Beethoven: Cello Sonatas, Op. 5

Albumbeschreibung

The "Stradivari Series" appearing on the Harmonia Mundi label features instruments from the Museum of Music housed at the new Philharmonie de Paris. That did not oblige the producers to make the actual recordings at the Philharmonie, which is too large a space for Beethoven's chamber music and forces the engineers to mike the players too closely to create a sense of intimacy. However, the marquee attraction is the instruments, and they're quite interesting, with notes going into a good deal of detail about their history. Pidoux's Pietro Guarneri cello, made in Venice in 1734, sings with the newly operatic quality of late Baroque instrumental music, and it's nicely suited to the two early Beethoven cello sonatas here, key jumps forward in which Beethoven grasped the structure of the biggest Mozart sonata forms. Especially novel, though, is the piano, an 1855 product of the Königsberg maker Gebauhr. It has a smooth lower register and a sparkling top, pointing directly toward the modern German pianos of the late 19th century but retaining a lightness and agility that suits it to Beethoven. Gebauhr instruments are rather rare, and piano buffs may well want the album for the presence of this one alone. The performances get the sweep of the two sonatas, with a deliberate performance of the Cello Sonata No. 1 in F major, Op. 5, No. 1, and a brisker G minor sonata, Op. 5, No. 2; the two smaller works that close the album are less effective. An album of great interest to those absorbed in historical performances of Beethoven.

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