Beethoven (2012)

Maxim Rysanov is one of the rising stars of the viola, and like other players of his instrument he has tried to expand its available repertory. You might say he goes to extremes here with some early Beethoven works that are almost never performed. There are some dubious assertions involved in the music as it is heard on this release. The "Sonatine" (the quotes are as given in the track list) for viola and cello consists of two of five pieces, WoO 33, that Beethoven wrote down on two staves without any indication of what ... Read More

Maxim Rysanov is one of the rising stars of the viola, and like other players of his instrument he has tried to expand its available repertory. You might say he goes to extremes here with some early Beethoven works that are almost never performed. There are some dubious assertions involved in the music as it is heard on this release. The "Sonatine" (the quotes are as given in the track list) for viola and cello consists of two of five pieces, WoO 33, that Beethoven wrote down on two staves without any indication of what instruments were supposed to play them. Beethoven didn't mark them as a sonatine, and they're not notated differently from other works in the WoO 33 set, which is generally thought to be for mechanical clock (the notation is similar to that in Mozart's late mechanical clock pieces, a copy of which Beethoven owned). As the booklet notes, the pieces do not work very well on viola and cello, but they're charming in the fearlessly gawky way that the young Beethoven often is, even if there's... Read Less