Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven
Performer: Anne Queffélec
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Mirare
Catalogue: MIR634
Release: 2022
Size: 2.11 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109
01. I. Vivace ma non troppo, sempre legato – Adagio espressivo
02. II. Prestissimo
03. III. Gesangvoll, mit innigster Empfindung.
Piano Sonata No. 31 in A-flat major, Op. 110
04. I. Moderato cantabile molto espressivo
05. II. Allegro molto
06. IIIa. Adagio ma non troppo – Arioso dolente
07. IIIb. Fuga. Allegro ma non troppo
Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111
08. I. Maestoso – Allegro con brio ed appassionato
09. II. Arietta. Adagio molto semplice e cantabile
To echo Beethoven’s own words, “Music is the only incorporeal introduction to the world of knowledge… a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy… reaching beyond even the starry sky to the original source.”
That is indeed where the epiphanies of the ultima verba uttered by the last three sonatas take us: on a journey of initiation that could not be undertaken in reverse. Let us listen to it… “The rest is silence.” – Anne Queffélec
This beautiful release, devoted to Beethoven’s last three piano sonatas, features a booklet in which Anne Queffélec summons the words of those who have spoken best: Wilhelm Kempff, Julien Green, Edwin Fischer, Thomas Mann, Milan Kundera, Pierre Boulez and finally, Beethoven himself. ‘One day they’ll understand; I write for the future’.
Anne Queffélec found inspiration in Beethoven’s language, which still speaks to the hearts of today’s men and women. Here, she takes us deep into her own inner journey with these three very demanding works that every pianist dreams of taming one day. ‘The very last one [opus 111] is metaphysical’, she says. ‘They say that the first movement is about the “here below”, and the second is about the “hereafter”. This is very true. For a pianist, it’s an incredible gift that nourishes the soul’. She also confesses to playing them ‘with a mixture of hope and fear each time’.
Nonetheless, Anne Queffélec has no fear. Her piano is lucid, and her performance is bright, leading the listener into the most remote regions of consciousness and teasing them with infinity. Then, she concludes the journey with silence, initiated by a final pianissimo in which Beethoven steps away from a form that he served so masterfully throughout his life.