Beethoven: 2 Rondos, Für Elise, Andante favori, Sonata No. 31 Op. 110 Six Variations on an Original Theme Op. 76 (Brigitte Engerer)

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Originally published in 1991, this slightly different recital by pianist Brigitte Engerer provides a beautiful look into the Beethovenian piano catalogue with some large and small works. As Jean-Yves Bras explains in the original record sleeve, “it illustrates, in fact, the daily work and versatile temperament of a Beethoven who sometimes opened up to the seduction of the frivolous viennese public, and was sometimes conscious of his artistic direction, imposing expression, style and thought”. 

What’s more, Brigitte Engerer starts with the two Rondos Op. 51s published by Artaria in Vienna in 1802, but whose composition dates back to 1797, two brilliant works which exude an improvisational character. The pianist adds to the programme the formidable song (formidable because of its fame and repetitive melody) Für Elise (in English, For Elise). Written in one day on the 27th of April 1810, this score made up of 300 bars is, in reality, a work of maturity for the composer - one can sometimes forget - and contemporary of Sonata No. 26 “The Farewells”. The sonata acts as the perfect prelude to the magnificent Andante favori which Beethoven had initially intended to be the slow movement in the Waldsten Sonata (1803-1804), but was then already overly long.

The most substantial work on the bill, the Sonata in A flat Major Op. 110, is perhaps the most spellbinding of the final three sonatas. Relatively brief, it basks in an unforgettable light and its final fugue includes reminders of the gloomy preceding Adagio with a dazzling sense of balance.

Brigitte Engerer has had the good idea of including the Variations on an original theme in D Major Op. 76 in which the theme is The Ruins of Athens, composed in 1809 and rarely braved by pianists. © Pierre-Yves Lascar/Qobuz