Alessio Bax plays Beethoven (2014)

Italian pianist Alessio Bax might seem to be going from weighty to airy in this Beethoven recital, with the proceedings opening with the giant Piano Sonata No. 29 in B flat major, Op. 106 ("Hammerklavier"), and ending up with a couple of numbers transcribed from the Ruins of Athens incidental music, Op. 113, which serve pretty much as an encore. In between is the most famous Beethoven sonata of all, the Piano Sonata No. 14 in C sharp minor, Op. 27, No.2 ("Moonlight"). It receives a fine, incisive performance from Bax that ... Read More

Italian pianist Alessio Bax might seem to be going from weighty to airy in this Beethoven recital, with the proceedings opening with the giant Piano Sonata No. 29 in B flat major, Op. 106 ("Hammerklavier"), and ending up with a couple of numbers transcribed from the Ruins of Athens incidental music, Op. 113, which serve pretty much as an encore. In between is the most famous Beethoven sonata of all, the Piano Sonata No. 14 in C sharp minor, Op. 27, No.2 ("Moonlight"). It receives a fine, incisive performance from Bax that is somewhat dry in the movement that caused the Romantics to give the sonata its name; Bax is trying to direct attention to the fact that the finale, with its turbulent arpeggios and off-beat accents, is reworked motivically from the opening movement. Annotator Patrick Castillo suggests that the work, far from being a mood piece unconnected with the main thread of Beethoven's development, is actually almost a programmatic reflection of Beethoven's resolution to "seize fate by the... Read Less