Beethoven Sonatas - A Survey of Complete Cycles Part 7, 2006 - 2009

Incl: R.Brautigam • P.Lewis • J.Muller • I.Nakamichi • G.Ohlsson • G.Oppitz • K.W.Paik • A.Schiff • S.Sugitani • P.Takács • D.Varínska

	Ikuyo Nakamichi 2003 - 2006 - BMG Japan Ikuyo Nakamichi studied under Mitsuko Kinpara, Phyllis Rappaport (Michigan), Kazuhiko Nakajima and Prof. Klaus Schilde at the Hochschule fur Musik in Munich on a scholarship from the Japanese Ministry of Cultural Affairs. In 1982 Nakamichi won first and the Masuzawa Prize at the 51st Annual Japan Music Competition. Available in Japan and: Country / Label USA UK France Germany BMG Japan Not really Imports Imports Imports
	Gerhard Oppitz 2004 - 2006 - Hänssler Oppitz' Beethoven cycle flew under the radar, compared to those of Schiff and Lewis, but it is, along with those two, one of the most notable to have been produced in this decade. I've not come across anything fancy in this cycle, but some astonishingly fine playing. Availability (previously in eight individual volumes, now also as a box): Country / Label USA UK France Germany Hänssler Yes Box Yes Box Yes Box Yes Box
	Garrick Ohlsson 1992 - 2007 - Bridge (Arabesque) Availability (in eight individual volumes): Country / Label USA UK France Germany Bridge Yes Yes Yes Yes
	Sequiera Costa 1999? - 2007? - Claudio Records Recordings licensed from the Vienna da Motta Intl. Music Foundation which used to hold a tri-annual music competition and which was founded by Sequiera Costa in honor of one of his teachers. Available only individually - on 10 discs, even as the record company (if one can call it that) shows only eight volumes with partly different covers. Absolutely bare-bone presentation. Availability: Country / Label USA UK France Germany Claudio Records Yes Yes Yes Yes
	Peter Takács 2001 - 2007 - Cambria Records Extraordinarily complete and lavishly presented set of 11 SACDs that includes all 38 (!) Sonatas ("Elector Sonatas" WoO 47 1-3, "Two Easy Sonatas" WoO 50 & 51, Sonata for Four Hands in D-major, op.6) and the Andante favori WoO57. Availability: Country / Label USA UK France Germany Cambria Records Yes Yes Yes Yes
	András Schiff 2004 - 2007 - ECM Schiff used a Boesendorfer and a Steinway Grand for these recordings, taped live (except for the last three sonatas) and played in sequence. A review of volume one exists here. Charles has reviewed several other volumes as they came out. Availability (in eight individual volumes) and as of December 2016 also in a neat boxed set: Country / Label USA UK France Germany ECM Yes Yes Yes Yes Box set
	Paul Lewis 2004 - 2007 - Harmonia Mundi Availability (in four volumes and complete): Country / Label USA UK France Germany Harmonia Mundi Yes Yes Yes Yes
	Kun-Woo Paik 2005 - 2007 - Decca (Korea) Perhaps Decca sent up a test-balloon in the West when they released one volume of this cycle world wide. After that it was back to releases for the Asian (Korean?) market only. Availability of Sonatas 16-26 (complete set only in Asia): Country / Label USA UK France Germany Decca Partial Partial Partial Partial
	Shoko Sugitani ???? - 2007? - IDC Classic Not available as far as I know. (Volume 11 found on HMV.co.jp) Availability: Country / Label USA UK France Germany IDC Classic - - - -
	Daniela Varínska ???? - 2009? - Diskant Available (9 of 11? volumes) from Slovakia or in Japan. Availability: Country / Label USA UK France Germany Diskant - - - -
	Ronald Brautigam 2003 - 2008 (& beyond) - BIS Among the myriad of new Beethoven cycles flooding the market, this is one of the select few that are consistently exciting, fresh, and superbly played throughout. The fact that it uses original instrument helps, but it isn't the key to this cycle's qualities, nor the key to enjoying it. The instruments (delightful, marvelous Paul McNulty creations) sound so great that even the "HIP-averse" ought to sample and see if they can't be converted. Volumes 1-8 contain all the standard 32 sonatas, volume nine all the non-standard sonatas, and the following volumes all the Bagatelles, Piano Pieces, and Variations. This makes this the most complete cycle by one pianist, ahead of Peter Takács' (see above). Update:The complete set has now been released, on SACD, as below. Availability: Country / Label USA UK France Germany BIS (individ.) Yes Yes Yes Yes BIS (box) Yes Yes Yes Yes
	Jean Muller 2007 - 2009 - Bella Musica / Membran Live recordings from a young Luxenburgian pianist. Originally recorded for Bella Musica. Most recently re-issued on Membran. (A sketchy cheapo-label, though in this case apparently a straight-forward licensing deal.) Availability: Country / Label USA UK France Germany Bella Musica mp3 only Yes Yes Yes Membran Yes Yes Yes Yes
	Irina Mejoueva 2007 - 2009 - WAKA (Japan) A Russian pianist working out of Japan. A review by Todd can be found here. Availability: Country / Label USA UK France Germany WAKA Individ. Individ. Individ. Individ.
	Hiroaki Ooi 2008 - 2009 - King International [Opus55] A HIP cycle extending to the Symphonies in the Liszt transcription, performed on 9 different historical instruments: For the sonatas these instruments were used: Andreas Stein (replica), Anton Walter (replica by McNulty), Jones & Round (1805, original), Broadwood (1817, original), etc. - and for the symphonies Ooi used a Johann Baptist Streicher 1846 (original), a Pleyel (original), and an Erard 1851 (original). Recorded live during 15 concerts in Kyoto; in 2008 and 2009. A few individual releases are on-and-off available on Amazon in Japan; some are available for streaming on iTunes. Apparently the whole set was never released, to begin with... which explains why they cannot be found anywhere. Ooi has moved on to perform - perhaps even record? - other Beethoven works (Variations, Bagatelles, and various short works), the Kurfürstensonaten on a historical clavichord, as well as piano solo versions of his 16 string quartets! Availability: Country / Label USA UK Japan Germany King No No Partial No

This listing of all Beethoven Sonata Cycles will continue as more sets reach completion or as I find more information about sets already completed.* There are certainly plenty sets under way that should or may reach completion soon: Among them Angela Hewitt (Hyperion), Igor Tchetuev (Caro Mitis), Jonathan Biss (Onyx), Akihiro Sakiya (DPIC Entertainment), Martin Roscoe (Deux-Elles), James Brawn (MSR), Paavali Jumppanen (Ondine) [Completed & Added], Yusuke Kikuchi (Triton) [Completed & Added] et al. I will also add a selection of historically important attempted cycles that were never finished but include >20 >9 sonatas. That would add Rudolf Serkin (CBS, 10 sonatas missing), Bruce Hungerford (Vanguard / Piano Classics, also 10 sonatas missing), Emil Gilels (DG, opp.2/1, 14/1, 54, 78, 111), and Glenn Gould (CBS/Sony, opp.7, 22, 49, 53, 79, 81a, 90 missing, op.106 separate, opp.7 [partly], 49/1, 101 available on CBC recordings). There are seemingly abandoned cycles that will not be included, such as those of  Giovanni Belluci,  Bruno Leonardo Gelber,  Yoshihiro Kondo, or  Per Tengstrand. There are cycles that are unworthy of discussion or outright fraudulent, i.e. not actual piano playing and/or of excrutiating quality and/or cobbled together from other performances. Most famously Joyce Hatto, but apparently also Vladimir Morrone, Giancarlo Andretti, Alicja Kot, and Claudio Colombo.**

* If you count, as I did, Backhaus II and Arrau II as complete, despite one and two (respectively) missing sonatas. I do not count Walter Gieseking (tapes of 4, 5, 7, 20, 22 for a radio cycle are lost, a studio cycle for EMI was missing seven sonatas when he died), Wilhelm Kempff "0" (Polydor, opp.2/3, 22, 27/1, 28, 31/2, 101 missing).

** Invaluable research on this end done by Todd, resident Beethoven-Sonata expert (and addict) at the Good Music Guide Forum.


The (Great) Incomplete Cycles
Part 1: 1935 - 1969
Part 2: 1967 - 1974
Part 3: 1977 - 1989
Part 4: 1990 - 1996
Part 5: 1996 - 1999
Part 6: 2000 - 2005

Ronald Brautigam Special
Part 8: 2010 - 2013
Part 9: 2014 - 2016
Part 10: 2017 - 20__


If you have additional information about recording dates, availability, cover art -- or corrections and additions -- your input is much appreciated.

This survey is meant to list all complete sets of Beethoven's Piano Sonatas and their availability in different markets, not to review them.

There are still cycles that I have overlooked or which are still missing vital information. Many of them were/are only distributed on the Asian market. Any further information about these would be much appreciated. Many thanks to Richard Winton, at this point, for vital help confirming the existence of--and supplying information for--Michael Steinberg's cycle (originally on Elysium LPs).

An Index of ionarts Discographies

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Singer Recitals: Villazón and Bartoli

Rolando Villazón, Handel, Gabrieli Players, P. McCreesh (released on March 31, 2009) Deutsche Grammophon B0012818-02

Tenor Rolando Villazón has been plagued with vocal troubles in the last couple years, making a comeback last year only to withdraw from more performances for the rest of this year and much of the next, reportedly to have a cyst removed from his larynx. Somewhere in the good months (April 2008), he made this album of Handel arias, and happily, with a few noticeable edits here and there, he sounded pretty good. Few would suspect that Villazón would even be interested in singing Handel, but he has been listening to Baroque specialists' recordings since the start of his career. Two years ago, in fact, the French historically informed performance (HIP) conductor Emmanuelle Haïm convinced him to work with her on a recording of Monteverdi's Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda.

Can a voice trained primarily to sound fabulous soaring up to and holding long notes in the stratosphere and pumping out volume work in Handel? Well, yes, in more or less the same way that Plácido Domingo sounded good in Handel's Tamerlano last year. Villazón's voice has greater agility, too, with only the more disjointed passages, especially requiring the voice to bridge its registers rapidly, sounding a little off-kilter. Even the ornamented da capo repeats and occasional cadenza (credited to Jory Vinikour, whose recording of Handel harpsichord suites we admired recently) are well done. Handel would surely have relished writing for this sort of voice, although he would have composed something specifically for its strengths. If Villazón is good enough for Paul McCreesh, whose Gabrieli Players provide stylish backup, then who am I to complain?

59'26"

Cecilia Bartoli, La Danza: Melodie italiane, J. Levine (re-released on March 3, 2009) Decca 478 1380

One of the singers whose interpretation of Baroque music Rolando Villazón says he admired was Cecilia Bartoli. Bartoli often seems most suited to 17th- and 18th-century music, where the clarity and agility of her voice is best featured. In her recent attempts to claim some of the 19th century, often under the aegis of HIP research, she has not met with approval from some listeners, for the same reasons that Villazón may seem unsuited to Handel, just in reverse. Those who are put off by her vocal mannerisms will never be convinced, but one of Bartoli's virtues is her interest in music off the beaten path. Decca has recently re-released this 1997 recital of rarely heard Italian art songs by opera composers, now available at a pleasantly discounted price if you missed it the first time around.

As the eminent musicologist Philip Gossett wrote at the time in his liner essay, "A vast literature of Italian nineteenth-century song, deposited in libraries and private collections throughout the world, remains to be explored. The music is found in early printed editions as well as in composers' own autograph manuscripts (often unique sources)." (A complete edition of the Rossini songs is planned by Gossett for the University of Chicago complete works.) Gossett points to modern listeners' familiarity with "nostalgic invocations" of this sort of Italian song by northern Europeans although the real thing is mostly forgotten: as part of the "nation-building process accomplished by the Italian Risorgimento," all major Italian composers wrote these sorts of songs. No one is likely to mistake most of these little songs by Bellini, Donizetti, and Rossini (all but one actually published in modern editions, a fraction of the number known to exist) for great art, but Bartoli, with all of the vocal intensity and agility adored by her fans, makes a case for them as at least very happy listening. A few, like the quietly smoldering setting of the Requiem Mass introit text that Rossini dedicated to his "beautiful mother," deserve to be much better known (many would make brilliant encore pieces). James Levine provides sparkling, sensitive accompaniment at the piano.

67'23"

In Brief: Leaving the Lake Edition

Here is your regular Sunday selection of links to good things in Blogville and Beyond.

• The magnitude of reactions to the death of Michael Jackson this week was, frankly, surprising. His music (mostly mediocre, in my opinion), his performing personality (memorable, if weird), and (most of all) his perversions, excesses, and eccentricities have surely left a mark on the popular imagination. But was the outpouring of grief and commemorations really warranted? In lieu of my own assessment of one of the strangest lives of our age (I just don't care that much), read this one. [Countercritic]


• Tim Page's look back at his career as a music critic should be required reading for anyone trying to write critically about music. [Opera News]


• A sneak peek at the set for Santa Fe Opera's premiere production of Paul Moravec's new opera The Letter, from the librettist, Terry Teachout. [About Last Night]


• Congratulations to Jessica Duchen, who has landed one of those rare blogger/columnist jobs, replacing Ian Bostridge as music writer for a relatively new British intellectual magazine. [Standpoint]


• Anne Midgette published some great articles on tour with the National Symphony in China and South Korea. Watch her speak about the experience in an interview for PBS. [NewsHour with Jim Lehrer]

Classical Music in Washington (September)

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Classical Month in Washington is a monthly feature. If there are concerts you would like to see included on our schedule, send your suggestions by e-mail (ionarts at gmail dot com). Happy listening!

September 6, 2009 (Sun)
8 pm
National Symphony Orchestra
National Labor Day Concert [FREE]
U.S. Capitol, West Lawn

September 12, 2009 (Sat)
12 noon to 6 pm
Kennedy Center Open House [FREE]
Kennedy Center

September 12, 2009 (Sat)
7 pm
Rossini, Barber of Seville
Washington National Opera
Kennedy Center Opera House

September 12, 2009 (Sat)
7:30 pm
Marco Granados, flute
Embassy Series
Venezuelan Ambassador's Residence

September 12, 2009 (Sat)
8 pm
Fairfax Symphony Orchestra
George Mason University Center for the Arts

September 12, 2009 (Sat)
8:30 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Gala Concert (with Lang Lang, piano)
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

September 13, 2009 (Sun)
2 pm
Rossini, Barber of Seville
Washington National Opera
Kennedy Center Opera House

September 13, 2009 (Sun)
7:30 pm
Joyce Yang, piano
JCCGW (Rockville, Md.)

September 14, 2009 (Mon)
7 pm
Rossini, Barber of Seville
Washington National Opera
Kennedy Center Opera House

September 15, 2009 (Tue)
7:30 pm
Rossini, Barber of Seville
Washington National Opera
Kennedy Center Opera House

September 16, 2009 (Wed)
7:30 pm
Rossini, Barber of Seville
Washington National Opera
Kennedy Center Opera House

September 16, 2009 (Wed)
8 pm
Mobtown Modern: Loopy
Metro Gallery (Baltimore, Md.)

September 17, 2009 (Thu)
7:30 pm
Rossini, Barber of Seville
Washington National Opera
Kennedy Center Opera House

September 19, 2009 (Sat)
7 pm
Rossini, Barber of Seville
Washington National Opera
Kennedy Center Opera House

September 20, 2009 (Sun)
2 pm
Rossini, Barber of Seville
Washington National Opera
Kennedy Center Opera House

September 20, 2009 (Sun)
3 pm
Calder Quartet
Clarice Smith Center

September 20, 2009 (Sun)
3 pm
Grand Piano Celebration
Jean Carrington Cook Memorial Scholarship Recital
George Mason University Center for the Arts

September 20, 2009 (Sun)
7 pm
Keyboard Conversation with Jeffrey Siegel
George Mason University Center for the Arts

September 23, 2009 (Wed)
7:30 pm
Jerome Barry (baritone) and Michael Adcock (piano)
Songs of the Vilna Ghetto
Embassy Series
Embassy of Lithuania

September 24, 2009 (Thu)
7 pm
NSO Pops: Ben Folds
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

September 24, 2009 (Thu)
7:30 pm
Argos Trio
Mansion at Strathmore

September 24, 2009 (Thu)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Higdon, Concerto 4-3
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

September 25, 2009 (Fri)
7:30 pm
Rossini, Cinderella (in English)
Opera Vivente (Baltimore, Md.)

September 25, 2009 (Fri)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Higdon, Concerto 4-3
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

September 25, 2009 (Fri)
8 pm
Poulenc Trio and Hyunah Yu (soprano)
University of Baltimore Student Center (Baltimore, Md.)

September 26, 2009 (Sat)
2 pm
Cédric Tiberghien, piano
WPAS
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

September 26, 2009 (Sat)
6 pm
Emerson Quartet
Smithsonian Resident Associates Series
National Museum of Natural History

September 26, 2009 (Sat)
7 pm
National Symphony Orchestra
Season Opening Ball Concert (with Evgeny Kissin, piano)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

September 26, 2009 (Sat)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Higdon, Concerto 4-3
Music Center at Strathmore

September 27, 2009 (Sun)
2 pm
Rossini, Cinderella (in English)
Opera Vivente (Baltimore, Md.)

September 27, 2009 (Sun)
3 pm
Monument Piano Trio
An die Musik Live (Baltimore, Md.)

September 29, 2009 (Tue)
7:30 pm
Australian Chamber Orchestra
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

September 29, 2009 (Tue)
8 pm
Fessenden Ensemble
Nonets by Martinů, Spohr
St. Columba's Church

September 30, 2009 (Wed)
7:30 pm
Australian Chamber Orchestra
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

À mon chevet: Debussy and Wagner

À mon chevet is a series of posts featuring a quote from whatever book is on my nightstand at the moment.

In this nothingness lies (though it is more in the nature of a metaphysical speculation than these concrete examples I have just been discussing) the final Tristan connection in Pelléas. The Tristan progression originated as a breath, the breath, as Wagner said, that 'blurs the clarity of the heavens ... grows, condenses, and solidifies, until finally the whole world confronts me in its impenetrable bulk'. Debussy reverses this process; he liquefies, dissolves, and diminishes, until the impenetrable bulk of the Tristan world vanishes into the empty nothingness from which it had been summoned. And Pelléas has its 'nothingness motif' -- a single tone. As a part of every other motif, or merely an intervallic oscillation, it is omnipresent; it permeates the loose-knit texture more thoroughly than the Welt-Atem or Tristan progression does Wagner's essentially symphonic score -- without, however, binding it together. It is in fact the embodiment of the whole disintegratory, anti-matter emptiness which the work, by its means, consists of as well as expresses. The richness of Wagner's score is already implicit in the progression of the Welt-Atem; the Welt-Atem is pregnant with the abundance and profusion of the accomplished work. By contrast the parsimony of means in Debussy's fully achieved work implies the possibility of a reduction to the central minimum, the nothingness of a single tone.

-- Robin Holloway, Debussy and Wagner, p. 135

In summing up his analysis of Wagner's (unacknowledged) influence on Pelléas et Mélisande, Holloway quotes an apt aphorism attributed to Lichtenberg: "To do just the opposite is also a form of imitation and the definitions of imitation ought by rights to include both." Holloway has the goods in tangible score analysis that show passages in Wagner's operas filtered into Debussy's score, but he does not push his case too far, in light of Debussy's later professed anti-Wagnerism. When Holloway knows that he is making a speculative leap, he says so, and it rarely feels like a stretch. The rest of the book, no less interesting, concerns other Debussy works, including Le Martyre de Saint Sébastien and the ballet Jeux.

Singer Recitals: Garanča and Royal

Elīna Garanča, Bel Canto, Filarmonica del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, R. Abbado (released on April 28, 2009) Deutsche Grammophon B0012818-02

Elīna Garanča made a fairly sensational debut at the Metropolitan Opera last year as Rosina in Barber of Seville. Her name first came up at Ionarts because she sang a small role in Europa Galante's memorable recording of Vivaldi's Bajazet a couple years before that. According to my review her voice had "a husky sound, not overburdened with active vibrato" and was "evocative" and "a little Marilyn [Horne] on the low notes." The Latvian mezzo-soprano's second recital disc for Deutsche Grammophon, a selection of bel canto opera excerpts, confirms that favorable assessment. Many of the pieces are for small ensembles, which highlights Garanča's voice in combination with soprano Ekaterina Siurina, tenor Matthew Polenzani, and bass-baritones Ildebrando d'Arcangelo and Adrian Sâmpetrean. Garanča has received praise for her Mozart and other early opera, too, so her voice is versatile, and she certainly has the power, beauty of tone, and agility for bel canto. This type of disc is not really of interest for the serious collector, of course -- buy the (heavily discounted) complete recording of I Capuleti e i Montecchi with Anna Netrebko (review forthcoming) instead of the few excerpts found here -- but it does give a worthwhile impression of the possibilities of this voice, at least until you have the chance to hear her live in an opera near you.

UPDATE:
See the profile on Garanča by Matthew Gurewitsch in the New York Times.

64'36"

Kate Royal, Midsummer Night, Orchestra of English National Opera, E. Gardner (released on June 2, 2009) EMI 50999 2 68192 2 8

Kate Royal has followed up brilliantly on the success of her debut recital album for EMI, with this selection of mostly 20th-century opera excerpts, called Midsummer Night. The program is likely to be of greater interest to the serious collector, alluring rarities -- like Walton's Troilus and Cressida, William Alwyn's Miss Julie, Bernard Herrmann's Wuthering Heights, as well as pieces by Britten, Barber, Messager, Korngold -- rather than tired favorites. Her voice continues to impress my ears -- as it did live during her first U.S. appearance (reviewed by Jens), here in Washington in 2006: well-aimed if not all that overpowering (no need for that yet, so no pushing), with transparency throughout its range and the true intonation that makes it devastatingly effective in the modern repertoire (think Dawn Upshaw). According to Royal's introductory remarks in the liner notes, the program was inspired by the experience of her first role in a 20th-century opera, as the Governess in Glyndebourne's touring production of The Turn of the Screw. She was surely a good match for the role, and the excerpt recorded here (How beautiful it is, when the Governess sees Quint's ghost appear mysteriously on a tower), as well as the Embroidery Aria from Peter Grimes, indicates that she will likely be a first-rate Britten interpreter. Her statuesque beauty would make her a natural Titania, for example. The same conductor from her first recital disc, Edward Gardner, again proves an excellent accompanist, this time with the ENO Orchestra.

61'45"

Summer at the Museums: Herman Maril @ the Walters

Another gem of a summer exhibit, Herman Maril: An American Modernist, will open at the Walters Art Museum on Sunday. Maril, a Baltimore native, taught in the University of Maryland’s Art Department for 37 years. His first exposure to modern art took place at none other than Etta Cone’s apartment at Eutaw Place. Etta and her sister Claribel’s collection is now the backbone of the Baltimore Museum of Art.

He was a part of the New York art scene of the 30s, befriending such artists as Rothko, Gorky, the Soyer brothers, and of course Milton Avery, with whose work, besides that of Matisse, he is most associated. In addition to the many Baltimore scenes that I became familiar with since moving here in the 80s, Maril also summered on Cape Cod beginning in the 30s, where he produced some of his best work, seascapes, sand dunes, and beach scenes.

It was on the Cape that Maril found his palette and simplified style of painting. Another painter who summered on the Cape with Maril and a kindred spirit is the NYC artist and long-time Parsons teacher, Paul Resika. Although Resika may be more polished, the similarities in their work are striking. Dialogue At Five, shown below, for that matter, a depiction of the Provincetown summer scene, resembles an early Alex Katz composition. Stop me before I connect again! The show is up through August 30th -- images of the installation on Flickr.

Julius Reubke, Sonatas

Schumann, Kreisleriana / Reubke, Sonata, T. Fellner Reubke, Sonatas for Organ and Piano, J. Filsell Online scores: Reubke, Der 94ste Psalm (organ) Sonata in B-Flat Minor (piano)

Many of the recordings we review here, as usual, are new releases, but sometimes it is fun to look backward to older recordings, either as a way to backfill one’s experience of an artist of current interest or to provide new alternatives to one’s listening of key works. Austrian pianist Till Fellner has been featured in our pages several times in the last few years, especially this year because of his Beethoven piano sonata cycle here in Washington, still in progress. Before his current contract with ECM, Fellner released a few discs on various labels, including this double bill of Schumann and Julius Reubke with Erato. For Kreisleriana, the reference recording is still probably Mitsuko Uchida or Maurizio Pollini, but the 20-something Fellner’s reading, made in 1995, has much to recommend it, showcasing his already prodigious talents as a colorist. The violent contrasts make the piece, but Fellner's reading is sometimes more rashly conceived than technically polished.

The real interest of this recording is the piano sonata by Julius Reubke (1834-1858), a young German pianist who became the favorite pupil of Franz Liszt in 1856, only to die two years later. The symptoms of the tuberculosis that eventually killed Reubke were already apparent at the time he completed this sonata in B-flat minor. Its basic form (sections of contrasting tempo within one large movement) and many of its melodic ideas and harmonic oddities show a kinship with Liszt's B minor sonata, completed just a few years earlier (indeed, Reubke dedicated his sonata to his teacher). Few composers of the mid-century were as harmonically adventurous, although Reubke's brand of chromaticism is cut from the same cloth as Wagner and others, obviously owing much to the influence of Liszt. Fellner's reading reminds me of his performance of the Hammerklavier sonata last month, a little cool, downplaying the technical challenges.

A less expensive and somewhat flashier option for the Reubke sonata is the recording by British pianist Jeremy Filsell, now available from Amazon by MP3 download. Filsell, recently appointed as organist at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington (in the interest of full disclosure, where I am also employed as a singer), has paired it with Reubke's much less obscure sonata for organ, a dramatic setting of selected lines from Psalm 94. Even if you know it (and many organists will), this is a version worth hearing, because it was recorded on the Friedrich Ladegast Organ in the Cathedral of Merseburg, where Reubke himself premiered the work on June 17, 1857, only two years after the instrument was installed. The unusual color palette of its registrations, infelicities of intonation and all, make the piece come to life. Without really critiquing a friend's recording in print, I think it is worth hearing.

Luscious Paint and Wicked Humor: Ensor @ MoMA

If you wait long enough and wish real hard, good things will come your way, or so I’ve heard. My dream this summer has come true with a very rare exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art of work by one of my favorites, Belgian artist James Sidney Edouard, Baron Ensor. A common theme I’ve found when researching artists, also true of Ensor, is that he did poorly in school (ha!) and -- something many young Americans can identify with -- he lived with his parents in Ostend, Belgium and had a studio in the attic. I don’t think there were basements then. It’s very rare to have so many of Ensor’s works assembled, incredibly over 200 paintings, drawings, and prints, allowing a true appreciation of not only his talent as a painter but his abilities as a draftsman and prolific printmaker.

I first came across Ensor’s work in college and was immediately attracted to the bizarre imagery and bold bright palette. His compositions of festively dressed, masked skeletons weren’t frightful: they seemed playful, with a knowing ulterior life that took pleasure in our folly. The real pleasure is that Ensor’s images are still fresh and still relevant. One small oil on panel, like The Bad Doctors or The Assassination -- is quite potent in light of the reports of botched prostate operations at V.A. hospitals. As one commenter on my Flickr page exclaimed -- he was a freak before the freaks boy genius! I think I’m in total agreement.

Ensor rarely traveled, leaving Ostend only for brief trips. His early work was considered scandalous, especially his iconic Entry Of Christ into Brussels, now in the Getty Collection. It took him several years to get his work accepted: the early work on view is a dark somber palette of domesticity. As his palette changed to the brighter colors we’re most familiar with and his subjects became more theatrical and bizarre, incorporating skeletons and masks, his favor grew; including being named a Baron by King Albert. His mother had a gift shop that sold masks for Ostend’s annual Carnival. This could have been inspiration for his carnival subjects, skeletons, and masked characters. The skeleton became more prominent after his father’s alcohol-related death.


Any good exhibition will surely make your head spin as you try to place the art in some kind of context. With Ensor it’s not possible and of course why bother -- he would have hated conformity, so here I go. My first thought was how could this fantastical work find a receptive audience in 1890’s Belgium, but there is a precedent with Hieronymus Bosch and the Bruegels that he took full advantage of with his unique style and wit. The religious themes of redemption, riffs on the Last Supper are repeated themes, and certainly Honoré Daumier’s satires of high and low society, especially through the printing medium (The Doctrinaire of Nourishment is a good example) -- they both a had wicked sense of humor.


It's much easier to spot the influence he had on his contemporaries and beyond, like George Gross, Paul Klee, Chagall, and visionary/outsider types; Henry Darger could have drawn The Cuirassiers at Waterloo. Not likely that they ever saw each other's work, but Ensor's landscapes have an uncanny resemblance to those painted by George Inness. But that's what a good exhibit will do, it inhabits your mind and makes you want to return again and again, and you should because this fabulous show is up only until September 21st -- or it may be a good reason to visit the Musée d'Orsay in October for the next stop. Visit my Flickr page for more images of the installation.