Shelley's Superb Clementi Sonata Series is on the Home Stret
Dace Gisclard | Houston, TX | 05/14/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I have been avidly collecting Shelley's outstanding Clementi series, but I approached this latest volume with mixed feelings. First, it is now obvious that the series will not include the two great Capricci of Op.47, and perhaps not even the Sonata Op.16. Spada refers to Op.16 as "slight stuff", and perhaps its absence is not greatly to be mourned, but this series has been announced as "complete." I can live without the sonatas of Oeuvre I. These are about 50% material recycled from Op.1, and Clementi scholar Leon Plantinga is quite right in saying they are not an improvement (Spada recorded this, but in his series it is mis-labeled as "Opus 1" or "Opus 1 bis." Copies can still be found on AMAZON, either as part of his complete box set Clementi: Piano Music (Box Set), or Vol.I separately Clementi: Sonate, Duetti & Capricci, Vol. 1--as much as I love Clementi, this music and Spada's performance are really not worth the trouble or the money). It would also be nice to have the slow movement from the original version of Op.2 No.2, also omitted by Shelley (who plays the revised version in Vol.I).
Instead, we have the Sonatinas Op.36. When I first saw the announcement of the album contents on HYPERION's webpage, I thought, "nice, I suppose, but isn't it like hoping Lawrence Olivier will recite Shakespeare (Op.47), and instead getting Mother Goose?" I seriously considered withholding the fifth star because of my personal pique about these issues. I realize this is like complaining about not getting a cow when one was promised a horse, but I'm really irritated--sorry!
Don't get me wrong--I love the sonatinas. Within their miniature confines, Clementi has wrought precious small jewels, and it's stimulating to hear a pianist of Shelley's stature lavish his mature technique and insight on them. Of course, whether or not one is satisfied with these performances will depend on what one wants from them. This is not the recording to buy if one is looking for a "straight" presentation "come scritto." (Spada's is exactly that--earnestly correct, if a little dull Muzio Clementi: Sonate, Duetti & Capricci, Vol. 12. (an inexpensive recording of these is available from NAXOS, but I've not heard this CD.) Nor do I think this recording is the ideal introduction for young pianists preparing one of the sonatinas. Shelley will leave the kiddies behind in the dust, ultimately discouraged at not being able to match his scintillating brilliance.
However, what Shelley does give us is a rethinking of these "teaching pieces" from the viewpoint of a fully-ripened virtuoso. First statements are always presented as written, but repeats usually are ornamented with tremendously amusing impudent wit, yet also with exquisite good taste and correct period style. Little cadenzas are inserted here and there. Fairly often, Shelley allows his virtuoso technique to push tempi beyond the bounds of velocity that might be expected from a student pianist--although never to the extreme of becoming a mere stunt. I found myself enormously entertained. Despite my disappointment about the capricci and Op.16, I'm glad to have heard this, but the easily scandalized should stay away--these are performances for those who already know these works well, but are willing to listen with an open mind.
As for the rest of this set, Op.34 is comprised of two of the composer's undoubted masterpieces--a diptych forming a study in contrasts. The sunny and extrovert No.1 may be another disguised concerto--it certainly has the requisite dazzle. The slow movement anticipates John Field and Chopin, and the "bagpipe" effects in the finale are playful and pleasantly astringent. No.2 (recorded by Horowitz) is one of the composer's most troubled "sturm und drang" minor-key essays. In the first movement, the foreboding Largo introduction metamorphoses into the first theme of the Allegro con fuoco first movement proper. Just before the recapitulation, the development draws up short in throbbing terror, presaging a similarly panting moment in the first movement of the Eroica. The opening motif of the Largo re-appears, and blossoms into pathetic lyricism. Surely Beethoven remembered this striking passage when he came to compose his Pathetique" and "Tempest" (Op.34 was published in the same year as his Op.2 sonatas). After the not entirely reassuring slow movement, the nervous finale returns to the intensity of the opening movement, and its second theme refers back to the Largo.
The outer movements of the three sonatas of Op.37 find Clementi returning to the deliberate primitivism and sharp dissonances generated by "murky" (broken octave) basses, drones, and other bagpipe effects from sonatas of earlier years, but with a new contrapuntal sophistication mingled with the wit. Contrapuntal textures come to the fore particularly in the middle movements of Nos.2 and 3. These sonatas do not plumb the expressive depths of Op.34, but this is Clementi the entertainer competing (as was every other composer in London of the early 1790's) with Haydn the entertainer. Personally, I'm particularly fond of the polonaise finale of No.1 and the rustic "bagpipe" drones in the finale of No.3.
In Op.46, despite its late opus number, the thinner textures of the outer movements seem to come from an earlier era in the composer's career. It is unusual in having a slow introduction, albeit one not integrated into the rest of the work as in Op.34 No.2.
As in the other volumes of this series, Howard Shelley's illuminating and technically fluid performances leave nothing to be desired, and Clementi scholar Leon Plantinga's authoritative notes enhance one's enjoyment.
The booklet announces that Volume Six will contain Opera 40 and 50. There would still be room to include Op.16 and the missing slow movement of Op.2 No.2. Although I expect to be disappointed on that account, I look forward eagerly to Shelley's performances of the last six sonatas of Clementi's maturity.
Other volumes in this series:
Vol.I Clementi: The Complete Piano Sonatas, Vol. 1
Vol.II Clementi: The Complete Piano Sonatas, Vol. 2
Vol.III Piano Sonatas 3
Vol.IV Piano Sonatas 4"
Track Listings (23) - Disc #1
