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Susan Ellinger, Piano - Beethoven: Sonata No. 31 in A​-​flat Major, Op. 110, I. Moderato Cantabile Molto Espressivo

from The Viennese Style: Late Sonatas of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven by Susan Ellinger

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    Praised for her 'refined, poised, and singular vision', pianist Susan Ellinger inhabits the worlds of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, conjuring a Vienna of the enlightened age, bringing these late sonatas to life with elegance, wit and charm.

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about

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN , Piano Sonata No. 31 in A-flat Major, Op. 110
- About the Composer
In 1817, Beethoven received a six-octave Broadwood piano as a gift from the English manufacturer. Although he was probably too deaf to appreciate the instrument’s expanded tonal and dynamic range, his keyboard music of the period—beginning with the mighty Sonata No. 29, “Hammerklavier,”of 1818 and continuing through the last of his 32 works in the form—reveals a similar expansion of musical boundaries. Like many of Beethoven’s late works, these sonatas juxtapose passages of great tenderness and lucidity with lacerating eruptions of raw energy and emotion. How, and how much, the composer’s deafness affected his music and outlook on life is to some degree a matter of conjecture, but there is no mistaking the “inwardness” of these extraordinary works, with their radical discontinuities, far-flung tonal relationships, and bold reconfigurations of musical time and space.
- About the Work
Beethoven the pianist, no less than the composer, was a force of nature who seemed incapable of playing by the rules of polite society. His unbridled energy at the keyboard and his formidable powers as an improviser are the stuff of legend. Like most of his contemporaries, Beethoven was weaned partly on a diet of Bach. When, at age 11, he received his first favorable review, it was for a performance of The Well-Tempered Clavier in his native Bonn. After moving to Vienna, he took lessons in counterpoint from both Haydn and the eminent teacher Johann Georg Albrechtsberger. Decades later, those early studies bore fruit in the fugues of such works as the Piano Sonata No. 31 in A-flat Major, Op. 110, and the monumental Große Fuge, Op. 133, for string quartet.
- A Closer Listen
The first movement of Op. 110 is a study in contrasts between leisurely melodies and swiftly rippling arpeggios, major-key innocence and minor-key angst, placid chordal passages and billowing crescendos. Beethoven’s tonal scheme becomes increasingly adventurous and unpredictable as the scherzo-like Allegro molto in F minor leads, by way of a quietly ruminative Adagio, to a poignant arioso section in A-flat minor marked “Klagender Gesang” (“Song of Lament”). The throbbing triplet accompaniment conveys a sense of urgency; then, suddenly, the momentum dissipates and a soft, unadorned melody—a sequence of ascending fourths—sounds out in the home key, signaling the start of the sonata’s climactic fugue. The finale proceeds for a while in familiar, almost textbook contrapuntal fashion until the lament returns, this time in the remote key of G minor. After it, too, runs its course, Beethoven neatly pivots to G major, brings back the subject of the fugue in inverted form (with descending fourths), and beats a tonally circuitous path back to the safe haven of A-flat major.
- Harry Haskell

credits

from The Viennese Style: Late Sonatas of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, track released December 5, 2017
Recording Producer, Balance Engineer: Phillip Schulz
Producer: Mario Grigorov
Piano Technician: Gerd Finkenstein
Bösendorfer Piano
Recorded at Jesus Christus Kirche
Berlin, Germany
August 21-24, 2017
Cover Art: Andrea Lecos at County Road Productions
Cover Photo: Devon Meyers
Copyright 2017 Susan Ellinger
susanellingerpiano.com

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Susan Ellinger Paonia, Colorado

Praised for her“refined, poised and singular” vision, pianist Susan Ellinger has performed extensively as both a soloist and chamber musician, presenting recitals at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center’s Bruno Walter Auditorium, Caramoor Music Center, Harvard University, Oberlin Conservatory, Tanglewood Music Festival, the Taos School of Music and many more. ... more

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