Jos van Immerseel – Beethoven: Piano Sonatas (2020) [FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

Musician, conductor, researcher, teacher: Jos van Immerseel lives and breathes music, always walking the line that connects musicological theory with musical praxis. A leading authority on the fortepiano, Jos Van Immerseel has devised a programme focusing on the music Beethoven composed for a Viennese piano with a range of five octaves. His newest release for Alpha label, “Piano Works Of The Young Beethoven” (sometimes titled just as “Beethoven: Piano Sonatas”), includes the finest keyboard music from Beethoven’s early Viennese period, more specifically works written between 1795 and 1804.

For this recording, the Flemish pianist has used the composer’s extant autograph manuscripts or the first editions published shortly after composition, as well as the latest critical edition by Jonathan Del Mar (Kassel: Bärenreiter-Verlag, 2017- 18). The writings of Carl Czerny, one of Beethoven’s most important ‘pupils’, were also a significant source of information. With his customary attention to the instrumentarium, Jos Van Immerseel has opted for a five-octave Viennese grand fortepiano by Christopher Clarke, a masterly replica, built in 1988, of an instrument by Walter, whom Beethoven himself selected in 1802 from among the sixty or so Viennese piano makers of the time.

Tracklist:

01 – Piano Sonata No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 10 No. 1: I. Allegro molto e con brio
02 – Piano Sonata No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 10 No. 1: II. Adagio molto
03 – Piano Sonata No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 10 No. 1: Prestissimo
04 – Piano Sonata No. 7 in D Major, Op. 10 No. 3: I. Presto
05 – Piano Sonata No. 7 in D Major, Op. 10 No. 3: II. Largo e mesto
06 – Piano Sonata No. 7 in D Major, Op. 10 No. 3: III. Menuetto (Allegro)
07 – Piano Sonata No. 7 in D Major, Op. 10 No. 3: IV. Rondo (Allegro)
08 – Alla ingharese in G Major, Op. 129
09 – Piano Sonata No. 8 in C Minor, Op. 13 “Pathétique”: I. Grave (Allegro di molto e con brio)
10 – Piano Sonata No. 8 in C Minor, Op. 13 “Pathétique”: II. Adagio cantabile
11 – Piano Sonata No. 8 in C Minor, Op. 13 “Pathétique”: III. Rondo (Allegro)
12 – Piano Sonata No. 9 in E Major, Op. 14 No. 1: I. Allegro
13 – Piano Sonata No. 9 in E Major, Op. 14 No. 1: II. Allegretto
14 – Piano Sonata No. 9 in E Major, Op. 14 No. 1: III. Rondo (Allegro comodo)
15 – Piano Sonata No. 10 in G Major, Op. 14 No. 2: I. Allegro
16 – Piano Sonata No. 10 in G Major, Op. 14 No. 2: II. Andante
17 – Piano Sonata No. 10 in G Major, Op. 14 No. 2: III. Scherzo (Allegro assai)
18 – Piano Sonata No. 12 in A-Flat Major, Op. 26 “Funeral March”: Marcia funebre sulla morte d’un eroe (Maestoso andante)
19 – Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 27 No. 2 “Moonlight”: I. Adagio sostenuto
20 – Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 27 No. 2 “Moonlight”: II. Allegretto
21 – Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 27 No. 2 “Moonlight”: III. Presto agitato
22 – Piano Sonata No. 15 in D Major, Op. 28 “Pastoral”: I. Allegro
23 – Piano Sonata No. 15 in D Major, Op. 28 “Pastoral”: II. Andante
24 – Piano Sonata No. 15 in D Major, Op. 28 “Pastoral”: III. Scherzo (Allegro vivace)
25 – Piano Sonata No. 15 in D Major, Op. 28 “Pastoral”: IV. Rondo (Allegro ma non troppo)
26 – Two Rondos, Op. 51: II. Andante cantabile e grazioso in G Major
27 – Piano Sonata No. 18 in E-Flat Major, Op. 31 No. 3: I. Allegro
28 – Piano Sonata No. 18 in E-Flat Major, Op. 31 No. 3: II. Scherzo (Allegro vivace)
29 – Piano Sonata No. 18 in E-Flat Major, Op. 31 No. 3: III. Menuetto (Moderato e grazioso)
30 – Piano Sonata No. 18 in E-Flat Major, Op. 31 No. 3: IV. Presto con fuoco
31 – Andante in F Major, WoO 57