Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Piano Sonata No. 29 in B-flat major, Op.106 Hammerklavier (1818)
Piano Sonata No. 3 in C major, Op.2, No. 3 (1795)
Marc-André Hamelin (piano)
rec. 2023, St. Silas the Martyr, Kentish Town, London
Hyperion CDA68456 [69]

Surprisingly, this is Marc-André Hamelin’s first Beethoven release. He has chosen two sonatas, known for their epic proportions and profound technical challenges.

It was only during the pandemic that Hamelin truly got to grips with Beethoven’s mighty Hammerklavier; he felt that in past attempts, he’d first visited it in 1993, he hadn’t done the work full justice. Shunning Beethoven’s metronome markings he adopts agreeable tempi throughout. This is the largest of the composer’s sonatas and is the most challenging in terms of range, yet Hamelin has a supreme command of the music’s architecture and of its pianistic demands. It’s a reading of leonine power and monumental artistic presence, a fusion of heroism and lyricism. The inexorable momentum of the opening movement just sweeps you along. The slow movement is the longest movement in the composer’s entire sonata oeuvre. The pianist gives a spacious and spellbinding account. Paul Bekker the German music critic described this movement as “the apotheosis of pain, of that deep sorrow for which there is no remedy, and which finds expression not in passionate outpourings, but in the immeasurable stillness of utter woe”. In the final movement the fugal complexity is logical and clearly defined

Once again, Hamelin goes for broke in the C major, Op. 2 No. 3 Sonata, the most ambitious and expansive of the composer’s three sonatas Op. 2. The opening movement is rigorous and propulsive, with all the virtuosic obstacles effortlessly surmounted. Sincere and profound are attributes that inform the Adagio which follows. I find Hamelin quite sober in his approach here. A playful and lighthearted Scherzo precedes a sparkling finale, where the pearl-like semiquaver-runs sparkle like jewels, flawlessly smooth like polished gems. Excitement is maintained right through.

Beautifully recorded, the sound rich and faithful, the Kentish Town venue is ideal, enabling the detail and colours of the performances to emerge with clarity and definition. The liner notes are by Barry Cooper, who has established himself in Beethoven research, having published a new edition of the Beethoven Piano Sonatas for the ABRSM. Hamelin certainly hits the heights in this recording. I sincerely hope there’ll be more Beethoven to come from Hamelin, such has been the pleasure I’ve derived from this disc.

Stephen Greenbank

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