metronome Archive

BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata No. 27 in e minor; Piano Sonata No. 28 in A Major; Piano Sonata No. 29 in B-flat Major, “Hammerklavier” – Steven Osborne, p. – Hyperion

by Audiophile Audition | Sep 13, 2016 | Classical CD Reviews

Steven Osborne brings passion and intimacy to the trinity of Beethoven sonatas, 1814-1819. BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata No. 27 in e minor, Op. 90; Piano Sonata No. 28 in A Major, Op. 101; Piano Sonata No. 29 in B-flat Major, Op. 106 “Hammerklavier” – Steven Osborne, p. – Hyperion CDA68073, 74:25 (9/3016) [Distr. by Harmonia mundi/PIAS] ****: Steven Osborne performs (31 March – 2 April 2015) the three Beethoven sonatas of the 1810 period, conceived as a trilogy – a group that forms its own arch of increasing length and difficulty – moving from a relatively compressed work in the e minor Sonata to one of the most epically taxing of sonatas in the keyboard repertory. Osborne plays the three sonatas in reverse order, beginning with the daunting 1819 Hammerklavier Sonata, given a remarkably fresh and energetic gloss in this rendition. If the “official” metronome marking for the opening movement stands at half note = 138, then even Osborne’s fluid dexterity cannot maintain the speed beyond the introductory bars; and he need not for the grand, virtuosic effect of the movement’s remainder. Osborne’s fleet approach seems to make the often audacious modulations that much more pronounced, as in the exposition’s second […]