Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
Piano Sonata No 30, Op 109 [21:04]
Piano Sonata No 31, Op 110 [19:11]
Piano Sonata No 32, Op 111 [27:57]
Inger Södergren (piano)
rec. 1978, Paris (Opp 110, 111); 1989, l’Espace Icare, Issy-les-Moulineaux,
France
CALLIOPE CAL 7648 [68:12]
Inger Södergren’s playing in these three sonatas is as songlike,
meditative, and purely poetic as anybody around. Sometimes, in her hands,
the music feels fragile, as if it could break apart at a touch, although in
the case of the last two sonatas this is because the very early digital recording
(1978) makes her piano sound rather frail. That acoustic quality rather marred
my first impression, because Emil Gilels took the ultra-romantic approach
on DG but with a fuller, more colorful tone. After more exposure I have grown
to like Södergren’s performances very much. Her lyrical touch is
unfailing, but it never reaches excesses which make the music feel slack (Gilels
can). The fugue in Op 110 is appropriately objective and baroque-like with
a decent sense of ultimate triumph - dampened by the brisk final chord. The
opening movements of all three sonatas have snap but those expansive variation
movements in Nos. 30 and 32 are simply luminous. That’s especially true
of No. 30 which is taken at a blissfully slow pace (14:33) which, paired with
Södergren’s tender phrasing, makes each variation breathe at its
own deep, restful beat. The arietta of the final sonata opens with a hushed
statement of the theme that’s like hearing a hymn sung from another
room; magic. Only that improbable ‘fast’ variation halfway through
disappoints.
It’s worth pointing out that to work its way into my heart, this CD
had to overcome my bemusement with the spectacularly bad liner-note. Op. 110
is misspelled “Opus 10” and described as “the final destruction
of the classical sonata form … the most shattering son of the despair
of love.” It’s “still a human work, two human”, although
this makes more sense than the description of Op. 109 as Beethoven being “madly
in love. Flabbergasted and breathless at such happiness”. Maynard Solomon,
in Beethoven, contradicts the note: by the later years, “he had
limited his sexual activity to a succession of loveless relationships that
… did not engage his deeper feelings.” Opus 111 is mistakenly
described as having been written “a year later”, though Solomon
says in his biography that Beethoven completed the sonata within only a few
months of having finished its predecessor. 111 is, the note tells me, “the
miracle that illuminates the world. The first movement: the ultimate cry,
the most powerful, the most deeply torn from its entrails.” Ouch!
Fear not, listener: there are no torn entrails on this disc. Only the glassy
sound and the presence of other, more warmly recorded poets (Gilels, Penelope
Crawford with my favorite Op 111 variations, Andrea Lucchesini perhaps)
keep me from giving this the highest recommendation. Inger Södergren
is clearly a Beethoven performer of the greatest lyrical rank and her performances
here are as deeply felt and well-realized as anybody’s. You can take
the greatest pleasure from this album, with your innards intact.
Brian Reinhart
Masterwork Index: Sonatas
30-32
Glassy sound and a madcap liner note can’t prevent Södergren from
delivering top-rank Beethoven.