Composer(s): Ludwig van Beethoven
Artist(s): Maurizio Paciariello, Fortepiano
Period: 19th Century
Catalogue No.: C00060
The four sonatas in chronological order Op.26, Op.27 n.1 & 2 and Op.28 presented in this CD were all composed in 1801 during the transition to the so-called Beethoven’s Second compositional period. After composing his first 13 sonatas, Beethoven wrote to Wenzel Krumpholz “From now on, I’m going to take a new path” and this turning point is clear in the sonatas of this period being very different from the earlier ones as Beethoven began to use new materials and concepts. His experimentations and modifications of the codified forms of Viennese classicism became more daring, as did the depth of expression. He began abandoning Haydn and Mozart’s common sonata form and replaced it with new ways of composing a keyboard sonata until the point he had to name the couple in Op.27 “Sonata quasi una fantasia” (Sonata almost a fantasy) to mark the distance from the traditional structures. It is no coincidence that most of the sonatas of the Romantic period were strongly influenced by Beethoven. The Op.26 opens this new trend of far-reaching experimental works.
The Piano Sonata op.26 n.12 in Ab major was composed between 1800 and 1801 around the same time of the First Symphony and published by Cappi in Vienna in 1802. Beethoven dedicated this work to his patron Karl von Lichnowsky. Named after its third movement “Marcia Funebre sulla morte di un eroe” (Funeral March on the Death of a Hero) it is one of the few cases in which the name was chosen by the author himself. Scholars made various assumptions, but the person Beethoven had in mind remains unknown, probably a mere literary device. The Sonata’s immediate inspiration was probably a visit to Vienna in 1800 by the German-born, London-based piano virtuoso Johann Baptist Cramer, whose playing of his own works and those of his teacher Muzio Clementi caused quite a storm. Beethoven felt the need to compete with this virtuosity and wrote a number of works that began to break away from the more classically oriented sonatas of the 1790s, towards the mature second-period style. […]
Ludwig van Beethoven: (b Bonn, bap. 17 Dec 1770; d Vienna, 26 March 1827). German composer. His early achievements, as composer and performer, show him to be extending the Viennese Classical tradition that he had inherited from Mozart and Haydn. As personal affliction – deafness, and the inability to enter into happy personal relationships – loomed larger, he began to compose in an increasingly individual musical style, and at the end of his life he wrote his most sublime and profound works. From his success at combining tradition and exploration and personal expression, he came to be regarded as the dominant musical figure of the 19th century, and scarcely any significant composer since his time has escaped his influence or failed to acknowledge it. For the respect his works have commanded of musicians, and the popularity they have enjoyed among wider audiences, he is probably the most admired composer in the history of Western music.
Paciariello, Maurizio (Fortepianist) attended Giuseppe Scotese’s classes at the “S. Cecilia” Conservatoire in Rome, where he got his diploma with top marks and distinction. Later, he took a higher studies course under Aldo Ciccolini. Then he completed further studies in chamber music with P. Badura-Skoda at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, and with N. Brainin at the “Scuola di Musica di Fiesole“. He received a prize at the 47th ARD International Competition in Munich in 1998, and debuted at the Carnegie Hall, New York, in 2003. His focus is the solo and ensemble repertoire, with special interest in performing on period instruments; in fact he currently has access to a small but representative selection of period instruments, including a copy of a late 18th century clavichord, an early 19th century Viennese Haselmann fortepiano, a Boisselot French piano from ca. 1840, and a 1885 Bosendorfer. His attention to early performance techniques has led to the realization 