Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
Complete Piano Sonatas
see end of review for disc contents
Abdel Rahman El Bacha (piano)
rec. April 2012 and January 2013, La Ferme de Villefavard, Limousin, France
MIRARE MIR 187 [10 CDs: 637:32]
I’ve enjoyed Adbel Rahman El Bacha’s Ravel
and his Bach
on the Triton label, so was intrigued to see his complete collection of
Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas appear in an attractive box from Mirare.
Unencumbered by frills and extras, what we have are the complete sonatas
on 10 CDs, each in a well labeled paper sleeve, and including a substantial
booklet essay by Sylviane Falcinelli in French, English and German. I mention
the sleeve labels since there are few things more irksome than having to
go back and delve into the booklet to find which sonata you might be listening
to rather than just checking the disc’s slipcase. There is also a
note on the choice of a C. Bechstein instrument for this recording, El Bacha
preferring its depth, and “rounder, more singing sound” to the
greater brilliance of perhaps a Steinway. The sound of these recordings
is indeed very good, with the acoustic in La Ferme de Villefavard well suited
to solo piano, being far from overly resonant. This is not an entirely dry
acoustic, but it does have a relatively small-scale atmosphere which suits
El Bacha’s often intimate, confiding style in certain movements.
Production and presentation thus covered and confirmed as excellent, it’s
now down to the playing and interpretations. I would be the first to doff
my cap and show my respects to any pianist able to play all of these sonatas
with skill and panache. El Bacha performs very well indeed, creating atmosphere,
variety of colour and expression - in short, many of the things which are
essential to have such a cycle of great works lift-off and take on a life
of their own. He has recorded Beethoven before in around 2009 in a 9 CD
set which appeared on Forlane. Listening online I can only say this more
recent recording wins at the very least in terms of recorded quality, the
earlier manifestation being a little on the drier side but still pretty
full and potent sounding.
With this review I’ve turned the conventional approach on its head
somewhat and, with Igor Levit’s remarkable set of the late sonatas
still ringing around inside my skull (see review),
am diving straight for the same works from this set by way of comparison.
First impressions left me imagining I would have to pick things apart quite
a bit, but as with all such sets it pays to allow the music and its interpreter
to establish themselves over time. The set of the final three sonatas is
decent enough, though these are not performances which stun one with a sense
of profundity. As with Levit, I appreciate a pianist willing to allow the
music to speak for itself, but I didn’t really find myself moved by
the Andante third movement of the Sonata No. 30 or the cantabile
opening of the Sonata No. 31. There’s nothing really missing
in these performances, but there is some kind of strain between the score
and the kinds of expressive elasticity which El Bacha seeks to introduce.
This is perhaps best represented in the last movement of the Sonata No.
31, in which the opening hangs rather limply from its ‘recitative’
feel. There the repeated accompanying chords which underpin the following
lyrical section suffer from pretty random moments of rubato - a search
for expression which doesn’t really land anywhere in particular. I
miss a sense of building drama in the Fuga as well, which doesn’t
feel particularly integrated. The dramatic bass lines just appear rather
than serving to heighten that elusive sense of elation which these passages
can provide. There is more random rhythm from 6:40 onwards - particularly
around the seventh minute, which sounds very strange.
I don’t want to be too mean with these performances, but if the great
final sonatas don’t satisfy then I’m hard pushed to make a recommendation.
The Sonata No. 29, ‘Hammerklavier’ is another litmus
test, and El Bacha’s technical prowess is much in evidence - the final
Allegro risoluto an impressive achievement. I really enjoy the operatic
drama he creates in the Scherzo. This is one sonata in which his
more unforced expressive starting point works well enough in parts, though
the Adagio sostenuto misses out on much sense of direction. The molto
sentimento feel is pretty much straight out of a Nino Rota film score,
and the long span of this longest of movements didn’t fill me with
a sense of jaw-dropping comprehension. I’m reluctant to say it meanders
aimlessly, but if you were to pick out a moment at random then that’s
what it would sound like - a random moment. I’m sorry to hold up Igor
Levit each time for these sonatas, but you can pick random moments from
his version of this movement and feel as if you have entered a vast verdant
field of strange but magically vocal shapes of nature, fitting into a design
as eloquently clear as the London Underground map.
There will be little features which you may be interested in with the rest
of the set, such as the opening of the Sonata No. 14, ‘Moonlight’,
whose controversial pedal markings can lead to much strangeness. El Bacha
takes Beethoven’s marking with a pinch of salt, sensibly half-pedalling
to provide harmonic clarity in a performance with a nice expressive shape.
I was intrigued to find out more about my niggling little dissatisfactions
with this set, so hauled out my copy of a few of the scores. El Bacha is
relatively uncontroversial in these sonatas so I wasn’t on the lookout
for alarmingly unusual interpretative features. Looking at the Sonata
No. 8 Op. 13 and there are immediately some points which I’m reluctant
to accept without comment. You have the quiet passage which follows ff
chords in bar 6, which go slower than their initial impulse in bar 5 and
go against my general rule of ‘quieter doesn’t means slower’.
Then there’s the crescendo in bar 8, which suffers a dip moving through
the rising E natural/F in the middle of the bar. These are all little things
it would seem, but each deflates the flow and building structure of that
Grave opening, not helping with the essence of the music’s
message. Moving on to the Allegro di molto, and I miss those subito
P moments after each crescendo, as well as some crescendi
altogether. This flattening out of Beethoven’s marked dynamics is
not popular with this listener. The Adagio cantabile movement in
this sonata is one of the most gorgeous in the whole set, but I don’t
feel El Bacha allows the melody enough life beyond the accompanying notes.
He has a tendency to lean on the beginning of the beat which keeps everything
vertical when it should be fluidly horizontal.
So, I’ve ended up being horribly picky after all. There is no such
thing as a perfect performance of Beethoven’s entire 32 piano sonatas,
and even probably no such thing as a perfect performance of any one of these
sonatas. Subjective values apply, and I hope as many of you feel you can
disagree with what I’ve been commenting on as will take my views as
in any way valid. Listening more in general terms there are some things
to be enjoyed in this set, and El Bacha can create moments of magic amongst
the best of them. Each time I look closer however, I find myself with constant
little bugbears which I know would bother me each time I came back. There’s
the tempo of the opening Allegro of the Sonata No. 1 which
is just not quite fast enough to glue everything as my instinct says
it should, or again the dynamics in that quirky Menuetto of the same
sonata, which seem entirely absent in the first repeat section. Maybe he’s
reading from a different edition to mine, but these are little things which
seem to recur. I have few arguments about differences to expected tempi
if these can be made to work, though there are few really daring challenges
in general over the whole cycle, and a lack in differentiation which has
my brain shutting down rather sooner than it should. Where I fear El Bacha
loses me even more is where he seeks expression in rhythm rather than in
melodic flow, evidenced by strangely clunky sections such as the opening
to the Sonata No. 12.
There is no denying Abdel El Bacha’s qualities as a pianist, and there
are things which I enjoyed in this set. The skittish Finale to the
Sonata No. 5 for instance is played with great wit and a kind of
knowing charm which is quite compelling, as is the nervy bounce with which
the Sonata No. 21 commences. I have no doubt he has legions of fans
who are keen to get their hands on a copy of this set, and I’m sure
there are many who will view it more admiringly and sympathetically than
I have. It is bad luck that it arrived after Igor Levit’s release,
but from amongst the complete sets I’ve reviewed I still wouldn’t
recommend this above Alfred
Brendel or Louis
Lortie, though I would certainly put it above HJ
Lim.
Dominy Clements
Bit of a mixed bag.
Masterwork Index: Beethoven
piano sonatas
Disc contents
CD 1 [70:04]
No. 1 in F minor op. 2 no. 1 (1793-5) [18:28]
No. 2 in A major op. 2 no. 2 (1794-5) [23:55]
No. 3 in C major op. 2 no. 3 (1794-5) [27:41]
CD 2 [47:12]
No. 19 in G minor op. 49 no. 1 (1797) [9:44]
No. 20 in G major op. 49 no. 2 (1796) [8:08]
No. 4 in E flat major op. 7 (1796-7) [29:20]
CD 3 [53:46]
No. 5 in C minor op. 10 no. 1 (1795-7) [18:39]
No. 6 in F major op. 10 no. 2 (1796-7) [12:23]
No. 7 in D major op. 10 no. 3 (1797-8) [22:44]
CD 4 [60:25]
No. 8 in C minor op. 13 "Pathétique" (1797-8) [19:04]
No. 9 in E major op. 14 no. 1 (1798) [14:08]
No. 10 in G major op. 14 no. 2 (1799) [15:20]
No. 11 in B flat major op. 22 (1800) [26:08]
CD 5 [76:39]
No. 12 in A flat major op. 26 "Funeral March" (1800-01) [19:48]
No. 13 in E flat major op. 27 no. 1 (1800-01) [15:30]
No. 14 in C sharp minor op. 27 no. 2 "Moonlight" (1801) [16:24]
No. 15 in D major op. 28 "Pastorale" (1801) [24:57]
CD 6 [71:06]
No. 16 in G major op. 31 no. 1 (1802) [23:53]
No. 17 in D minor op. 31 no. 2 "Tempest" (1802) [23:46]
No. 18 in E flat major op. 31 no. 3 (1802) [22:27]
CD 7 [60:25]
No. 21 in C major op. 53 "Waldstein" (1803-04) [23:55]
No. 22 in F major op. 54 (1804) [11:30]
No. 23 in F minor op. 57 "Appassionata" (1804-05) [25:00]
CD 8 [51:06]
No. 24 in F sharp major op. 78 (1809) [10:42]
No. 25 in G major op. 79 (1809) [10:08]
No. 26 in E flat major op. 81A "Les Adieux" (1809-10) [17:19]
No. 27 in E minor op. 90 (1814) [12:57]
CD 9 [67:16]
No. 28 in A major op. 101 (1816) [21:49]
No. 29 in B flat major op. 106 "Hammerklavier" (1817-18) [45:27]
CD 10 [65:18]
No. 30 in E major op. 109 (1820) [19:07]
No. 31 in A flat major op. 110 (1821-22) [20:24]
No. 32 in C minor op. 111 (1821-22) [25:47]
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