Joel Schoenhals Plays Beethoven

[Todd]

So, like, until I started snooping for new LvB sonata cycles I'd never heard of, I'd never seen the name Joel Schoenhals.  Taking right from his website, he's a "professor of Piano at Eastern Michigan University and Foreign Expert at Central China Normal University in Wuhan, Hubei, China."  Further taking from his site, "between 2012 and 2016, Schoenhals performed the cycle of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas, reaching thousands of Michiganders through over 70 community engagement concerts in salon atmospheres as well as in historic Pease Auditorium at Eastern Michigan University.  Live video recordings of the complete cycle can be found on the music living project website and on his YouTube channel."  I do believe this is the first cycle I have heard recorded in one or multiple venues in the Wolverine State. 

The first concert includes the first four sonatas.  The first noticeable trait is the poor sound, as it streams/ed at 48 Kbps.  Adjusting for that, the second noticeable trait is the quick speed and high energy in the Allegro.  The third is the slightly unsteady pulse.  The bit rate increased to 320 Kbps in the Adagio, but overall sound quality doesn't much improve.  The playing is slower, but still has a slight unsteadiness of pulse, but it falls squarely in the OK category.  The Menuetto offers more of the same style, and the Prestissimo has decent enough speed and drive but lacks adequate oomph.  Op 2/2 more or less continues along the same lines, with a few passages marred by lack of clarity and not so hot rubato.  The middle section of the Allegro vivace basically reinforces Schoenhals' superpower, or at least midpower – his peppiness.  The Largo is slow, though I'm not convinced it meets the appassionato designation.  The Scherzo sounds fine in quicker passages, a bit less so in slower passages, and the Rondo glides along quite nicely, even with a few fudges.  (Hey, it is unedited.)  Op 2/3 starts with a brio laden Allegro, but a couple fudges kind of make the listener wince a tad.  The Adagio offers a respite of sorts and works better than the prior slow movements.  Fortunately, Schoenhals remains tidier in the last two movements and keeps the same energy as in the opener.  Still, this is not top notch stuff.  The "concert" ends with Op 7.  Somewhat bizarrely, particularly if it really is from one concert, the recorded sound is closer and less resonant.  Anyhoo, the Allegro molto e con brio starts with nicely insistent rhythm and cruises along.  The recording doesn't allow for maximum dynamic contrast, but it's there.  The Largo, while dynamically constrained, sounds more satisfying than the three opening slow movements.  The pianissimo playing, in particular, is quite fine.  The Allegro is pretty much conventional in approach, if a bit light.  Some of the playing displays nice little touches.  The sonata offers a stepwise qualitative improvement.  I know the set is advertised as live and unedited, but this sure sounds like a studio recording, and it differs from the YouTube recording.  There is applause at the end, though not at the beginning, so for now I'll treat it as legit as described, with as asterisk.

The second concert starts with 10/1, and here Schoenhals holds the opening chord a smidge longer than normal before playing the ascending arpeggios in a very blurred way.  The fudges make it clear that this is a straight up concert recording.  Energy levels are so-so.  The Adagio floats along decently, but because of either excess reliance on the sustain or the recording, it's kind of a hazy cloud.  The finale has nice enough energy and drive, but it's also ho-hum.  10/2 comes off comparatively better, with a breezy feel in the opening Allegro.  Decent dynamic contrasts pepper the playing, and the forward drive sounds swell.  Schoenhals adds some overt interpretation in the Menuetto by going quite slow to open, but all other playing traits are within conventional bounds.  The piano and pianissimo playing is noteworthy here, as well.  The Presto bounces along, all pep and boogie, right through.  Had the repeat been observed, this take could withstand comparisons to some heavy hitters, to the extent they exist with this sonata.  10/3 starts off with similar peppiness in the Presto, with nice diminuendi and some occasional flashes of less than ironclad command.  It works nicely enough, though.  The Largo starts nice and slow, with latent drama from the start.  The movement is mostly a slow-burn type, though the climax spins up to quick and nearly intense playing.  Not bad, not great.  The Menuetto is nicely energetic, and the Rondo starts with some really lovely playing before moving to some more energetic stylings.  Overall, it's a relative step down from 10/2, but probably would hold its own against third tier versions in a shootout.  Op 13 starts off with a softly dramatic Grave then moves to a nicely peppy Allegro.  Some nifty little accelerations here and there and some slightly punchy dynamics add variety in an otherwise straight-forward reading, the botched passage around 8' aside.  (It is definitely unedited.)  The Adagio flows nicely, sounds lovely, but is mostly uneventful.  The Rondo is filled with pep, a few fudges, and ends the work decently enough.

The third concert starts off with the Op 49 sonatas.  Both are fine, simply played, tuneful, and beautiful enough to satisfy, with some nifty and extensive embellishments thrown in the second movement of 49/2 to good effect.  The cycle circles back to the Op 14 sonatas next.  14/1 starts with a rhythmically buoyant Allegro and it cruises along nicely, blending in with dozens of other somewhat indistinct takes.  A bit more interpretation comes in the Allegretto, which Schoenhals plays quite slowly, with hints of (repressed) middle period drama.  The Rondo is light, quick, breezy, and if not interpretively novel, it is rock solid in a safe take way.  14/2 starts with a lovely 'n' pluck Allegro, with some really singing legato.  The Andante is mostly fine, lovely, and marchy, but the second variation sounds somewhat disjointed at the start.  The Scherzo, with some nicely punchy chords sprinkled throughout, sounds nice but is a bit low energy.  The Allegro con brio of Op 22 mostly makes up for less than rock solid playing with ample bubbly energy.  Schoenhals goes for some big contrast with a subdued, slow, and nicely expressive Adagio.  It does sort of drift a bit as the movement progresses, but it's not bad.  The outer sections of Menuetto sound, well, sweet and mostly note perfect, while the middle section has a bit of heat.  The Rondo emphasizes the lyrical over the energetic and mostly chugs along with good enough fluidity. 

Concert four starts with Op 26.  It kicks off with a nice enough Andante theme with a couple personal touches, while the variations are more miss than hit.  The second does boogie along nicely, but the third and fourth variations sound kludgy and stiff and somewhat unsteady even at a slow tempo.  The moderately paced Scherzo falls into the decent and forgettable category.  The quickish funeral march is decently dramatic, with some punchy chords here and there.  It's not particularly serious or funereal, though.  It seems better suited as background music for workers standing in line at a corporate HQ cafeteria waiting for some Sysco pizza.  The Rondo is a bit on the broad side, and displays some unsteadiness displayed in earlier movements.  I don't want to seem too negative; this (almost) certainly cracks the top one hundred recordings of the work.  The first sonata quasi una fantasia starts with a perfectly pleasant Andante, then starts the Allegro boldly only to pull a switcheroo and go too slowly.  The second Andante section sound perfectly pleasant again.  The Allegro molto e vivace is a bit slower and lower energy than I tend to prefer, and some instability pops up in places.  The Adagio is nicely paced, but kind of sounds meh in terms of expression.  The concluding Allegro lacks adequate drive or energy and also has too many moments of unsteadiness, clunkiness, fudges to satisfy.  The second sonata quasi una fantasia starts with a subdued but effectively moody Adagio sostenuto.  The Allegretto continues on with a slow approach.  Too slow.  Way to slow.  It offers way too little contrast to the opener.  The Presto agitato comes alive, finally offering some contrast, and sounds satisfyingly energetic.  Very mid.  Op 28 rounds out the concert, and  Schoenhals goes for a slow Allegro, coming in at 11'45".  It flows decently, sounds attractive, offers nice dynamic contrasts in spots, but more than anything, it just takes too long.  The well-paced Andante kind of meanders along, with nice forte outbursts for contrast.  In contrast, the Scherzo jaunts along, playful and youthful and fun.  The Rondo sounds delightfully tuneful and mostly relaxed, with enough pep 'n' punch in the right places.  Overall, it's a good recording, except for the too long opener.

The fifth concert is a meaty one, with the critical Op 31 trio and the Waldstein tacked on.  So yeah.  31/1 starts with a quick and nimble Allegro vivace, where Schoenhals tosses in some nice exaggerated effects, but his fingers also get tied in knots a couple times, too.  Overall, the spirit is spiffy.  Blurred trills open the slow Adagio, and the music kind of just slogs along until a big ol' chord announces the arrival of the more vibrant second section.  Some unsteadiness works against the playing, though.  The Rondo returns the basic style of the opening movement.  While it has adequate energy, it somehow just doesn't jell.  31/2 starts with a slow but uneventful Largo before moving to a quick but at times halting Allegro.  It lacks scale and drive and drama one can find in perhaps a hundred other versions.  That's fine, of course, it's just that this is plain vanilla.  Okay, maybe French Vanilla.  The Adagio remains fairly taut and mixes some lovely playing with some notably terse playing.  Schoenhals comes alive in the Allegretto, playing with drive and drama not so evident in the opener.  31/3 starts off with a conventional sounding Allegro, with ample energy and drive.  It lacks heft, but it feels entirely jocular, so that's a fair trade.  The Scherzo is played so quickly that it comes close to sounding rushed, but the almost cartoonish speed and bold outbursts work well.  Things slow down in the lovely Menuetto, and things wrap up with a rapid, fun Presto con fuoco.  It's more or less a straightforward take, and the strongest of the Op 31 trio.  Op 53 definitely does not start off pianissimo, and it also definitely starts off nearly zanily swift, rushing forward without relent until the first slow passage, which does offer nice contrast.  Speediness then resumes, and a couple slips pop up, too.  The Introduzione slows way, way down, almost to a musical crawl, and is very 81a-ish, and it gives way to a Rondo that starts slowly and gently.  The movement builds up tension and scale where it should but remains somewhat low wattage overall.  That written, the delicate trills near the end do sound quite fine.

Concert six starts with Op 54, and here Schoenhals offers a tuneful first theme in the Menuetto, which gives way to a more assertive and nearly, but not actually, aggressive second theme.  He alternates nicely, ratcheting up tension a bit as he goes.  The second movement bops along, accurately enough, and has some left hand heft that appeals.  Overall, a perfectly respectable version.   Op 57 starts off tense but subdued, and then when things should amp up in terms of oomph, oomph is not really offered.  After a couple minutes, some oomph does appear, but not an adequate amount, though part of that is due to the meh recording.  The Allegro assai merely becomes episodic and a bit scruffy.  The Andante fares much better, sounding attractive, tuneful, and mostly smooth, with a few smudges.  The final movement does have much more zip than the opening movement, even if some of the playing sounds like approximations and close to too rushed, with some whiffs.  Op 78 starts with some appealingly elevated playing in the Adagio and segues to an Allegro section that hums along nicely enough.  The Allegro vivace closer starts promising but quickly veers into exaggerated effects that interrupts the flow and just sound off.  Sigh.  Op 79 starts with a straight ahead Presto all tedesca, with a couple minor live performance smudges.  The acciaccatura is underplayed, which is odd given what Schoenhals did in Op 78.  The Andante sounds serious and lovely, though the transition to the very slow middle section sounds kludgy.  The Vivace ends things in chipper fashion.  The opening movement of 81/a starts off pensively, then picks up the pace, but it sounds small-ish and not particularly emotive or engaging.  The second movement has a bit more expression to it but still sounds only so-so.  The final movement ends things nicely, with enough expression and energy, though not to the highest standards.

Op 90 opens the seventh concert, and Schoenhals starts off the opening movement with some decently potent chords, then backs off a bit, hits hard again, and then amps up the energy and bite for a bit.  He moves back and forth in episodic fashion through to the end in a mostly serviceable take, or perfectly serviceable if one ignores the occasional unsteadiness.  The second movement sounds mostly lyrical, with some very fine right hand playing, and some spicy chords for effect.  Op 101 starts nicely, with elevated if not transcendent playing, and moves along at a nice clip, and boasting some bracing chords near the end.  The march has nice dynamic contrasts and sounds kinda marchy, but the tempo is a bit unstable compared to better versions.  The Adagio achieves a degree of transcendence and sounds lovely if a bit unsteady.  The concluding Allegro has nice energy and decent clarity, but it has an unsteady pulse.  Overall, it could have been better, but it could have been worse.  Streaming becomes high res with Op 106, with no audible improvement.  Also not improved, the playing.  The opening Allegro clocks in at just shy of 11' once applause is excluded, and it lacks drive, drama, and dynamics, and Schoenhals strains and stumbles repeatedly.  The Scherzo has a few flashes of drama, but more or less continues on in the same mostly unsatisfactory way as the opener.  The Adagio, coming in at about sixteen and a half minutes, doesn't drag things out, and Schoenhals does a nice job establishing an austere soundworld from the get-go, and he plays some of the music with fetching tone.  He ratchets up tension a bit as the movement progresses, delivering one good movement.  The final movement starts off gently, moves to a stormy transition, and then the Allegro switches to fast and mostly (ie, >50%) accurate playing.  A dutiful rather than pleasurable listen.

The final concert is thus given over to the final three sonatas.  Op 109 starts off quietly and rather beautifully, if not more than that.  Schoenhals does play some potent chords, and he generally keeps a forward moving sound, though there are some micro-pauses sprinkled throughout, and some of the more introspective passages are quite delicate.  The Prestissimo sounds bold and punchy and just a bit stilted, but it's OK.  The Andante theme opener of the last movement sounds very lovely, and the first variation lovelier still.  The second variation is taken slowly, though tension increases in spots, and the third variation zips by.  The fourth reverts to calm, while the fifth adds quite a bit of pep before the calm ending.  The final variation ends things in calm, lovely fashion, though it lacks the more serene or transcendent feel of other takes.  Still, it's a noticeable step up from 106.  Op 110 starts with the first movement very moderately and very lyrically, so that's good.  While quick-ish and light, a lot of the playing sounds very narrowly banded dynamically, and a bit muddy, until about 1'50" or so in, when Schoenhals adds some dynamic contrast.  An ethereal feel permeates the movement, but paradoxically it's not transcendent.  It's kinda dreamy.  The Allegro moderato is peppy and vibrant, with some nice rubato but some less nice stilted playing.  Still, it works pretty well.  In the final movement, the first Arioso introduces the first proper late-LvB transcendence of the sonata and sounds nice.  The fugue is quick and mostly clean and clear.  The second Arioso sounds lovely, and it also has a bit of tension; it's more urgent sounding than the first but not overdone.  The repeated chords build up very nicely to a satisfying forte blast shorn of harshness, and the inverted fugue is reasonably good, though Schoenhals cuts some of the music, before delivering a kind of blurred and so-so ending.  Op 111 starts with a Maestoso that's spiky and potent and Schoenhals mostly hits the right notes, though the transition and Allegro has more rough patches.  It's not terrible, but there are better unedited live recordings out there.  The Arietta sounds elevated but not transcendent, while the first variation sounds attractive but not much else.  The second variation has some hiccups that interrupt the flow, but already more rhythmic bounce is added, and the third variation has more oomph, but it's also not ideally executed.  Schoenhals does deliver some gentle, gorgeous "little stars", and as the movement progresses, the playing becomes more elevated.  The chains of trills are nice, if sometimes unsteady and gap-filled.  The piece ends in lovely enough fashion.  Of the final trio, Op 109 stands out. 

Overall, this cycle very much reminds me of Steven Herbert Smith's set.  It's a cycle by an academic who also has something of a performing career.  Nothing pushes any boundaries, and execution is basically mid to mid+.  It's not terrible, but aside from friends, family, faculty, and evidently me, the audience seems pretty limited.  Fourth tier.  Downloads can be purchased, but this set is made for streaming.