Ludwig van Beethoven - Bagatelles (Alfred Brendel)

Information

Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven

• (01-07) 7 Bagatelles, Op. 33
• (08)      Rondo No. 1 in C major, Op. 51
• (09)      Allegretto in C minor, WoO 53
• (10-20) 11 Bagatelles, Op. 119
• (21-26) 6 Bagatelles, Op. 126
• (27)      Bagatelle in B major, WoO 60
• (28)      Bagatelle in A minor, WoO 59 "Fur Elise"

Alfred Brendel, piano
Date: 1997
Label: Philips
http://www.deccaclassics.com/us/cat/4560312

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Review

Listening to Beethoven’s Bagatelles can be like looking over the composer’s shoulder as he works. A scrap of a theme, a repeated chord, a formulaic accompanying figure – an idea too simple even to be banal – suddenly blossoms into something rich and strange; the one-dimensional turns magically into the three-dimensional. One can imagine Beethoven strumming absently at the keyboard, then crying “Eureka!” and rummaging frantically for his pencil. An unassuming little Andante con moto tune dissolves into a cadenza, then emerges transfigured in ecstatic counterpoint (Op. 126 No. 1); an innocent, almost plain folk-melody reappears floating on high, a voice from another world (Op. 119 No. 11). And so often in the Bagatelles humour is at the core. If there’s such a thing as profound levity, this is it. I forget who it was who said that pianists ought to be compelled to play the Bagatelles before they attempted the ‘serious’ Beethoven, but I’d endorse it all the way. 

Alfred Brendel, who has written so effectively about humour in Beethoven, plainly revels in this aspect of the Bagatelles. The quirkiness, the delight in pulling the rug from under the listener’s feet – he seems to have made it all his own. One could argue with the approach here or there – Op. 119 No. 5 struck me as more laboured than Risoluto; the strange half-pedal at the end of Op. 119 No. 3 produces a momentarily metallic aura around the notes – but more often, much more often, character and texture are calculated to a nicety. And could any merely human pianist be expected to please in every single one of these hugely contrasted miniatures? Even the great Schnabel made some odd decisions – his Op. 126 No. 1 strikes me as insensitively fast. Brendel also conveys a sense of Op. 126 as – in Beethoven’s own words – a “cycle of Bagatelles”, the extraordinary No. 11 (a gorgeous Andante amabile framed by music-hall fanfares) making a very thought-provoking finale.

In their altogether different way these performances are every bit as perceptive as Stephen Kovacevich’s earlier recordings (also Philips) – and the sound here is fuller and more immediate. Strongly recommended.

-- Stephen Johnson, Gramophone [1/1998]

More reviews:
BBC Music Magazine  PERFORMANCE: ***** / SOUND: *****
http://www.allmusic.com/album/beethoven-bagatelles-mw0001825949
http://www.amazon.com/Bagatelles-119-126-Alfred-Brendel/dp/B0000041MM

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Ludwig van Beethoven (baptized 17 December 1770 – 26 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential of all composers. Beethoven is acknowledged as a giant of classical music, and his influence on subsequent generations was profound. His best-known compositions include 9 symphonies, 5 piano concertos, 1 violin concerto, 32 piano sonatas and 16 string quartets. Many of his most admired works come from the last decade of his life, when he was almost completely deaf.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_van_Beethoven

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Alfred Brendel (born 5 January 1931 in Wiesenberg, Czechoslovakia) is an Austrian pianist, poet and author, particularly for his performances of Mozart, Schubert, Schoenberg, and especially Beethoven. Brendel never had much formal piano training and was largely self-taught. He gave his first public recital at the age of 17, made his first recording at 21, then went on to make a string of other records, including three complete sets of the Beethoven piano sonatas, and was the first performer to record the complete solo piano works of Beethoven. Brendel gave his final concert on 20 February 2008 at Carnegie Hall, New York.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Brendel

http://www.alfredbrendel.com/

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