Leon McCawley (piano)
Recital
rec. 2025, St George’s Headstone, Pinner View, Harrow, London
SOMM Recordings SOMMCD0717 [73]

I think of Leon McCawley as a fastidious and elegant pianist, though with power when needed, as for example when I heard him play Beethoven’s last three sonatas a year or so ago. This cunningly planned recital opens and closes with baroque forms reimagined in the romantic era. Next, middle-period Beethoven takes us to two fully high-romantic works by Chopin, which stand well by themselves since they do not come from any of his cycles.

We begin with Bach’s A minor Prelude and Fugue which Liszt transcribed from the organ original. His Bach transcriptions, like those of the Beethoven symphonies and many other works, are close and faithful reimaginings of the originals in pianistic terms. They are quite different from his free fantasias, such as those on operatic melodies. Of course he does his reimagining in terms of nineteenth-century romantic pianism, so an authentic performance needs also to be in those terms, not a recreation of a baroque style. McCawley gives us this, with a certain amount of appropriate freedom in the Prelude. He demonstrates splendid technique in the Fugue. He articulates the polyphony clearly but does not fall into the trap of stressing the subject at every appearance, and manages without trouble the running sixths in the right hand and octaves in the left.

Then we have Beethoven’s Andante favori, originally intended as the middle movement of the Waldstein sonata. In that context it would have been one of those relaxed movements which Beethoven occasionally favoured in his middle-period works. Other examples are the middle movement of the Appassionata sonata and the slow movement of the fifth symphony. But, as Howard Ferguson says in his edition of the work, “he came to realise that not only was it too long, but that it was in an earlier and far less sophisticated style than the rest”. It is, however, a good piece, and Beethoven used to play in his own recitals. It is highly appropriate to have it in the company of the sonata it was originally intended for, charmingly and elegantly played by McCawley.

The Waldstein sonata itself is a different kettle of fish. Long and varied, with technically very demanding passages, it is a key work of Beethoven’s middle period. A good deal of it is marked piano or pianissimo, and that includes the opening. McCawley observes such directions meticulously. He never forces the tone, and lets the climaxes come where they should. In the first movement, which he plays with much spirit, he takes the repeat of the exposition. I had not previously realised how much the repeated chugging chords, for example at the beginning, are not a mere accompanying figure but an actual motif. The Introduzione to the finale, which replaced the Andante favori, is searching and profound, like that to the finale of the Hammerklavier Sonata. The finale itself is light in style, but goodness it goes fast. In the Prestissimo coda, McCawley takes the glissando octaves, impossible on a modern piano, with both hands and to good effect. This is a fine, well-integrated and idiomatic interpretation of the whole work.

Now come Chopin’s Berceuse and Barcarolle. In the Berceuse, the technical challenge is to keep the repeating bass rock-steady, while the right hand presents increasingly elaborately decorated versions of the main theme. The dynamic must also be quiet, and directions such as dolce and leggierissimo are characteristic. The Barcarolle, on the other hand, is a flamboyant and extrovert piece, possibly suggested by the idea of a gondola in Venice, though Chopin himself never went there. The rich chromatic idiom makes for very full writing, with double trills and barn-storming octave writing at the climax.

Finally, we have César Franck’s Prélude, Choral et Fugue, inspired at some distance by Bach, but in a thoroughly romantic idiom. It has been said that the Choral is not really a chorale, and the Fugue not a proper fugue. Yet, even though they would not satisfy eighteenth-century conventions, they make for a great work. Some people feel that Franck’s day job as the organist comes through in this work, though I have always thought the writing well suited to the piano. The quasi-improvisatory Prélude with its flowing arpeggios and then its lamenting main theme require and receive clear articulation and sensitive phrasing. The Choral features huge spread chords which occur three times, the first pianissimo and the last fortissimo. The Fugue begins with an introductory passage but settles down to a regular fugue. This is dominated by appearances of the subject, varied in rhythm and with intervening episodes. It builds up to a big climax, after which an extended coda brings back the main theme of the Prélude. It is a splendid work, and McCawley gives it a rousing performance.

As will be clear, I greatly enjoyed this recital. McCawley has a thorough command of the idioms here, which have their differences even if they are all linked to the romantic period. The recording is good too. Of course, there are other recordings of all these works, but that is not really the point: if you admire McCawley’s pianism or like the programme, do not hesitate.

Stephen Barber

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Contents
Johann Sebatian Bach
Prelude and Fugue in A Minor BWV543, transc. Franz Liszt S. 461/1
Ludwig van Beethoven
Andante favori WoO57
Piano Sonata No.21 Op.53 Waldstein
Frédéric Chopin
Berceuse Op.57
Barcarolle Op.60
César Franck
Prélude, Choral et Fugue M.21