The Australian pianist Bruce Hungerford (1922-77) recorded an incomplete
series
of the Beethoven sonatas for Vanguard. His first recording of what was
intended
to be a complete edition for the company was made in 1967, and recordings
followed
over the next decade. Hungerford, born in Victoria, and a student of the
great
pianist Carl Friedberg - whose Kinderszenen private recording is
the
most moving I have ever heard - was not a man to be hurried. It was Myra
Hess,
with whom Hungerford also studied, who had recommended Friedberg.
Hungerford was a wide-ranging man and had studied palaeontology in America
in
the 1950s. He was also a considerable photographer, with an interest in
Ancient
Egypt, who wrote and recorded a multi-part series on the subject. But when
it
comes to his recorded legacy, the results are meagre: nine Beethoven LPs
and
single ones devoted to the music of Brahms, Chopin and Schubert. His early
death
in a car crash in 1977 largely explains the gaps.
All the Beethoven recordings are gathered together in this five CD box by
Piano
Classics, who are showing considerable acumen, after having re-released
Sergio
Fiorentino’s last (Berlin) recordings in an even bigger set.
Some live material has survived. Indeed Vanguard has released a Beethoven
Fourth
Piano Concerto performance with unnamed accompanists, as well as some of
the
sonata recordings in this Piano Classics box and examples of his
performances
of the three composers cited above [Vanguard Classics SVC76/9, a 4 CD
set].
There are 18 of Hungerford’s sonata recordings in this box. What
marks
out his playing is a combination of clarity of articulation, a concern for
correct
dynamics, and rhythmic dynamism in fast movements. There is a certain
lofty
view of the slow movements, which may appear to some to be on the cool
side
but in compensation he explores harmonic strands that others bypass.
To take a few examples, he lays bare the motoric drama of the first
movement
of the Waldstein with natural exuberance but digital control. He is
commensurately
grave and intense in the Adagio molto section, and exhibits vitesse
in
the Allegro moderato. His Pathétique sonata slow
movement
is slightly objectified, though it does offer a cool corrective to more
heated
romanticist performances. There is a stoic patina to the opening of the
Moonlight
- no expressive rubati for Hungerford - with linear playing throughout.
But
in true Hungerfordian style he unleashes a torrent of fearsome drama in
the
sonata’s finale: seldom has it been taken this fearlessly or
‘agitato’.
Contra what I may have suggested, Hungerford is not always quite so
reserved
in slow movements. One that bucks the trend is the Adagio molto of
Op.10
No.1 which reveals a slightly more pliant side - though, of course, one
should
observe that Hungerford himself is observing Beethoven’s modifying
direction
as to tempo.
He brings gusto and ebullience to the finale of Op.78, though some may
well
feel he doesn’t bring quite enough introspection to its slow opening
movement.
His performances of the last three sonatas of all - fortunately he managed
to
record opp. 109 to 111 - offer a conspectus of his most interesting and
intellectually
and digitally rewarding pianism. He is at his most measured for the long,
slow
finale of Op.109. There is great gravity, though curiously I don’t
find
it as incrementally impressive as, say, Wührer whose faster tempo
binds
things together in a way that Hungerford doesn’t quite manage. Given
his
general tendency toward rhythmically crisp performances, I was rather
expecting
Hungerford to replicate Wührer’s tempos, but he doesn’t.
In
any case Hungerford was much more of a colourist than the more ascetic
German
pianist. Hungerford’s performance of the final sonata is, if
anything,
finer than Op.110, fine though that is. He has the digital poise for it,
and
the intellectual sinew too.
These performances certainly stand the test of time. They are challenging
even
now, in their combination of outsize Beethovenian vehemence and
disinclination
to emote. Those who want to be stirred, and sometimes shaken, will enjoy
the
challenge they pose.
Jonathan Woolf
Masterwork index: Sonatas 1-8
~~ 9-15 ~~ 16-24
~~ 25-32
Work listing
CD 1
Piano Sonata in C minor Op. 13, “Grande Sonate
Pathétique”
(1798-99) [18:01]
Piano Sonata in C sharp minor, Op. 27 No. 2
Sonata quasi una
Fantasia,
“Moonlight” (1801) [14:40]
Piano Sonata in D minor, Op. 31 No. 2 “The Tempest” (1801-02)
[23:47]
Piano Sonata in C major, Op. 53 “Waldstein” (1803-04)
[22:27]
CD 2
Piano Sonata in A major, Op.2 No. 2 (1795) [23:53]
Piano Sonata in E flat major, Op. 7 (1796-7) [29:20]
Piano Sonata in C minor, Op. 10 No. 1 (1796-8) [18:13]
CD 3
Piano Sonata in F major, Op, 10 No. 2 (1796-8) [13:30]
Piano Sonata in D major, Op. 10 No. 3 (1796-98) [24:16]
Piano Sonata in E flat major, Op. 27 No.1
Sonata quasi una Fantasia
(1800-01)
[15:49]
Andante Favori in F major WoO57 [9:11]
CD 4
Piano Sonata in F minor, Op.2 No. 1 (1795) [18:18]
Piano Sonata in A flat major, Op. 26 (1800-01) [20:58]
Piano Sonata in G minor, Op. 49 No. 1 (1795-98) [8:12]
Piano Sonata in G major, Op. 49 No. 2 (1795-96) [8:00]
Rondo in C major, Op.51 No.1 [5:10]
Menuet in E flat major [4:04]
Lustig-Traurig, WoO 54 [1:42]
Für Elise, Bagatelle in A minor [3:04]
CD 5
Piano Sonata in F sharp minor, Op. 78 (1809) [9:30]
Piano Sonata in E major, Op. 109 (1820) [20:23]
Piano Sonata in A flat major, Op. 110 (1821) [18:20]
Piano Sonata in C minor, Op. 111 (1821-22) [25:39]
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Bruce Hungerford (piano)
