Pianist to present Beethoven’s last sonata
Steven Osborne, 48, is one of the most celebrated pianists in the U.K. The winner of the prestigious Clara Haskil International Piano Competition in 1991 and the Naumburg International Competition in 1997 has continued his musical journey of some three decades with sincerity and passion, earning many other international honors for his outstanding achievements, including the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Instrumentalist of the Year in 2013.
He arrived in Seoul in advance of his concert today at Kumho Art Hall Yonsei in Seoul — his first performance in Korea. Being invited to perform under the banner of the “International Masters’ Series,” Osborne will perform three of Beethoven’s late sonatas, including the last one, No. 32, as well as giving master classes for students.
During an interview with The Korea Times, Tuesday, Osborne talked about the concert, the process behind his CD recordings and his passion for music. Osborne will perform Beethoven’s piano sonatas “No.30, Op.109,” “No.31, Op.110” and “No.32, Op.111,” which is the last one by the German composer. The seasoned pianist explained that these later works by Beethoven are particularly marked by their spontaneity and humility, although the three are all very different.
“They seem like they could be a new beginning for Beethoven. The sonata before them is extremely long, and extremely complex. These sonatas are much shorter — only 20 minutes for Sonata No. 30 and No. 31, and 25 minutes for No. 32 — and much less, sort of, imposing sounding, but they’re very spontaneous and humble, you could say. They seem that Beethoven takes himself much less seriously, there’s yet this incredible sensitivity of musical thought that goes through them,” Osborne said.
“Sonatas No. 30 and 32 have variations in their last movements, which are by far the longest movement in each piece. And what Beethoven does with these variations is very different from other composers, especially Sonata No.32. It’s rather than being a whole bunch of different things thrown together as a nice collection; it’s like one single process. It goes through the whole thing, and there’s this incredible sense of journey that happens through that,” he added.
“It’s simply you get more and more notes. The theme is a few notes and each variation is a few more; so it’s a very simple idea, and yet what it does of it is so unbelievably emotional. What it does of it is so varied that you can miss the simplicity of what it actually does — just the process of adding more notes. This is a very typical Beethoven thing. He was so interested in the musical process but also so deeply emotional in himself. Certain passion is so strong that it even breaks music apart,” he stressed.
“I absolutely adore these pieces, especially Sonata No. 32. That might be the one piece, of all, I would play for the rest of my life, if I could. Whenever I go out and play the piece, I feel so happy,” he said, smiling.
The three sonatas were recorded for his most recent CD, released in May this year. The CD received rave reviews and many awards, including Gramophone Magazine Recording of the Month, International Piano Magazine Album of the month, and shortlisted for Best Instrumental Recording for 2019 Gramophone Awards.
Such favorable reviews of his CDs are nothing rare for him; he has accumulated numerous awards for his work released through the Hyperion label since 1998 in the U.K., France, Germany and the U.S., including two Gramophone Awards and three Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik Awards, among others.
When asked if he believes there were any special reasons behind such frequent honors, Osborne said he thinks it’s because he chooses to record CDs only when he gets real inspiration and the yearning to do so.
“Well, I’ve never recorded for the sake of it. I hate the idea to record something that I don’t feel deeply passionate about. Because there are so many recordings, and there’s really so little point. When somebody feels something that passionately, there’s this automatic communication; even when one plays very well, nice, and tastefully, but when you don’t have that inner need, something’s lost,” he said.
“When preparing a recording, I never listen to anyone else, because there are so many good ideas and there’s no point in doing what they do. The point is you have your own thing, which absolutely comes from you; then it will speak,” he explained. “Everyone has their own emotional self, and that’s where the music comes from. Because that’s what communicates you, your own thing. It’s very mysterious how it actually works.”
Osborne is known for having an extensive repertoire, playing classics from Bach, Schubert, Beethoven and Rachmaninoff to contemporary classical composers like Olivier Massiaen and Morton Feldman. He said his musical taste has changed over the course of time. While he was in his early 20s, he said he was more of a perfectionist, but he changed to favoring his inner passions by playing music with more dramatic contrasts, such as the works of Rachmaninoff or Feldman.
Even with Osborne’s established status as a renowned musician, he never stops learning new pieces. That’s why his repertoire is continuing to expand, broadening and deepening his musicality over time. He said what drives him to seek out new pieces is basically his inner pleasure.
“The pleasure is great in the beginning, and then two thirds of the way through it, when you’re trying to get up speed, and there’s a lot of stress. That’s not the most fun part of the job, I just try to do day by day to see the progress. The last 10 percent goes pretty quick but the 70 to 90 percent is really hard work,” he said, adding that despite the stressful period of hard work to master them, he still regards them as a joyful challenge and pleasure which is connected to his true self.