Having spent much of
my listening time over the past month
in the company of Joyce Hatto’s Mozart,
I might be forgiven for wondering if
the warm, gentle songfulness which characterises
her approach to the earlier composer
might not translate well to Beethoven.
But of course a real artist seeks the
right style and sound for each composer
and even though this is early Beethoven
(to which a Mozartian approach might
have been plausible) the firm rhythmic
drive and clear cut sound-world with
which the F minor sonata opens proclaims
this Beethoven, and very good Beethoven
too.
In Mozart, Hatto is
often inclined to choose slower tempi
than her colleagues. In Beethoven this
is not the case, as can be seen from
the following table drawn from comparisons
I had to hand:
| Op.2/1 |
|
|
|
|
|
Brendel (1994)
|
04:15 |
04:40 |
03:17 |
05:12 |
| Hatto |
03:39 |
04:37 |
03:04 |
04:58 |
| Nikolayeva |
03:53 |
05:47 |
04:04 |
05:11 |
| Perahia |
04:00 |
04:42 |
03:13 |
07:01* |
| Schnabel |
03:18 |
06:02 |
03:24 |
04:41 |
| Tan (fortepiano) |
06:01* |
04:11 |
02:49 |
07:19* |
| Op.2/2 |
|
|
|
|
|
Brendel
|
07:40 |
06:33 |
03:33 |
07:21 |
|
Hatto
|
07:12 |
06:55 |
03:17 |
07:01 |
| Nikolayeva |
07:09 |
06:50 |
03:17 |
06:30 |
|
Perahia
|
07:01 |
06:07 |
03:08 |
06:16 |
| Schnabel |
06:30 |
07:22 |
03:22 |
05:42 |
| Tan |
10:51* |
07:02 |
03:32 |
05:59 |
| Op.2/3 |
|
|
|
|
|
Brendel
|
10:21 |
07:15 |
03:12 |
05:40 |
| Hatto |
10:17 |
06:53 |
03:26 |
05:37 |
| Nikolayeva |
10:41 |
07:35 |
03:18 |
05:41 |
| Perahia |
09:43 |
08:00 |
03:15 |
05:05 |
| Schnabel |
10:03 |
07:45 |
02:51 |
05:21 |
|
Tan
|
09:48 |
06:04 |
03:18 |
05:52 |
* indicates the presence
of a second repeat usually omitted.
Of course, timings
can be misleading. For example, in the
Adagio of op.2/1, both Hatto and Brendel
(just three seconds between them) achieve
a mixture and gravity and flow which
suggests they have hit upon the ideal
tempo; this would seem to be borne out
by Tan, whose swifter tempo squeezes
the expression out of the music, and
by Nikolayeva who, while no doubt feeling
every moment of her slower tempo, gets
bogged down by her own weight. Then
along comes Schnabel, the slowest of
all, and the result is absolutely sublime;
wonderful if you can do it, but very
boring for your listeners if you can’t
(as can be heard when Tan attempts something
similar in the Largo appassionato of
op.2/2).
Likewise, in the concluding
Rondo of op.2/3 the timings do not reveal
that both Brendel and Nikolayeva enunciate
the great downward leap in the theme
(which Tovey compared to a violinist’s
or a singer’s "portamento")
with a mannered rhythmic hiccup and
an ungainly emphasis on the first of
the lower notes. Nor do the timings
reveal that both sound heavier-handed
than Hatto even though one is apparently
faster and the other apparently slower.
However, while I feel on the whole that
Nikolayeva smothers these early sonatas
with excessive point-making, the robust
humour (and staccato left-hand) with
which she affronts the episode from
b.26 suggests that she possesses certain
insights into Beethoven that cannot
be ignored. In this finale, though,
I am not sure that Hatto’s middle way
is ideal either, for both Perahia (beautifully
poised) and Schnabel seem closer to
suggesting Beethoven’s "Grazioso"
marking.
Something similar occurs
in the finale of op.2/3. Brendel may
be only three seconds longer than Hatto,
but his full-toned playing sounds slower
and heavier, while Nikolayeva’s reading
(one second longer still) is rather
confused and actually sounds to be faster.
Perahia, with his light finger technique,
scampers away deliciously, but since
he has applied the same lightness elsewhere,
it comes as the finale to nothing very
much. So once again we come back to
Schnabel as the ideal (and, in spite
of his reputation for catching crabs,
he can be remarkably nifty in these
early works).
The quirkiness of the
first movement of op.2/2 seems to thrive
on a more personalised approach – here
Brendel and Nikolayeva come into their
own. Whereas the more orchestral solidity
of the first movement of op.2/3 inspires
a more straightforward approach from
all these artists; the differences between
them are at their smallest here. The
first movement of op.2/1 proves remarkably
difficult to bring off and here Hatto’s
sheer lack of fuss pays dividends.
However, at this point
I have to register a certain ambivalence
in my own reactions. I listened first
to the Hatto disc, since this was the
one I had to review. I then sampled
parts of all twelve movements in the
other recordings and I was left with
the impression that the justness, the
fidelity to the text and the well-chosen
tempi of Hatto represented a sort of
golden mean from which the others departed
at their peril if with intermittently
revelatory results.
Then I returned to
Hatto and found that the lack of these
intermittent revelations suggested a
more limited emotional range (a pleasant
but slightly recessed recording, more
suitable for Mozart, does not help).
I was reminded of a timid teenager (teenagers
used to be timid once!) admitted to
the adults’ table for the first time
and eating with her elbows pinned to
her sides for fear of jogging those
to the right and left of her. A certain
Beethovenian boldness is lacking; all
the other artists (and many more, of
course) give greater offence here and
there, but their willingness to come
down on one side of the fence rather
than another provides moments of greater
inspiration too. The ultimate value
of Hatto’s Beethoven cycle, which is
only at the beginning, will depend on
her ability (and maybe that of her engineers)
to increase her range as the music itself
develops (is she deliberately holding
something back in these early sonatas?).
So what are my conclusions?
I don’t know! Unquestionably, the sublimity,
warmth and humanity of Schnabel’s slow
movements will remain as an inspiration
for all time; studio nerves (and the
ancient recording, though the latest
Naxos transfer has done wonders for
it) sometimes compromise the rest. From
Hatto you will get a warm sound and
a satisfying solution to all twelve
movements. From the others, you will
have to pick and choose. If you are
tempted by Brendel’s or Nikolayeva’s
first movement of op.2/2, for example,
you will need Perahia’s finale to the
same sonata to offset the heaviness
of the other two. Best still to accept
that an ideal solution will never exist,
and try to buy as many versions of these
sonatas as you can afford. Not forgetting
Hatto.
Christopher Howell
see also
review by Jonathan Woolf
Joyce Hatto (piano) 