Beethoven: Complete Sonatas and Variations, Volume 1

Dejan Lazić and Pieter Wispelwey

Released on 2005-09-13 by Channel Classics
Main artists: Dejan Lazić Pieter Wispelwey
Genre: Classical

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At the time of the release (in 2005), Pieter Wispelwey wrote these liner notes:
It is thirteen years since I first recorded the Beethoven sonatas and it

seemed there were plenty of reasons to do it again. Although the first recording had

been on period instruments most of the Beethoven recitals I did over the last twenty

years had been ‘modern’. On top of that I very recently had acquired a Guadagnini cello that needed baptising.

It also was a good opportunity to celebrate the new partnership with Dejan Lazic,

with whom this music had already been ‘tried out’ for about seven years. Thirteen years ago the period instruments were a source of excitement. The liveliness of the

gut strings and the combination of explosivity and tenderness of the fortepiano were

wonderfully inspiring.
Now with Dejan I felt more than ever that we were able to

simulate several vital ‘period’ characteristics while still enthusiastically enjoying our

modern instruments.

And then there was a reborn ambition to try as hard as we could to evoke the euphoria

of a good concert. Sometimes you give one and if there was one concert that was a

direct inspiration for this recording it was a performance of all sonatas and variations

in the Grote Zaal of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw in the late summer of 2004. It

started at 6pm, we had a great piano, there was lots of atmosphere and of course

there were those incomparable acoustics. There was even soup in the first interval.

In short everything fell in its place. Also there were no microphones… In other words

not circumstances that were easy to imitate in a studio, apart from the soup. After

that concert we thought now really we ought to give it a try.

Interestingly enough this ‘live’ feeling seemed particularly appropriate for this music

in which liveliness and spirit are so paramount. In the sonatas there are eleven fast

movements against one slow one plus five slow introductions. Of those eleven two are

to be played just Allegro, one Allegro ma non tanto and one Allegro fugato. For the

other seven it is Allegro con brio, Allegro molto, Allegro molto più tosto presto and

four times Allegro vivace.
If we are to believe the famous student of Beethoven and celebrated pianist Carl

Czerny even those normal Allegro’s and the ma non tanto and the fugato should be

quite fast, judging from his metronome markings for them: 160 and 72 for the quarter

(tracks 2 and 19, CD 1), 72 for the half bar (track 1, CD 2) and 63 for a fugue bar (track

11, CD 2). Not to mention the other metronome markings…

For your entertainment I give you a short listing of his suggestions for the eleven fast

movements.
• Opus 5 no. 1: ‘sehr lebhaft und brillant; feurig, sehr lebhaft und brillant’
• Opus 5 no. 2: ‘sehr stürmisch, brillant mit Bravour und Kraft; heiter, lebhaft und

brillant’
• Opus 69: ‘alla breve doch gemässigt (Halbe = 72, Sic!); sehr schnell, sehr brillant

mit Bravour; schnell und brillant’
• Opus 102 no. 1: ‘rasch und kräftig; mit Feuer, Leben und muntrer Laune’
• Opus 102 no. 2: ‘lebhaft, grossartig, kräftig und entschieden; staccato, nicht übereilt

(Takt = 63, Sic!)’
He would have been a demanding producer… Of course we played as we felt we

needed to play and if I am totally honest I have to admit that I only looked up his

remarks after the recording. Having consulted him in the past, this time we decided

against that. Not out of laziness or naughtiness but because we felt it more to be in

the spirit of Beethoven to maintain a healthy scepticism towards any authority and to

try to emulate his unique temperament independently and instinctively. That we more

or less seem to have acted in Czerny’s spirit after all is ironic and humbling at the

same time.

More info

Beethoven: Complete Sonatas and Variations, Volume 1

Dejan Lazić

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Cello Sonata No. 1 in F Major, Op. 5 No. 1 (Ludwig van Beethoven)

I. Adagio sostenuto

Pieter Wispelwey