Beethoven Trilogy 1: Fantasia

Album review

This release was supposed to be the first in a series of three by pianist See Siang Wong that examined lesser-known works by Beethoven in conjunction with the composer's 250th birthday in 2020. It came in under the pandemic wire in January of that year; a second volume appeared belatedly in 2021. Fortunately, Wong's program can stand on its own, being both original and needed. It is well known that Beethoven, until his deafness encroached, was a star pianist, and there is some awareness that improvisation was part of his arsenal. Wong takes this as the starting point of his program, examining Beethoven works united by the idea of the fantasia. He opens with the Piano Sonata No. 14 in C sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 1 ("Moonlight"), not, to be sure, a little-known work, but one that is fresh in Wong's reading with its heavy use of the sustain pedal in the first movement. This creates the hazy quality that is said to have inspired the poet Rellstab to coin the sonata's familiar title. Wong also includes the Piano Sonata No. 13 in E flat major, Op. 27, No. 1, which like its successor, is labeled "Sonata quasi una fantasia," and he does well in re-creating the features that might have made Beethoven think of it that way. Sample the lively, almost improvisatory feel of the second movement. From there on out, Wong offers works that truly do have fantasy or improvisational elements. First the odd and rarely played Fantasia in G minor, Op. 77, which may have been set down by Beethoven from an actual improvisation, and then the Fantasia in C minor, Op. 80 ("Choral Fantasy"). The latter work gets a lot of ink (or pixels) for its introduction of a theme similar to that of the finale of the Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, but Wong is interested in the beginning. The first part is another quasi- or actually improvisatory work, and the second part, before the choir's entrance, is unlike anything else Beethoven composed, with the improvisatory element interwoven with the appearance of the big theme. Wong captures this balance very elegantly. Although this is not a historical-instrument performance, one feels that it had something of the quality of Beethoven's final appearance as a pianist, the five-hour 1808 concert where both the Op. 77 fantasia and the Choral Fantasy were played. The clean singing of the Wiener Singverein and playing of the ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra under Leo Hussain contributes to this impression. This is among the more useful items to emerge from the Beethoven anniversary year.

© James Manheim /TiVo