Beethoven, L. Van: Violin Sonatas Nos. 6-8

Album review

Understatement is the watchword of this 2004 CD of Beethoven's Violin Sonatas, Op. 30, and violinist Benjamin Schmid and pianist Alfredo Perl achieve fairly modest results in their close-to-the-vest performances. How they determined this approach may be connected to their recitals of all ten violin sonatas at Wigmore Hall, London, and their one-day endurance test at Bad Endorf, Bavaria. To play the entire cycle with stamina and steadiness, Schmid and Perl likely strategized to hold energy in reserve and to guard against tiring excesses. This might explain why their studio recording of the Sonata in A major is rather subdued throughout, and the Sonata in G major is merely perky instead of brilliant. The Sonata in C minor receives the most dramatic treatment; Schmid and Perl play with great vigor in the Allegro con brio and the volatile Finale. Yet restraint is evident in the Adagio cantabile and the Scherzo, and the pair hold back where others usually push ahead. Whether or not this duo's control and conservation of resources helped in concert, it underwhelms on disc and seems too cautious, especially for works from Beethoven's heroic middle period. The sound quality is more forward than the interpretations and suggests a boost from an obliging sound engineer.
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