.  He eschews virtuosic displays.  This approach leads to a different style of cycle from Zechlin's.  Sonoda is definitely at his best in the later works, and perhaps a bit lumbering in some of the earliest works.  In this regard he reminds me of Craig Sheppard.  His style wouldn't really seem to guarantee success in some sonatas, but it frequently does.  Once out of the less than ideally played very early sonatas, his approach does start to pay dividends.  The first truly great sonatas – Op 10/3 and the Pathetique – come across with more than enough gravitas.  The two sonatas quasi una fantasia, which might seem to suffer from Sonoda's style, come off very well.  Indeed, somehow Sonoda manages to sound too stiff and fussy in the first, yet still deliver a reading that, overall, is most satisfying!  The Op 31 sonatas all sound excellent.  The first opens stiff and uncompromising, but can one detect whiffs of fun?  The second movement is exceptional, starting off with mockingly stiff left hand playing.  And a fun closer reveals Sonoda's true outlook.  The other two sonatas in the set also work better than expected.  The Waldstein ends up being a bit of a clunker, but after that Sonoda moves from strength to strength.  Though Sonoda generally downplays his technique, the Appassionata is powerful and thundering.  The Les Adieux, somewhat like 27/1, manages to succeed despite some mannerisms, here (perhaps) too much attention to details.  Op 90 is a blockbuster reading, one of the best I've heard, and then the last five sonatas all sound superb.  Sonoda's attention to detail is evident, but he also manages to focus on the big picture.  The Hammerklavier is energetic enough in the opening movements, searching enough in the slow movement, and a model of contrapuntal clarity in the last movement.  The last sonatas all sound quite fine, even if a few quibbles show up – the big build-up in 110 isn't big enough, the trills in 111 not clear enough.  The quibbles do not, however, prevent Sonoda from playing with that late-LvB goodness the works deserve.

Sonoda's cycle is definitely the better of the two, though I can't say he challenges my established favorites.  He is definitely above average, though.  Until now, Akiyoshi Sako seemed to deliver the best cycle from Japanese pianists, but now I'm not so sure.  Disregarding that ultimately inconsequential qualifier, this is an excellent cycle.  As to sound, well, it's like Zechlin's in that it is too close and too dry, but it's also too metallic and harsh.  There's audible ringing at times.  I'm not sure if this is an accurate representation of Sonoda's tone; I also picked up his Diabelli variations which sound more tonally refined (though it is best listened to in mono given the recording technique).  I also got his Bach recordings, which have a similar sound and approach.  As here, he largely succeeds there, though not perhaps as a world beater.

While my LvB collecting may have dropped off, there are still good thing out there for me to hear.