Beethoven

Piano Sonatas Nos 30-32

Alexandre Tharaud (piano)

Erato 9029563382 61:59 mins plus DVD Tharaud’s Beethoven is unfailingly neat and elegant, but rather misses the point. These three late sonatas should take us into remarkable emotional territory. The triptych dates from 1820 to 1822, after the mighty Hammerklavier Sonata, and during a fruitful period that produced the Missa solemnis and the last string quartets. They find Beethoven wresting the sonata form into structures inseparable from their thematic material, distilling ideas into two movements instead of three and playing with variations and fugues.

Tharaud’s first foray into solo Beethoven follows an extensive and often rewarding discography including Couperin and Pécou. This is a very nicely-produced album, well recorded, and his playing is nimble and thoughtful. But the E major Sonata, Op. 109, lacks a certain vocal quality and luminosity. I wasn’t convinced, either, by some of the tempos in the A flat Sonata, Op. 110, though Tharuad taps into the well of emotion in the concluding Adagio and Fugue. The final Sonata, Op. 111, is magisterial and serene, Tharaud bringing out something of the piece’s surprising modernity.

The 64-minute bonus DVD, filmed in a building of dilapidated grandeur, is atmospheric in a way with the Steinway gleaming in the pale light coming through the windows; I’m not sure, though, what visuals of dusty old books, dripping water and leaves in puddles have to do with Beethoven. Rebecca Franks PERFORMANCE ★★★ RECORDING ★★★★