Search - Mitsuko Uchida, Ludwig van Beethoven :: Beethoven Sonatas, Opp. 101 & 106 "Hammerklavier"

THE BRILLIANCE OF BEETHOVEN MEETS THE VIRTUOSITY OF MITSUKO

RBSProds | Deep in the heart of Texas | 08/14/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Five BRILLIANT Stars!! Mitsuko Uchida delivers STUNNING virtuosic performances of Ludwig Van Beethoven's two sonatas of "impressions and reveries", especially Opus 106 which has been called his most complex sonata. Written during a turbulent period of his life after he had gone deaf, the Opus 101 sonata and the Opus 106 "Hammerklavier" sonata are brilliantly composed works that push the artist to the limits of their technical virtuosity and challenge their ability to breakdown a complex piece into its essential components, all the while demanding they deliver a great depth of feeling on top of that. In all cases, Ms Uchida succeeds brilliantly, wringing every bit of nuance out of the gentler passages and bringing on spectacular kinetic keyboard fireworks at will in other passages. One can only be amazed at how an artist of such small physical stature can deliver those stunning 'Richter-like' power passages with such ease and elegance.



These are works of great beauty and clarity but also very complex works at times. At some points, time pulses shift at odd moments only to shift back again at the very point when the listener becomes aware of them. The need for highly independent hand coordination is evident throughout both sonatas as each hand, at various times, 'takes the lead' or 'shares the lead' with themes rolling from one hand to the other, multiple themes rolling on top of each other, and the delightful 'echoing' effect with its slight 'time-delay' between hands. All wonderfully rendered by Ms Uchida. My favorites are Opus 101 shifting from 'calm to storm' and back, with Ms Uchida using both the softest touches and the most energetic power moves, one immediately after the other in some cases, as demanded by Beethoven: an amazing feat of musical composition and flawless technical and emotional execution by the lady. And other special favorites are the Allegro, Adagio, and the Largo movements of the "Hammerklavier" sonata. But essentially, these are complete works and should be enjoyed that way, using 'individually-liked' passages as the icing on the cake.



Decades into a fabulous career, the dynamic Mitsuko Uchida continues to push the classical music envelope. These brilliant performances are great examples of her amazing artistry, but her entire repertoire cuts a very wide swath through the major classical master composers. This is another major Mitsuko Uchida accomplishment that should not to be missed. My Highest Recommendation! Five ESSENTIAL Stars!!



(This review is based on an iTunes digital download.)"

Mitsuko Uchida Plays Late Beethoven

Robin Friedman | Washington, D.C. United States | 09/10/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Mitsuko Uchida (b. 1948) has achieved fame through her recordings of the sonatas of Schubert and Mozart. In recent years, she has turned to the sonatas of Beethoven. She has recorded a CD of the final three sonatas, op. 109, 110, 111, and this new CD includes opus 101 and the "Hammerklavier" opus 106. In this CD, Uchida has given a performance of late Beethoven to treasure.



This is an inspired recording indeed, as Uchida plays with what can only be described as complete musicality. Her playing, and her chosen repertoire, reminds me greatly of Wilhelm Kempff. I was stuck by the thought that is apparent in these readings, by the voicing, fluidity of rhythm, and lyricism. The latter quality is one not often associated with the "Hammerklavier", but in the contrasts Uchida brings out between the stormy, jagged sections of the work and the moments of song and reflection, Uchida finds a new dimension to this music.



Beethoven's composed his piano sonata in A major, opus 101 in 1814-1815 when the quantity of his compositions had diminished as the composer found a new musical direction. The companions to this work are the opus 90 piano sonata, the song-cycle "An Die Ferne Geliebte" and the two cello sonatas, opus 102. In the improvisatory character of the work, opus 101 bears some resemblance to the "Moonlight" sonata, opus 27 n. 2. This is one of my favorite works of Beethoven. It opens with a reflective, moderately paced wandering theme that Uchida makes her own with subtle shifts of tempo, and lovely tone quality through beautiful plangent voicing of the parts. She makes the most of the opening theme as it returns just before the fugal finale -- the first piano sonata that Beethoven would end with a large fugue. After the wayardly romantic opening movement, Beethoven writes a contrastingly vigorous march with a quiet interlude. The slow movement is short and intense and -- as is the case with the "Waldstein" sonata -- a prelude to the lengthy finale which consists, as I have noted of an elaborate and joyful fugue. This music is Beethoven at his greatest. Uchida brings out the depths of this sonata.



The "Hammerklavier", Beethoven's longest and most difficult piano sonata occupied him for the latter half of 1817 and for most of the following year. In the 19th Century, this work was regarded as almost unplayable. With the advent of recordings, we have been blessed with many performers who can bring the work to life. Unlike the other later piano sonatas, the Hammerklavier is in four large expansive movements, culminating with an enormous fugue as does the late b-flat major string quarter, opus 130. (The Hammerklavier also has resemblances to an early large scale B flat major piano sonata, opus 22, which, alas, is too little performed.)



There is an understandable tendency in recordings of the "Hammerklavier" to emphasize the virtuosic, discordant, heaven-storming and banging timbre of the work. Uchida has the strengh to bring out these aspects of the score, but the uniqueness of her reading lies in her contrast of these qualities with the quiter moments of the "Hammerklavier." Her sense of the work as a whole comes out in the second theme of the opening movement, the the long and introspective slow movement with its passages of filigree, and in the voicing and clarity she brings to the monumental fugal finale -- including the slow and reflective second theme. Beethoven wrote that in this finale he was not writing a strict Bachian fugue but rather was infusing the fugal form with his own feeling of poetry. Uchida brings out the strength and war-like character of the Hammerklavier but even more importantly its feeling of introspection and vision.



Robin Friedman"

Outstanding Beethoven!

The Cultural Observer | 09/02/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I've always cherished the work of Mitsuko Uchida in any piece she chooses to focus those dexterous fingers into, and her Beethoven is no exception. While she is known first and foremost as a Mozart and Schubert pianist, her Chopin, Schoenberg, Debussy, and Schumann top the list as some of the most focused and well-played interpretations ever committed to disc. Her Beethoven is played with the same kind of accuracy and virtuosity that she imbues the other pieces with, but that doesn't mean that she lacks in the power department either. In fact, I think her well disciplined fingers give these sonatas the kind of precision that I find lacking sometimes even in Arrau or Kempff. Plus, she has the strength to make these pieces transcend beyond the score into a musical plane that joins the composer's troubled mind. Her Sonata 28 is for me one of the best versions of the piece played beside the interpretations of Arrau, Kempff, Pollini, Brendel, and Serkin. Uchida has that special quality of losing herself in the piece, and her Beethoven is distinctly different from the myriad of Mozart and Schubert that made her career skyrocket to the international scened. Her Hammerklavier is one of the most powerful yet reflective renditions I've ever heard--much better than Pollini's breakneck speed version from almost three decades earlier. And if she doesn't really surpass the heights that great Beethoven masters like Arrau or Kempff achieve in their music, she more than suffices to at least rank along with these musicians.



A highly recommended buy! I hope that you would take the time to listen to her magnificent artistry."