Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Opp. 90, 101, 109 & 110

$19.99
Label
CAvi-music
Release Date
March 13, 2014
Format
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    Featuring ⌄
    • COMPOSER
      BEETHOVEN, LUDWIG VAN
    • PERFORMER
      Dina Urgoskaja
    Product Details ⌄
    • RELEASE DATE
      March 13, 2014
    • UPC
      4260085532995
    • CATALOG NUMBER
      AVI 8553299
    • LABEL
      CAvi-music
    • NUMBER OF DISCS
      1
    • GENRE
      Instrumental
    Works ⌄

    1. I. Mit lebhaftigkeit und durchaus mit Empfindung und Ausdruck

      Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven

      Performer: Dina Ugorskaja

    2. II. Nicht zu geschwind und sehr singbar vorgetragen

      Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven

      Performer: Dina Ugorskaja

    3. I. Etwas lebhaft und mit der innigsten Empfindung

      Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven

      Performer: Dina Ugorskaja

    4. II. Lebhaft. Marschmassig

      Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven

      Performer: Dina Ugorskaja

    5. III. Langsam und sehnsuchtsvoll

      Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven

      Performer: Dina Ugorskaja

    6. IV. Geschwind, doch nicht zu sehr, und mit Entschlossenheit

      Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven

      Performer: Dina Ugorskaja

    7. I. Vivace ma non troppo

      Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven

      Performer: Dina Ugorskaja

    8. II. Prestissimo

      Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven

      Performer: Dina Ugorskaja

    9. III. Gesangvoll, mit innigster Empfindung: Andante molto cantabile ed espressivo

      Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven

      Performer: Dina Ugorskaja

    10. I. Moderato cantabile molto espressivo

      Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven

      Performer: Dina Ugorskaja

    11. II. Allegro molto

      Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven

      Performer: Dina Ugorskaja

    12. III. Adagio ma non troppo - Fuga: Allegro ma non troppo

      Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven

      Performer: Dina Ugorskaja




BEETHOVEN Piano Sonatas Nos. 27, 28, 30, 31 • Dina Ugorskaja (pn) • CAVI 8553299 (77:35)


Dina Ugorskaja, the daughter of the pianist Anatol Ugorski, is a Russian pianist and composer trained in Germany. Early in her career, she has already recorded Beethoven’s “Hammerklavier” and op. 111 sonatas, the Chopin preludes, and a disc of Handel suites. The Sonata No. 27, the first of the 32 in which Beethoven uses German to indicate the movements’ tempo and character, is the piano work in which Beethoven’s late period begins, and Ugorskaja’s playing is fully alive to the quick changes of mood in its stark, febrile first movement, with extremely sensitive pacing of the rise and fall of each phrase, and careful weighing of tone. Her tempo for the second movement is on the slow side, but the melody is patiently shaped, as if sung, never in a hurry. This is a terrific performance of an elusive work.


Ugorskaja’s well-projected, unforced sound, and instinctively rhapsodic, though tasteful, responses to the music’s changes of character, are a good fit with the predominantly lyrical sonatas Nos. 30 and 31, though there’s real grandeur in her playing in the sections that need it. How beautifully she plays the right hand melody in No. 30’s third movement’s first variation, in which Beethoven uncannily anticipates the ornamented singing line of Chopin’s nocturnes, pieces that I’d love to hear her play. No. 31 receives a properly serious, thoughtfully savored reading, with highly expressive playing in the mystical latter sections of the piece. There are one or two moments in the first movement where Ugorskaja’s impulse to move the music forward detracts from the movement’s benign, stable character, but that’s a small quibble.


In op. 101 (Sonata No. 28), I was a little disappointed in her reading of the second movement, a tricky, fast march. In it, her espressivo approach, so winning in the sonata’s first movement, isn’t always rhythmically consistent enough in the repeated dotted rhythms. (Igor Levit’s splendid performance on a recent Sony disc has more speed and better control.) Nonetheless, Ugorskaja’s late Beethoven is cognizant of the sonatas’ details and structure, and manages to sound personally expressive without being self-indulgent. Cavi’s engineering captures the depth and variety of her splendid, “open” sound. Highly recommended.


FANFARE: Paul Orgel