Latest / The Piano Maven with Jed Distler / Beethoven's 32 Sonatas with 64 pianists: Op. 7

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Beethoven's 32 Sonatas with 64 pianists: Op. 7 · The Piano Maven with Jed Distler

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  And welcome everyone. My name is Jed Distler and this is the Piano Maven, your friendly
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  guide to piano recordings. You can now find the Piano Maven podcast on Substack where
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  a paid subscription to my Substack page enables you and I to chat about all things related
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  to the piano and piano recordings and piano topics and everything about the piano. And
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  you also will receive invitations to participate in live Zoom chats where we will share our
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  listening experiences and host special guests from time to time. So please consider a paid
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  subscription to my Piano Maven Substack by visiting the link provided in the episode
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  description. You will be glad that you did. Moving on, this is our second day of a Piano
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  Maven mini-series to usher in our second season of this podcast. Back during the pandemic,
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  I was challenged to recommend individual recordings for each of the 32 Beethoven piano sonatas
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  but without repeating any pianist. However, I decided to do double duty, meaning that
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  I will be recommending two recordings for each sonata without repeating a pianist. That's
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  64 pianists. So one recording will be a modern recording for a particular work, meaning a
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  stereo release or a digital release. And the other recording will be an archival or historic
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  recording. And as I said, without repeating a pianist. So by the end of this mini-series,
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  we will have discussed 32 sonatas and 64 pianists and 64 performances. That's quite ambitious.
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  But we're going to do it. Believe you me. I discussed the three sonatas from Beethoven's
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  Opus Two yesterday on the last episode. But for today, I'm just going to focus on the
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  sonata number four in E flat major, Opus Seven. Beethoven composed it in 1796 and it's one
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  of his longest sonatas. In fact, it's most likely the second longest out of the 32. The
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  longest, of course, is the Sonata Number 29, the famous Hammerklavier Sonata.
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  Opus Seven is in four movements. The first is Allegro Molto and Combrio. The second movement
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  is a Largo con Gran Espracione. I pronounced that really beautifully, right? Then the Scherzo
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  is an Allegro. And then there's a Rondo, a very gracious movement. It says poco allegretto
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  e grazioso. Yeah, that's why it's gracious. For my modern recommendation, I recommend
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  that you check out the recording by Murray Pariah. I think this is a very special recording.
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  He operates on two levels wonderfully well, especially in the outer movements, where he
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  shapes the legato lines with the utmost control and elegance. But the music always moves forward
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  and there's a sense of inner thrust to the interpretation. And those very typical subito
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  dynamics, those quick changes between loud and soft, are always addressed in Murray Pariah's
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  playing. And this pianist makes it all sound absolutely natural, for lack of a better word.
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  Yet there is a lot of harmonic analysis and forethought behind his interpretation. But
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  not any sense of self-awareness. What's that old cliche that critics love to use about
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  the art that conceals the art? I guess you could say that about this recording. I really
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  like it a lot. For a historic recording, my favorite, Opus 7, remains the one by Arter
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  Schnabel. But since we had Arter Schnabel for Opus 2, number 1, we can't repeat a pianist.
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  So that leaves me going back to a recording made for the German Electrola label on June
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  7, 1938, by Elie Nye, who lived from 1882 until 1968. And unfortunately, she was an
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  unrepentant Nazi. So I will understand if you might not want to listen to Elie Nye.
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  And I can't say that I blame you, because if you listen to the recording she made when
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  she was much older, in the 50s and 60s, her playing tends to be very tedious and ponderous
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  and teutonic in the worst, worst way possible. But in this early recording, I do have to
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  say that her playing really is excellent and authoritative. And there are a lot of quote
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  unquote old school traits, such as making very slight retards or tenutos at certain phrase
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  endings or cadences, and slowing down for the second theme in the first movement. You
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  would think nowadays that would sound a little provincial, but you know, that was her way.
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  But what I keep coming back to in this recording is Elie Nye's gripping treatment of the second
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  movement Largo, and how her control of the dynamic gradations and her timing of the silences
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  really hold your attention. And I think she really captures the music's tenderness and
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  inner drama. Now, how such a horrible human being was able to produce such compelling
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  artistry? I don't know. You tell me. But her Beethoven Op. 7 recording was most recently
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  released on the APR label as part of a collection containing Elie Nye's complete Brunswick and
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  Electrola solo 78rpm recordings. And I've posted links to both the Elie Nye and Marie
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  Pariah recordings in the episode notes. This is Jed Dissler, and I thank you for listening
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  to the Piano Maven, and for all your support. And please do consider subscribing to the
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  Piano Maven podcast through my sub stack page and tell all of your piano lover friends that
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  we are going through the Beethoven sonatas on our second season of the Piano Maven. Take
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  care.