BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata No. 20 in G Major, Op. 49, No. 2; Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 2 “Moonlight”; Piano Sonata No. 30 in E Major, Op. 109; Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57 “Appassionata” – Philippe Entremont, piano – Solo Musica SM 311, 65:53 (5/3/19) [Distr. by Naxos] *****:
Philippe Entremont (b. 1934) celebrates some seventy years before the public as a touring piano virtuoso, and I well recall having met him at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta after a mostly-Mozart recital, convinced that Schubert and he would prove kindred spirits. Here, Entremont chooses four Beethoven sonatas, opening with the 1796 two-movement Sonatina in G Major, whose refined delicacy projects a French taste for elegance of gentle wit. Beethoven utilized its Tempo di minuetto second movement for his Septet, Op. 20, a decision perhaps motivated by brother Caspar Beethoven that salvaged the relatively lightweight opus from total obscurity. Entremont delivers a pert, gracious rendition.
Entremont manages to inflect the opening arpeggio of Beethoven’s most familiar “Moonlight” Sonata, tracing its obstinate course with a sense of dynamically adjusted dialogue between registers. Entremont’s bass tones convey a depth of feeling this hybrid fantasy-sonata possesses when realized by a master of harmonic-rhythm. The performance of the opening Adagio sostenuto reminds me much of the Moiseiwitsch rendition made late in that master’s career. Whether critic Rellstab would still insist on a moonlit scenario becomes moot. Played attacca, the succeeding Allegretto retains the sense of spontaneous improvisation required prior to the explosive Presto agitato. This last movement unleashes a resonant torrent of emotion, unabashed and not impeded by any technical deficiency. Blake’s “Tyger” has bounded from Henri Rousseau’s jungle scene, and the “fearful symmetry” of Beethoven’s classical figures threatens our musical complacency.
Entremont then confronts the 1819 Sonata in E Major, the first of the triptych that encapsulate much of Beethoven’s late style. The alteration of Vivace ma non troppo and adagio espressivo constitutes the sensibility of movement one, sixteenth notes arpeggiated diminished sevenths. Liquidity and poetic expressivity mark every phrase from Entremont, including a marvelous intimacy and self-possession. A ferocious Prestissimo thunders forth in E minor, a compressed scherzo lacking a trio section. The layered effect of the counterpoints reflects Beethoven’s close study of Bach and Handel. Entremont’s fierce punctuations belie his age by about 50 years. The last movement, Andante molto cantabile ed espressivo gives us an uncommonly gentle theme to be varied six times. Two eight-bar phrases repeat in triple time. The delicacy of Variation II yields to an aggressive Allegro at Variation III. The fourth variant occurs in 9/8 to yield to contrapuntal gestures in Variation V, that whose potent pedal and martial sensibility compel our veneration. The last variant returns to the Andante, which now exploits Entremont’s pedal and trill in a colossal structure that builds upon itself in frenetic gestures. The close, sweetly reminiscent of Bach’s Aria from the Goldbergs, leaves us transfigured in a world bequeathed to the elect.
Beethoven’s possession of an 1803 Erard keyboard instrument provides the occasion for his 1802 Appassionata Sonata. The instrument’s new octave range, including the now-familiar low F, would impel Beethoven to utilize every dimension of its expressive power. Entremont capitalizes on the percussive power – and its dominant “fate” motif – certainly, but no less upon the instrument’s singing line that bears Neapolitan seventh chords and exquisite low C repeated in the left hand of the recapitulation. The “Aeolian harp” effect no less infiltrates the colossal emotional voyage, a gripping transport between Scylla and Charybdis, here made a personal odyssey of stunning impact.
The wonderful theme-and-variations of the Andante con moto derive from a series of bare chords. Entremont’s tempo, perhaps more stately than indicated by Beethoven, conveys a processional dignity. The famous diminished seventh chord at the coda introduces a whirlwind, moto-perpetuo last movement, Allegro ma non troppo – presto that Entremont keeps in relative restraints until the final pages. Even so, the glories of the brilliant runs and shifts in register thunder and spin in our minds, a testament to the convulsive, explosive potency in each Beethoven kernel of energy, here in sighing two note phrases that had Czerny’s imagining a stormy night at sea that might have consumed the poet Shelley.
The ringing, divine clarity of the sonic image for this recording comes to us via the talents of producers Gino Oliveiri and Giorgio Crescenza; and hats off, gentlemen, to veteran Philippe Entremont.
—Gary Lemco
