Latest / The Piano Maven with Jed Distler / Beethoven's 32 Sonatas with 64 pianists: Op. 13 ("Pathetique")

Transcript

Beethoven's 32 Sonatas with 64 pianists: Op. 13 ("Pathetique") · The Piano Maven with Jed Distler

• 0:00
  This is Jet Distler, and welcome to the Piano Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano
• 0:14
  recordings.
• 0:15
  We continue our mini-series survey of all 32 sonatas by Beethoven.
• 0:23
  But first, have you subscribed yet to my Piano Maven sub-stack page?
• 0:28
  If not, this is the time to consider making a paid subscription so that we can cover production
• 0:35
  costs and keep this podcast going for all of you who are passionate about the piano
• 0:41
  and piano recordings, just like me.
• 0:44
  With a paid subscription, you will receive invitations to participate in live Zoom chats
• 0:51
  where we will share listening experiences and host special guests.
• 0:56
  So visit the sub-stack Piano Maven link provided in the episode description and join the club.
• 1:04
  A few years ago, I started to compile a list of recommended recordings for each of the 32
• 1:10
  Beethoven Piano Sonatas without repeating any one pianist.
• 1:15
  And not just one recording, but two recordings, one of the recordings being historical or
• 1:21
  archival in nature.
• 1:24
  And the other being a modern stereo or digital recorded interpretation.
• 1:29
  So without repeating a pianist, we ultimately will have discussed 32 sonatas played by 64
• 1:38
  pianists, two pianists per sonata.
• 1:42
  For today's episode, we come to the first of the so-called name sonatas, the sonata
• 1:48
  number eight in C minor Opus 13, its nickname, the Pathetique, was actually Beethoven's own.
• 1:58
  And the sonata was considered in its time to be a rather unusual or strange composition.
• 2:05
  That long and dramatic first movement introduction had almost no precedent.
• 2:12
  The Pathetique has been served really well on recordings throughout history, and it's
• 2:18
  been very frequently recorded.
• 2:21
  And one of the most unorthodox interpretations proved to be my own entry into this work,
• 2:30
  although it is not a recording I'm going to recommend as my stereo or digital choice.
• 2:35
  But I do want to talk about it first, even though I'm taking a little detour, because
• 2:40
  it addresses an interesting topic, which is that of which recording of a certain work
• 2:47
  did you imprint upon, meaning the first one that you heard that turned you on to the music.
• 2:54
  And very often among collectors and music lovers, the versions that they imprint upon
• 3:01
  often tend to be their favorite ones, even if down the road they may discover better performance.
• 3:09
  Somehow that first one you've heard always kind of sticks in your craw.
• 3:14
  You know, I guess it's like remembering your first girlfriend or boyfriend or where you
• 3:20
  had your first really good pastrami sandwich.
• 3:23
  Anyway, when I was first getting to know the basic piano repertoire in college, I had a
• 3:29
  classmate friend who was constantly practicing the first movement of the Pathetique, and
• 3:36
  he was playing it in such a slow and stodgy and pedestrian way that just did not make
• 3:45
  that music appealing to me.
• 3:47
  And at the time, I would not have known if it was the music or the interpretation that
• 3:53
  was getting on my nerves, but the way that my friend insistently banged out this music,
• 4:01
  I mean, I could even tell that the playing was boring and unmusical, but his playing
• 4:06
  was making the music sound boring.
• 4:10
  So I assumed wrongly, as it turned out, that, well, this is a boring Beethoven composition,
• 4:17
  and I never want to have anything to do with the Pathetique sonata.
• 4:21
  This is just boring and tedious and keep it away from me.
• 4:27
  But a few months later, I was home on my winter break from college, and I had the habit of
• 4:33
  listening to David DuBall's morning radio show on WNCN, which was one of the principal
• 4:40
  classical music stations in New York, and unfortunately, it shut down, I think, in 1987.
• 4:47
  And David DuBall had been going through the Beethoven sonatas where he would compare recordings
• 4:54
  of different pianists in specific Beethoven sonata movements.
• 4:59
  So one day, he put on the Pathetique sonata's first movement with Glenn Gould, and, oh my
• 5:07
  goodness, this sounded to me like a whole different piece.
• 5:12
  It had absolutely nothing to do with my friends banging it out.
• 5:17
  I mean, Glenn Gould's introduction had this bright double dotted feel to it, yum, bum,
• 5:24
  bum, you know, it had a real kick to it.
• 5:27
  And then when the main theme came in, I could not believe such a fast tempo and what total
• 5:34
  control Glenn Gould had over that tempo with every note hitting you in the face.
• 5:41
  I was just stunned when I was hearing it.
• 5:44
  But what was interesting was that the way that Glenn Gould played the second and third
• 5:50
  movements seemed much more conventional by comparison.
• 5:54
  But that first movement, what a stunner that was.
• 5:59
  Eventually, I learned the Pathetique myself to play on the piano, and I became familiar
• 6:06
  with more, let's say, regulation model interpretations on record that were closer to Beethoven's
• 6:15
  real intentions in terms of the text.
• 6:18
  Yet I don't think that any other recording other than Gould's could have sold me on
• 6:25
  the Pathetique sonata at that time of my life.
• 6:30
  Now, maybe had I not had the experience of my friends boring Pathetique practice sessions,
• 6:37
  or had I just learned the piece without having heard any recordings or anyone else playing
• 6:43
  it, and then gotten to know recordings by usual suspects like Rudolph Serkin or Arter
• 6:49
  Schnabel, or maybe even the Rubenstein recording, whatever was in my school library, I may well
• 6:57
  have dismissed Gould as being eccentric.
• 7:00
  But context counts for a lot.
• 7:03
  As I said, Gould's Pathetique was the right Pathetique at the right time for me in my
• 7:10
  musical development.
• 7:13
  I still go back and listen to Glenn Gould's first movement once in a while just to remind
• 7:19
  me of that joy of discovery, so to speak.
• 7:22
  But let's get on to discussing the Pathetique recordings that I want to recommend.
• 7:29
  And one of my favorite and one very normal, if ripely inflected rendition from the 78
• 7:37
  era is by Edwin Fisher.
• 7:39
  What a beautiful sound he had and what natural ebb and flow in his piano playing and music
• 7:46
  making.
• 7:47
  He also recorded the Pathetique in the early 50s on a mono LP, but I think he's on better
• 7:53
  form in his version from 78s.
• 7:57
  Now my stereo Pathetique choice may well surprise you, but it's a recording that has everything.
• 8:04
  It has high drama and virtuosity, galore.
• 8:08
  It has poetry and character.
• 8:10
  It has color.
• 8:11
  It has emotional tension and also plenty of tenderness in the slow movement.
• 8:17
  It's a very well put together and exceptionally well played recording.
• 8:23
  And it comes from the pianist Edil Beret, the Turkish virtuoso.
• 8:28
  And this is the recording that she made for the Finnador label, I think in the late 70s
• 8:33
  or very early 1980s.
• 8:35
  It was an early digital recording that came out on LP and it did not last long in the
• 8:42
  catalog.
• 8:43
  And it was also coupled with the Hammer Klavier.
• 8:46
  It was eventually reissued on CD on Edil Beret's own label distributed by Noxus.
• 8:54
  And this recording of the Pathetique is not to be confused with her later remake, which
• 9:00
  is part of a complete Beethoven cycle.
• 9:04
  And that one is not as good to my mind as this earlier recording for Finnador.
• 9:11
  This is one of the best things that Edil Beret ever recorded.
• 9:15
  And God knows she recorded a lot.
• 9:18
  She's one of the most prolific recording artists ever.
• 9:22
  But this Pathetique I highly, highly recommend.
• 9:26
  This is Jet Dissler and you've been listening to the Piano Maven, your friendly podcast
• 9:32
  guide to piano recordings.
• 9:34
  And thank you for considering a subscription to the Piano Maven podcast through my substack
• 9:42
  page.
• 9:44
  And I look forward to being with you next time.