Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven
Performer: Steven Osborne
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Hyperion
Catalogue: CDA67879
Release: 2012
Size: 983 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Bagatelles, Op. 33
01. No 1 in E flat major. Andante grazioso, quasi allegretto
02. No 2 in C major. Scherzo. Allegro – Trio
03. No 3 in F major. Allegretto
04. No 4 in A major. Andante
05. No 5 in C major. Allegro ma non troppo
06. No 6 in D major. Allegretto quasi andante
07. No 7 in A flat major. Presto
Bagatelles, Op. 119
08. No 01 in G minor. Allegretto
09. No 02 in C major. Andante con moto
10. No 03 in D major. À l’Allemande
11. No 04 in A major. Andante cantabile
12. No 05 in C minor. Risoluto
13. No 06 in G major. Andante – Allegretto
14. No 07 in C major. Allegro ma non troppo
15. No 08 in C major. Moderato cantabile
16. No 09 in A minor. Vivace moderato
17. No 10 in A major. Allegramente
18. No 11 in B flat major. Andante ma non troppo
Bagatelles, Op. 126
19. No 1 in G major. Andante con moto
20. No 2 in G minor. Allegro
21. No 3 in E flat major. Andante
22. No 4 in B minor. Presto
23. No 5 in G major. Quasi allegretto
24. No 6 in E flat major. Presto – Andante amabile e con moto – Tempo I
25. Bagatelle in G minor, WoO 61a (Allegretto quasi Andante)
26. Bagatelle in C major, WoO56
27. Bagatelle in C minor, WoO52
28. Bagatelle in B flat major, WoO 60
29. Allegretto in B minor WoO 61
30. Für Elise (Bagatelle in A minor, WoO59)
Following his highly acclaimed Beethoven ‘Moonlight’, ‘Pathétique’ and ‘Waldstein’ Sonatas release, Hyperion’s Gramophone-award-winning artist Steven Osborne turns his talents to Beethoven’s complete Bagatelles. Though the composer himself referred to these thirty short piano works, which he penned throughout his life, as ‘trifles’, these are nonetheless trifles from the mind of a genius. In this polished album, Osborne lends his remarkable artistry to everything from the Six Bagatelles of Op 126, which at times occupy the same rarefied spiritual world as the late quartets and were the very last works Beethoven ever wrote for the piano, to the composer’s most famous stand-alone piano piece, the mysterious little A minor Bagatelle known to all the world as ‘Für Elise’.
A bagatelle is a short, light composition, generally considered to be of little substance, yet the bagatelles of Ludwig van Beethoven are usually placed among his most sophisticated and elusive compositions, even though he called them “trifles.” The most popular of these piano pieces is the Klavierstück in A minor, “Für Elise,” which is frequently anthologized and known to casual listeners from its use in “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” Considerably less familiar, even to classical listeners who should know them, are the Seven Bagatelles, Op. 33, the Eleven Bagatelles, Op. 119, and the Six Bagatelles, Op. 126, as well as a handful of bagatelles without opus numbers, which have been brought together for this Hyperion release by pianist Steven Osborne. To say that these miniatures are obscure is not quite accurate, but their relative infrequency in recitals and on recordings has made them unnecessarily mysterious. Osborne demonstrates that they are quite approachable and easy to absorb, and while he is light in tone and expression for the early bagatelles, he strives toward the sublime in Op. 119 and Op. 126, which approach the late sonatas in their ideas and moods. The playing throughout is alert and exciting, and Osborne gives the music a mixture of wit and seriousness that keeps the interpretations fresh. Hyperion’s sound is clean and focused, though there is some space between the piano and the microphone that prevents it from having full presence.