Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos. 7, 8 & 12

Beethoven's music has always lain at the heart ofGianluca Cascioli's research into interpretation. Whatdistinguishesthe present workis above all the choice of instrument: a fortepiano modelled on an 1805 Anton Walter built by Paul McNulty,an instrument equipped with both a moderator and theuna cordastop, like the one that Beethoven asked the same builder to make in 1802. The recording is in fact dedicated to works composed and published between the years 1796 and 1802.

The interest in historical performance practices and original sources, which has increasingly become a defining mark of Cascioli's performances, is another evident characteristic of this new recording, which features, among other things, arpeggiated chords, embellishments, ornamented fermatas and the use of rubato.All decisions on such matters, however, are always firmly founded on the sources, methods and treatises of Beethoven's own day, asthe artisthimself explains in the interview included in the liner notes.Casciolihas now arrived at his twelfth recording of works by thegreatcomposer-the first forArcana,after many issued ondistinguishedlabels likeDeutsche GrammophonandHarmonia Mundi.

• Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 7 in D major, Op. 10 No. 3
• Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13 'Pathetique'
• Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 12 in A flat major, Op. 26 'March Funebre'
• Beethoven: Rondo in C major, Op. 51 No. 1

April 2024