Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven
Performer: Martin Roscoe
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Deux-Elles
Catalogue: DXL1161
Release: 2010
Size: 259 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
Piano Sonata in C Minor, Op. 10 No. 1
01. I. Allegro molto e con brio
02. II. Adagio molto
03. III. Finale. Prestissimo
Piano Sonata in F Major, Op. 10 No. 2
04. I. Allegro
05. II. Allegretto
06. III. Presto
Piano Sonata in D Major, Op. 13 No. 3
07. I. Presto
08. II. Largo e mesto
09. III. Menuetto. Allegro
10. IV. Rondo. Allegro
Piano Sonata in C Minor Op. 13 – “Pathétique”
11. I.
12. II.
13. III.
This is the first complete recording of Barry Cooper’s new edition, published by ABRSM.
Martin Roscoe is a versatile musician who flourishes in performance, whether as a concerto soloist, recitalist or chamber musician. He is an artist who endeavours always to serve the composer and the music. His enduring popularity and solid reputation are built on a deeply thoughtful musicianship which is allied to an easy rapport with audiences and fellow musicians alike.
Roscoe is now recording the complete Beethoven piano sonatas for the Deux-Elles label and this first collection includes Beethoven’s popular Pathetique sonata, on which he comments “a work of peculiar intensity and dynamic energy which can still blow away its listeners with its power and freshness….The Pathétique remains a huge thrill to perform: I’d even say I find it much more exciting now than when I first learnt it some thirty-five years ago!”
“Roscoe is a pianist who both thinks and offers full-blooded playing of breadth and depth. In this country, he is an uncommon creature.” Daily Telegraph
“Roscoe remains one of the most reassuring voices, bringing mastery and sheer musical quality to bear on everything he plays.” The Gramophone
There is no shortage of available cycles of Beethoven’s piano sonatas, but the one underway from British pianist Martin Roscoe has a couple of selling points. For one, it will eventually include Beethoven’s youthful essays in the sonata genre. The cycle also uses a new edition of the sonatas edited by musicologist Barry Cooper. It’s nothing groundbreaking, apparently, but with small, odd details left intact that have been smoothed over in other editions. You’ll notice those in Roscoe’s approach, which is both low-key and highly detailed. The booklet itself for this first volume describes Roscoe as “a respected and much loved member of the conservatoire teaching establishment,” and while one doesn’t want to describe his performances as pedagogical, they certainly emphasize precision and the relation of local detail to overall line rather than strong expression or novel interpretation. Roscoe’s ability to articulate indivdual notes and motives in rapid or dense passages is hard to surpass. His tempos are moderately fast, and his pacing never lingers. His greatest strengths show up in the slow movements, where Beethoven’s long, harmonically simple melodies take on a beautifully serene quality. The outer movements begin circumspectly and tend to build in intensity, unleashing the full dynamic range only as the movement develops. The results in the three sonatas of Op. 10 are very strong and produce intimate performances that seem to capture Beethoven’s exploding creativity. The celebrated Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13, “Pathétique,” may be more a matter of taste; there’s a lot to chew on in Roscoe’s performance, but not a lot of driving intensity. The engineering from the Deux-Elles label supports Roscoe’s aims perfectly, and in general the indications are good for this new Beethoven cycle.