Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Piano Concerto No 1 in C major, Op 15 (1795)
Piano Sonata No 14 in C-sharp minor ‘Moonlight’, Op 27 No 2 (1801)
Bagatelle in A minor “Fur Elise”, WoO 59 (1810)
Bagatelle in G minor, Op 119 No 1 (1822)
Piano Piece in C major/C minor (1802)
Piano Piece in B minor (1821)
Alice Sara Ott (piano)
Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra/Karina Canellakis
rec. 2022, Hilversum, Muziekcentrum van de Omroep (concerto), 2023, Siemens-Villa, Berlin (solo pieces)
Deutsche Grammophon 486 4898 (57)
Alice Sara Ott’s name first came my way in a stunningly virtuosic version of Liszt’s Transcendental Studies. Why she – or DG – should have chosen this Beethoven collection is a puzzle, especially when she seems to have almost nothing personal to express. There is poetic, sensitive playing to admire here – merely as piano-playing – but as Ott has little to say about these particular Beethoven works, I find it almost meaningless. Where is the identification with Beethoven’s musical character – in all its aspects – where the immersion in his idiom? There is also an occasional preciousness. I have never liked the kind of tiny, pointless hesitations in Beethoven, or for that matter, any music. Too many pianists do this, presumably for enhanced expressive effect, but to me, it becomes an irritating mannerism.
Compared with Ott’s lightweight reading of the piano part in the concerto, Canellakis takes a much stronger view of the orchestral contribution, creating a strange mismatch. In the slow movement of the concerto, Ott is polite and under-characterised to the point of being dull, while Canellakis treats the dotted rhythms in the tuttis in a strangely abrupt way – musically unsatisfying. The finale is flat, short of joie de vivre. Simply as pianism, it’s beautifully played, with delicacy and refinement, but if Beethoven’s rough humour is mostly absent, the performance misses the point. Canellakis, meanwhile, mistakes hardness for ruggedness.
The C-sharp minor Sonata begins with such a matter-of-fact Adagio sostenuto, devoid of atmosphere, that one would never guess that this was Beethoven’s tempo indication. It’s all rather bland and faceless, as though Ott was intent on stripping away all expressiveness. The following Allegretto is prettily played, but rather cautious and stilted. Technically, the finale is brilliant, but the abrupt sforzando notes, as well as the forte phrases, are hammered and rather ugly. Still, this is overall the most successful movement. As for the shorter pieces, there is nothing to object to, but neither do they make much impression.
To sum up, I don’t feel Alice Sara Ott here demonstrates any special affinity with Beethoven’s temperament. The essential ruggedness and rough humour are sadly missing, so that one feels no engagement with the composer.
As I have mentioned, I do not like the conductor’s clipped and mannered treatment of the concerto’s tuttis. Her more aggressive approach only throws into greater relief the solo pianist’s frequently disengaged playing. Often it feels as though the two musicians are interpreting different pieces.
The booklet includes “Alice Sara Ott on Beethoven”, an interview which casts as little light on the music as, unfortunately, do her performances. The recorded sound is as good as one would expect from Deutsche Grammophon. Overall, this is an unsatisfying and disappointing CD.
Philip Borg-Wheeler
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