LP: Beethoven Cello Sonatas

LP I: Side 1 

Sonata No.1 in F Major Op. 5, No.1 (Adagio sostenuto, Allegro)

        Side 2

Sonata No.1 in F Major Op. 5, No.1 (Rondo: Allegro vivace)

Sonata No.3 in A Major Op. 69 (Allegro ma non tanto)

LP II: Side 1

Sonata No.3 in A Major Op. 69 (Scherzo: Allegro molto, Adagio cantabile, Allegro vivace)

         Side 2

Sonata No.5 in D Major Op. 102, No.2 (Allegro con brio, Adagio con molto sentimento d'affetto, Allegro: Allegro fugato)

It has been awhile now since the seemingly endless parade of new Beethoven cello sonatareleases has passed the reviewing stand, but here comes a late marcher bringing up the rearguard.First, let me offer a mild rebuke to Maja Weber and Per Lundberg for failing to include intheir two-disc set of Beethoven’s cello sonatas the three sets of cello and piano variations that arevirtually obligatory discmate fillers to the five sonatas. Of the 17 sets I’ve reviewed in the lastnine years, only one contained nothing but the five sonatas, and that was by Li-Wei Qin andAlbert Tiu in 35:2. Another one by Guido Schiefen and Alfredo Perl omitted the variations butcompensated by including Beethoven’s cello transcription of the Horn Sonata, op. 17, he’dcomposed for Giovanni Punto. With so many outstanding versions of Beethoven’s cello works inthe catalog, to omit the variations does not make for a competitive edge.Now, having issued that reprimand, I need to retract it because in this case there is goodreason for not including anything but the sonatas, though it’s a reason that will amaze you inmore ways than one. These are brand new recordings made between December, 2013, andJanuary, 2014; yet the record label, Solo Musica, has produced these CDs in parallel versions—not, mind you as SACDs, DVDs, or Blu-ray discs; that wouldn’t be unusual or in the least bitamazing. No, Solo Musica has made these recordings available on virgin vinyl pressings, akaLPs.Some labels have recently begun pressing and issuing older historical recordings on highgrade vinyl LPs—I recently reviewed a Melodiya LP of David Oistrakh’s Brahms concerto withKiril Kondrashin and the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra—but only a very few high-endaudiophile companies (Reference Records, I think, is one of them) issue brand new recordings onLP, and then only two or three per year and in very limited quantities. So amazement numberone is that Solo Musica has released the Beethoven set simultaneously on both CD and LP. Thisexplains why only the sonatas are included. More simply can’t fit in the grooves of those 12-inchplatters.Amazement number two is that if you’re a vinyl enthusiast, and a wealthy one to boot,you can purchase the LP set from Amazon’s UK site for £399.58, which at today’s (11/21/2014)exchange rate of £1 British sterling = USD $1.26, will set you back $503.47, and that doesn’tinclude shipping. For us po’ folk, the cost of the set on CD is $26.94, which actually makes this amid-price twofer.Maja Weber was born into a musical Swiss family (is there any other kind?) in 1974 andbegan playing the cello at age four when the instrument was bigger than she was. Study at theWinterthur College of Music was followed by further cello lessons in Cologne with FransHelmerson and coaching in chamber music by the Alban Berg Quartet. Chamber music isWeber’s passion, and in 2007, she formed the Stradivari Quartet, which made its debut tour tocritical acclaim in Munich, Berlin, Vienna, Budapest, and Prague. At the same time, though,Weber has also continued to play with pianist Per Lundberg for over 20 years in a duo theynamed DuoLeonore. Weber plays the 1717 Bonamy-Dobree Stradivari cello, once owned byfamed Portuguese cellist, Guilhermina Suggia.Stockholm-born Per Lundberg (b. 1962) admits to not coming from a musical family, theonly instrument played in the house being a phonograph, on which his father listened to a lot ofjazz. Lundberg’s interest in the piano was sparked by an LP his mother had inherited from her brother; it was Van Cliburn’s live April 11, 1958, Moscow competition recording of theTchaikovsky concerto. From there, the odyssey took Lundberg to the small, exclusive musiccollege in Edsberg, then to Vienna for additional study, and eventually back to Sweden, thecountry he calls home. In 1997 Lundberg gave the first Swedish performance of Lutoslawski’s1989 Piano Concerto with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra.It’s not disputed that while in Berlin in 1796, Beethoven composed his first two cellossonatas for the pleasure of the cello playing King of Prussia, Friedrich Wilhelm II. What isn’t100-percent clear is whether Beethoven wrote the sonatas for Friedrich to play himself or tosimply enjoy as a listener. What is known is that the works were performed at court byBeethoven at the keyboard and one or the other of the two Duport brothers—Jean-Pierre or JeanLouis—takingthe cello part, with the King presumably in attendance. Perhaps they had him turnpages. The sonatas may simply have been beyond Friedrich’s technical abilities to play, butgiven my warped sense of humor, it amuses me to think that he died trying, for it wasn’t longbefore he took his leave for the celestial kingdom, where it’s reported he’s still annoying theinhabitants trying to master Beethoven’s scores.Joking aside, the two op. 5 sonatas are technically difficult and remarkably advanced,considering how early they come in the composer’s catalog of works. Happily, Maja Weberexhibits no technical shortcomings; indeed, her execution is scrupulously clean in bowing andprecisely on pitch in fingering. Moreover, the sweet-toned midrange and firm, tight bass shedraws from her magnificent Stradivari cello is perfectly suited to these works. Per Lundbergengages Weber, not as an accompanist, but as a more than equal partner in sonatas, which, afterall, still place the piano ahead of the cello on the title page. Tempos are quite fleet, lending agreat deal of propulsive drive and energy to these performances. Of the many versions of thesesonatas I’ve reviewed, I’d put Weber and Lundberg at or very near the top.It has been noted that Beethoven’s five cello sonatas span almost the entirety of hismusical output; they are both the first and last sonatas he wrote for piano with anotherinstrument, and they surpass in scale, boldness of conception, and range of expression, with theexception of the “Kreutzer” Sonata, the violin sonatas that were bunched up between 1797 and1802. For whatever reason, Beethoven found the cello a more promising candidate forcommunicating the musical ideas he wished to voice.When Beethoven turned to the cello once again in 1808 to compose his Third Sonata, op.69, he was not yet 40, but he was now at the height of creative powers. The sentence ofincreasing deafness was taking its physical, emotional, and psychological toll on him, but it wasthis period—the years between 1803 and 1809—that saw the creation of many of his greatestmasterpieces: the “Waldstein” and “Appassionata” Piano Sonatas; the “Eroica,” Fourth, Fifth,and “Pastoral” Symphonies; the “Razumovsky” and “Harp” String Quartets; the ViolinConcerto; the Fourth and “Emperor” Piano Concertos; the “Ghost” Trio, and the first and secondversions of Fidelio, then titled Leonore.The A-Major Cello Sonata comes towards the end of that feverish period of activity andits style of writing and musical character have much in common with the two op. 70 piano triosthat were composed in the same year. The score does have one thing in common, though, withthe two earlier op. 5 Sonatas; once again, Beethoven dedicated the work to a musical amateur,this time to one who didn’t even play the cello, Baron Ignaz von Gleichenstein, one of thecomposer’s personal physicians. No doubt there was a quid pro quo of monetary remunerationattached to the dedication; Gleichenstein helped to secure an annuity of 4,000 florins for the composer. The Sonata was first performed by the distinguished professional cellist, Josef Linke,who subsequently joined the renowned Schuppanzigh Quartet.Regarding the A-Major Sonata, cellist Steven Isserlis wrote in a 2007 article for TheGuardian, “It is also the first equal sonata for cello and piano. Previous cello sonatas had eitherbeen cello solos with continuo accompaniment or, like Beethoven’s first two, piano sonatas withcello obbligato. Here, every theme is perfectly conceived for both instruments; Beethoven hadinvented a new genre.”Except for the “club-footed” Scherzo—one of those movements where it’s hard to knowwhether Beethoven is being humorously grim or grimly humorous—the character of the music isbasically of good cheer—sunny, warm, outgoing, and uplifting in spirit; no scowling Beethovenhere. Weber and Lundberg bring those qualities and more to their performance. It’s filled with asense of exuberance and joy, and even the evil-intentioned goblin in the Scherzo gives up hisnasty ways to become a harmless, happy gnome in this reading.The final two cello sonatas, like the first two, were dedicated as a set; this time thededicatee was Anna Marie Grafin Erdody, a close friend and confidant of Beethoven. TheSonatas in C Major, op. 102/1, and D Major, op. 102/2, were composed in 1815, a year whichsaw remarkably little in the way of significant output from the composer, except for these twoworks. The only other scores to bear a composition date of 1815 are the secular cantata, CalmSea and Prosperous Voyage, op. 112, the Namensfeier Overture, op. 115, and the collection ofScottish Folksongs, op. 108.It was a year during which Beethoven was preoccupied with the guardianship of hisnephew Karl and concerns about money. This is reflected in exchanges between the composerand Charles Neate, pianist, cellist, composer, and founding member of the London PhilharmonicSociety. Beethoven gave Neate a number of works, including these two cello sonatas, to takeback to London with him and to find an English publisher for them. In a letter to Neate,Beethoven instructs his envoy to negotiate appropriate payment, telling him, “the more thebetter.”When it comes to the “greats” in music history, we tend to place them above and beyondthe worldly affairs of ordinary human beings, but a reading of Beethoven’s letters and journalsreveals just how much of a concern financial transactions were to him, and how cynical,manipulative, and even venal he could be when it came to money matters.It was in this state of distraction that Beethoven composed his two last cello sonatas. Thefirst of them, in C Major, is highly unusual in form, consisting of two fast movements, eachpreluded by a slow introduction. The writing, too, now has a freely associative improvisatorystyle to it that anticipates that in the final three piano sonatas to come.The second of the two sonatas, in D Major, reverts to a more normal, three-movement,fast-slow-fast layout, but its last movement, a fugue of great technical difficulty for the cello,points the way to the fugal writing that would so occupy Beethoven in the “Hammerklavier” andlast piano sonatas and, of course, the late string quartets.Maja Weber and Per Lundberg unite probing intellectual insight and profoundly feltemotional expression with playing of impeccable—dare I say, perfect?—execution to achieveperformances of these sonatas which, in my experience, are second to none. Urgentrecommendation. Jerry Dubins