HAMMERKLAVIER AND SONATAS NOS. 5, 6, 7, 15, 19, 20 and 28 VOLUME IV ,

LAUDIO ARKAU SPECIAL RECORD: THOUGHTS ON BEETHOVEN'S SONA (Narrated) BY CLAUDIO ARRAU ay

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VOLUME IV

Side 1:

SONATA NO. 6 IN F MAJOR, OP. 10 NO. 2

Allegro

Allegretto

PROSHO SNe ee eeea ark s ekcnas ate ce (cy ft Peeerrecimeney Ses wee ree eet 16:11

SONATA NO. 5 IN C MINOR, OP. 10 NO. 1 (Beginning)

Allegro molto e con brio

7 olsto fey «igo eter neaenen screen deer teenn on ote oe corp rene eeween Te 14:14

Side 2:

SONATA NO. 5 IN C MINOR, OP. 10 NO. 1 (Conclusion)

RInGles(BReStissime) pte enaceimue stores ony maltese area. 4:26

SONATA NO. 7 IN D MAJOR, OP. 10 NO. 3

Presto

Largo e mesto

Minuetto (Allegro) ;

RondorlAllegrolle noir. acne Wes car Meee es test ttn ram gees 24:09

Side 3:

SONATA NO. 28 IN A MAJOR, OP. 101

Etwas lebhaft, und mit der innigsten

Empfindung (Allegretto ma non troppo)

Lebhaft, marschmassig (Vivace alla marcia)............ 10:45

Langsam und sehnsuchtsvoll (Adagio ma non

troppo, con affetto) —Geschwind, doch

nicht zu sehr und mit Entschlossemheit

Wallicte fe) tertaries te aia tcf incr y brane an verre a a eres 11:36

Side 4:

SONATA NO. 15 IN D MAJOR, OP. 28

Allegro

Andante

Scherzo

Side 5:

SONATA NO. 19 IN G MINOR, OP. 49 NO. 1

Andante

Rondow(Alleqrol ec asccecs ac anc serena Wee poe. eee 8:10

SONATA NO. 20 IN G MAJOR, OP. 49 NO. 2

Allegro ma non troppo

TEMPOS MINUEHTO: amc heme eco eterna otis ais 8:50

SONATA NO. 29 IN B MAJOR, OP. 106 (HAMMERKLAVIER)

(Beginning)

Allegro

SigIC(74er-—yassoll ViMetclian teams uh mo omen ee enn aoor 13:11

Side 6:

SONATA NO. 29 IN B MAJOR, OP. 106 (HAMMERKLAVIER)

(Conclusion)

Adagio sostenuto

largo—Allegnoerisoluton tr ..cre a cmiee tenia 4Seesuenacnee cee nc ores S105

SONATA IN F MAJOR, OP. 10, NO. 2 (1796-98)

The opening Allegro starts out at a moderate pace, broad and

spacious in feeling. But soon a host of ideas comes crowding in to

build a movement of such richness, especially in the wonderful

recapitulation, as to have made this Sonata a longtime favorite

of Beethoven himself.

The Allegretto in F minor consists of a Menuet and Trio and a

varied da capo. It breathes an air of sadness and longing veiled

in an atmosphere of hushed mystery.

The Presto, back in F Major, is a short virtuoso exposition of the

sonata form (though without second theme) in rousing fugato style;

brilliant, compact, and utterly and wonderfully effective.

SONATA IN C MINOR, OP. 10, NO. 1 (1796-98)

In the three Sonatas Op. 10, Beethoven returns again to the formal

mood of his first three Sonatas, Op. 2, instead of following in the

direction indicated by the bold work of Op. 7. Written between

1796 and 1798 and printed in the latter year, they may have

been meant for gifted young performers. But surely Beethoven, a

virtuoso himself, must have been the gifted performer most in mind.

All three works, composed as if in full view of an admiring salon,

flow naturally like brooks of sheer improvisational wonder, now

glorying in exuberant melodic brilliance and rhythmic verve, now

meditating softly and lovingly. The glow of young life and hope

sheds a bright light—but not for long. The slow movement of

Op. 10, No. 3, like the slow movement of Op. 2, No. 2, already

points starkly to the “Hammerklavier” slow movement to come—

twenty years later.

The first movement of Op. 10, No. 1 opens with an impetuous

eight-bar theme that forms the core of the long exposition of the

sonata form, leading through the development, recapitulation,

transition and new recapitulation of the second theme material,

now in the minor and ending without coda in rapid fortissimo.

The slow movement in A-flat Major is in sonata form without a

development. The opening melody is like a dirge, now sad, now

consolatory, and flows from this material to the final coda in one

long breath of beauty—part heavenly and soaring, partly resigned.

The diabolic Prestissimo, back in C minor, is in full but telescoped

sonata form brusquely breaking the meditation of the preceding

Adagio. But before the stage is quite set for gaiety, it is all over, and the minor key is brought back in a startlingly beautiful cadence before the close.

SONATA IN D MAJOR, OP. 10, NO. 3 (1796-98)

The Presto is one of the most brilliant opening movements in all of

the Sonatas. It carries a defiant proclamation of confidence and

élan. The pulse of life is running joyously. But—how Beethoven

can catch at the throat with a sudden twist of the minor key, as he

does in both the development and recapitulation, as well as in

the broad coda!

The Largo, in D minor, by contrast, plunges to the opposite end of

tragic despair. The slow movement of the ‘‘Hammerklavier,”’ Op. 106

—the sublimity no less than the gravity—is foretold here.

The Menuet, back in D Major, brings a consolatory mood with a

lovely sixteen-bar melody which builds simply to the Trio in G major

leading back, da capo, to the Menuet.

The Rondo, though a genuine rondo in form, with the three

returns of the main theme in good order, is not a rondo in the

accepted sense. Even the gentle, tentative opening of the theme

poses a different idea. It is not assertive: it seems to be asking a

question. The coda bringing the work to a close tapers off: there

seems to be no answer. This is Beethoven’s first truly tragic Sonata—

not, as is customarily supposed, the ‘'Pathétique.”

SONATA IN A MAJOR, OP. 101 (1813-16)

In this fantastic work, which was some three years in the making

and was begun before Op. 90, Beethoven finally hammered out

the essence of his third period—sublime inwardness and heroic

rebirth. It is in every way as great on its own terms as Op. 106,

and would be more performed and understood were it not over-

shadowed by its colossal companion, for just as Beethoven in-

scribed it in German, this too was designated as “ftir das Hammer-

klavier,"" no doubt inspired less by the current wave of German

chauvinism on the defeat of Napoleon than by the new Broadwood

piano with extended keyboard sent to him from London and for

which he must have wanted to do something extra grand, and did!

The first movement, of only 102 bars’ duration, wells up from the

deep regions of the soul. In highly concentrated sonata form with

coda, it is over before the intimation of pain comes too close.

The March in F Major of the second movement is, in complete

contrast, strong and full of affirmation. The Trio in B-flat which

follows poses some doubt. The conclusion comes with the da capo

of the March. The short slow movement in A minor elaborates on

the tragedy only hinted at in the first movement, the first four bars

of which are recalled before the rising trills leading to the grand

finale. This movement, back in A Major and in concentrated sonata

form, wields such a power in its thematic material and fugal

development (which enters just after an uncanny figure in A minor,

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CLAUDIO ARRAU A Tribute by the Berlin Philharmonic

Although of Chilean origin, Claudio Arrau is half a Berliner. He

has lived around three decades in our city, from his 9th to his 38th

year. | heard him for the first time in 1920. He was 17 at that time.

As soloist at a Philharmonic concert conducted by Carl Muck,

he played—today hard to believe— Schubert's Wanderer Fantasy

in the Liszt arrangement for Piano and Orchestra. His name was

alrready known even then. He had won the Ibach-Schulhoff Prize,

thee Liszt Prize (twice) to which he added in 1927, the one most

sought after of all, the Grand Prix International des Pianistes of

Geneva. When he was 7 years old, he had such a success in

Santiago that the Chilean government sent him to Berlin for further

stwdy and where he found in Martin Krause, the Liszt pupil at the

Stern Conservatory, the ideal pedagogue who gave him lessons

almost every day until he was 15 years old. Krause died in 1918.

Young as he was, Arrau never accepted another teacher but con-

timued to work on his own, which he does to this day. The result is

a imusician and a pianism which one can truly say is without equal.

W/here can one begin in portraying Arrau? Perhaps with his unique

uniiversality. He is a Bach, Beethoven, Brahms as well as Chopin and

Debussy player. But every attempt to label him is hopeless. The term

“repertoire” is meaningless in his case since he has covered the

whole field of the piano literature in full. In 1935 he played the

complete keyboard works of Bach in 12 evenings, an interpretative

feat which no other pianist has ever attempted or mastered. Just a

year later he followed this with the keyboard works of Mozart in

5 evenings; then a year later with the keyboard works of Schubert

in 4 evenings with the fifth one devoted to Weber. Still a year later,

this time in Mexico City, he played all the Sonatas and the Con-

certi of Beethoven—an artistic consecutive achievement that is

without precedent in the history of piano playing.

This is an achievement only possible for a pianist who feeds on a

simply inexhaustible and rich substance of artistic strength; a sub-

stance that is forever in motion, transforming, refining and sublimat-

ing. Mimosa-like sensibility is united in Arrau with primitive energy;

the most varied detail with the most grandiose projectile force.

With what does he actually play? Others use the fingers, the hands,

the arms, the shoulders. But when he bends over the keyboard, it is

as if Music and only Music itself was flowing out of his entire com-

pact body. There isn’t a nuance of feeling or sound that he has not

mastered. His pianissimo is more eloquent, more mysterious than

that of others and his fortissimo has more depth of dimension and

is more limitless.

Perhaps his performances at the piano can only be accurately

described in one word. Greatness. A worn-out word? Certainly.

But in connection with him it is given a new meaning. The fulfilling

power of his musicianship seems unending. He has the tradition of

the old and the breadth of the new world. He has inherited the

throne of Gieseking and Busoni. To the great artist and friend then

go the greetings and gratitude of Berlin and the Berlin Philhar-

monic on his 65th birthday.

Kurt Westphal

Habeae OE -

in) AINE ERECINE

asks an angry question and pauses for the fugue entry—later heard

again in the coda), as to mark it as one of the greatest finale

movements in all of the Sonatas by Beethoven.

SONATA IN D MAJOR, OP. 28 (Pasforale) (1801)

In this work Beethoven harks back to the good and tried sonata

form mold. After the two experiments of Op. 27, he seems content

to try his hand again at another old-fashioned sonata. His Hamburg

publisher printed it with the subtitle ‘‘Pastorale” and the uneventful,

peaceful opening Allegro indeed gives the feeling of something

pastorale, without any storms.

The beautiful Andante in D minor, with its development of three

strains of the melody in da capo form, is Beethoven at his most

touching best. How right the Hamburg publisher was!

The Scherzo in D Major continues the pastorale feeling even

through the Trio in B minor at the end before the return da capo.

Even the concluding Rondo fails to pick up any brio character. A

Piu allegro at the end quickly closes this very peaceful work, and

presages, as almost always in Beethoven, a new peak to come

after a temporary lull.

SONATA IN G MINOR, OP. 49, NO. 1 (1798)

The two little Sonatas, Op. 49, in two movements each, belong to

the years 1796-98, and it is not hard to understand why Beethoven

himself failed to have them published then but waited until his

brother Caspar sent them to a publisher in 1805, ostensibly without

his consent. At the time they were composed they were not even up

to the power and imagination of the Op. 2 Sonatas, not to mention

the Sonatas of Op. 10. After the great period of Op. 31, it was

probably unthinkable that he would send them out himself. But good

businessman that he was, he perhaps thought it a good idea to

have his brother do so. Whatever the explanation, we remain the

gainers. Simple and unpretentious as they are, they are lovely

little works, especially the G minor, and in the great span of the

thirty-two, they act as restful places in between the towering

heights.

The Andante opens with a beautiful swaying melody followed by a

development section, recapitulation and coda. The Rondo, not

fully worked out, matches the Andante in felicity and charm.

SONATA IN G MAJOR, OP. 49, NO. 2 (1796)

The Allegro moves its tripping way from the opening four-bar

melody to a complete if not very expansive sonata form move-

ment; this leads to the Menuetto, developed in rondo form on a

theme afterwards used in the Menuet of the Septet, Op. 20 (1800).

SONATA IN B-FLAT MAJOR, OP. 106 (Grosse Sonate fiir das

Hammerklavier) (1817-18)

After the years of work on Op. 101, Beethoven was well prepared

for this Grosse Sonate—one of the most grand, gigantic and worthy

monuments a titanic spirit ever left behind him.

Beethoven here las in the first movement of Op. 111) attempts

once more to write a heroic sonata and | agree entirely with

Schnabel that the tempo indicated by Beethoven's own metronome

marks must be correct. Only the heroics are now on another level

altogether. Craggy, splintered, violent, tortured, they seem to

crumble under his very fingers as it were. Beethoven has passed

the period of battles but he has yet to reach his period of trans-

figuration, as he does later in Op. 109 and the Arietta of Op. 111

(and of course in the Missa Solemnis and the Ninth Symphony).

Right from the first crashing B-flat chords of the Allegro, the die

is cast, and the proclamatory figure is announced throughout the

long movement of exactly 405 bars; it leaps, grows and hammers

itself out into a colossus of structural sound. As in Op. 101 (also

as a preparation for the last movement), the development section

is worked out in canonic treatment here with a fugato in E-flat

at its center. The recapitulation and long coda further emphasize

and strengthen the glory of its sweeping momentum, truly built in

and on the grandest symphonic scale.

The Scherzo which follows, also in B-flat Major, is on the same

order as the first movement. No humorous piece, nor ordinary

dance movement, it is another dramatic outburst, preparing us

completely for the terrifying heartbreak of the Adagio. This sonata

form movement in F-sharp minor (G-flat minor), is a universe in

itself. Lasting over twenty minutes, it constitutes the apogee of

profundity in music—as if all the tragic, profound slow movements

Beethoven had lived through had been put into one fiery cauldron

—as indeed they had—and burned in the red-hot flames into his

lacerating distillation of pain and sorrow.

Coming after such a movement, Beethoven had no other recourse

but to resort to the grandest summing up available—that of a

grandiose fugue in three voices. The Adagio had said everything.

The Allegro risoluto only brings everyone on stage for the final

statement, in this instance a raging fugue. Beethoven seems to have

been preparing himself all his life for this supreme contrapuntal

achievement which | believe is transcended not even by the more

celebrated Grosse Fuge.

The Largo introduces by descending steps the right key for the

entry of the Allegro. Then after a short preparation, the subject of

the fugue is announced and the game begins, running its intricate

course (the “‘licenze” Beethoven refers to are only rare deviations

from the strict three-part writing) to the end—astonishing and

edifying us with its amazing self-generating life forged at whitest

heat.

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BEETHOVEN Sonata No. 6 in F major, Op. 10, No. 2

Allegro Allegretto Presto 16:11

Sonata No. 5 in C minor, Op. 10, No. 1 Allegro molto e con brio Adagio molto 14:14

Timing: 30:35 An Claudio Arrau, piano “oy

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BEETHOVEN Sonata No. 5 in C minor, Op. 10, No. |

Finale (Prestissino) 4:26

Sonata No. 7 in D major, Op. 10, No. 3 Presto Largo e mesto Minuetto (Allegro)

Rondo (Allegro) 24:09 Timing: 28:45

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BEETHOVEN Sonata No. 28 in A major, Op. 101

Allegretto ma non troppo Vivace Alla marcia 10:45 Adagio ma non troppo, on affetto

11: Allegro Timing: 22:24

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BEETHOVEN Sonata No. 15 in D major, Op. 28

Allegro Andante Scherzo Rondo

Timing: 24:22 Claudio Arrau, piano

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BEETHOVEN Sonata No. 19 in G minor, Op. 49

Andante Rondo (Allegro) 8:10

Sonata No. 20 in G major, Op. 49.2 Allegro ma non troppo Tempo di minuetto 8:50

Sonata No. 29, B major, Op. 106 (HammerKlavier Sonata) Allegro Scherzo-Assai Vivace 13:11

Timing: 30:28 Claudio Arrau, piano

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BEETHOVEN Sonata No. 29, in B major, Op. 106

Adagio sostenuto Largo-Allegro Risoluto

Timing: 31:55 Claudio Arrau, piano

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NARRATION RECORD

Thoughts on Beethoven’s Sonatas

Timing: 21:34

Claudio Arrau