{"id":6973,"date":"2012-10-19T13:28:53","date_gmt":"2012-10-19T17:28:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=6973"},"modified":"2012-10-19T13:28:53","modified_gmt":"2012-10-19T17:28:53","slug":"dont-get-too-excited-over-the-new-beethoven-piano-sonata-being-premiered-sunday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2012\/10\/19\/dont-get-too-excited-over-the-new-beethoven-piano-sonata-being-premiered-sunday\/","title":{"rendered":"Don’t get too excited over the new Beethoven piano sonata being premiered Sunday"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Martin Oei playing outdoors in Grachten this past August.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On Sunday afternoon, young Dutch pianist Martin Oei<\/a> will play the world premiere of a “lost” piano sonata by Beethoven at the Concertgebouw<\/a> in Amsterdam. (UPDATE: Video clip from premiere below.)<\/p>\n

Dutch musicologist Cees Nieuwenhuizen has reconstructed this “Fantasy Sonata” from the approximately 600 sketches and fragments of all sorts of possible pieces (including a 10th symphony) left behind by Beethoven. These particular sketches predate the 32 published sonatas, and are from the Kafka Sketchbook, a collection of his early manuscripts from youth in Bonn and first years in Vienna. (The collection was purchased by the British Museum in 1875).<\/p>\n

Niewenhuizen writes in the preface to to his reconstruction that scholars have known about the first movement since 1961. The piece begins in a combination of D major and minor, and dates from 1793. There are 1,100 bars of music that can be gathered together for this piece, a solid framework on which Niewenhuizen could build.<\/p>\n

Thanks to the magic of the Internet, I’ve just finished playing through the piece.<\/p>\n

I am a huge fan of Beethoven’s work, and have never been bored by anything he wrote. But I had to stop and will myself to go further several times over this clunky, repetitive and frequently physically awkward piece, which goes on and on and on.<\/p>\n

The first movement sounds like Beethoven, but feels in the hands like a piano reduction for something symphonic, not a piece written specifically for the piano.<\/p>\n

The rest of the piece feels more like something a pianist would play, but the variations here are pale shadows of Beethoven’s best work.<\/p>\n

As is the case when trumpets proclaim the discovery of a new old piece of music, there may be many good reasons why a composer chose to not share it.<\/p>\n

I don’t think Sunday’s recital (or the follow-up concerts Oei is giving around Holland) is being streamed, but a pirate video clip is bound to show up on YouTube by Sunday night. And, because the score is available online, some enterprising soul is going to give us a demonstration very soon.<\/p>\n

For all the details, including a copy of the score, background notes and more, visit Niewenhuizen’s website here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

UPDATE:<\/p>\n

Here is a clip of Oei in playing the third movement on Sunday:<\/p>\n