“A Beethoven Odyssey”, Vol. 4 = Piano Sonatas: No. 9 in E, Op. 14/1; No. 15 in D, Op. 24 in F Sharp, Op. 78, “A Therese”; No. 25 in G, Op. 79 – James Brawn, p. – MSR Classics MS 1468, 72:24 [Distr. by Albany] *****:
Brawn’s Odyssey continues through volume four of his complete Beethoven series. I was overwhelmingly impressed by the first three volumes, MSR’s warm and comforting sound the perfect foil for Brawn’s incisive and quite penetrating interpretative finesse. Generally speaking, he provides a lot of bang for the digital buck in these releases, approaching the music with a naturalness and lack of preconceived artiness. Hearing these discs make Beethoven’s sonatas sound so “right”, as satisfying as any on the market, bold, personal, extrovert but not annoying, ruminative but not frustratingly esoteric—no secret society Beethoven in these readings!
The crisp articulation and wonderful sense of rubato are demonstrated in each of these timeline-scattered pieces, each a pretty good example of the more positive and life-affirming aspects of the composer’s art. Beethoven without melancholy is almost an oxymoron, yet I can think of very few collections of four disparate sonatas by the Master that would prove more upbeat than this one. What is most assured is Brawn’s ability to tie together the common thread of emotion and feeling into such a unified whole that the entire recital feels almost like a suite instead of a succession of four sonatas. These pieces, spanning the years 1798 to 1814, are powerful without being bombastic, and show a side of the composer sometimes lost in translation.
Brawn has taken the Beethoven sonata world by storm with these releases, and this latest continues the magnificence of its predecessors. He is an artist who relishes the past, and builds on it, not just trying to uncover something unique, but to illumine and respond to what is obviously there. I have encountered few recordings that are as inevitable-sounding as these, and when I look at my existing collection, more and more I find myself least able to consider parting with Mr. Brawn’s project. They are that good, and this disc only proves the point once again from a pianist who could be destined for really great things.
—Steven Ritter