Investigate the music of Beethoven's contemporaries who were well enough
known to be called his rivals, and the idea of Beethoven as
fist-shaking revolutionary comes in for some serious revision. Jan
Ladislav Dussek, Bohemian-born, became famous all over Europe for piano
music that was daring in every way. The three sonatas on this disc date
from the very beginning of the nineteenth century. They have
Beethovenian dimensions and conventions -- the Piano Sonata No. 18 in E
flat major, Op. 44, is a "Farewell" sonata -- and their harmonic
schemes, at both movement-wide and local levels, are ambitious. Listen
to Dussek, or Hummel, and Beethoven begins to seem like the composer who
brought their innovations back within the confines of classical
frameworks. The clear outlines of Beethoven's movements are missing in
these works, which are occasionally dull -- the incessant motor action
of the first movement of the Piano Sonata No. 24 in F sharp minor, Op.
61, is enough to make you want to leave the room for a sandwich and a
beer, or to wish for the opening movement of the "Moonlight" sonata. But
in the main these are expansive works with much to tell us about the
music Beethoven was hearing and reacting to. Pianist Markus Becker
delivers fine readings, with sensitivity to the rhetorical gestures of
the music and an admirable refusal to pile more passion onto these works
than they can comfortably handle. James Manheim
sexta-feira, 15 de dezembro de 2023
JAN LADISLAV DUSSEK : 3 Piano Sonatas (Markus Becker) (2006) FLAC (tracks), lossless
JAN LADISLAV DUSSEK : Piano Sonatas opp. 9 & 77 (Markus Becker) (2008) APE (image+.cue), lossless
CPO's Jan Ladislav Dussek: Piano Sonatas Opp. 9 & 77, featuring
pianist Markus Becker, contrasts Dussek's last-known work -- the Grande
Sonate in F minor, subtitled "L'Invocation" -- with three of Dussek's
earliest, solo piano arrangements of works originally published as
accompanied sonatas. Becker -- who performs these sonatas on a modern
grand -- is certainly the right player to put the best face on these
pieces; his playing is grand, confident, and forceful. "L'Invocation" is
an engrossing piece with a wide variety of emotional twists and turns
and a secure, yet exploratory approach to pianistic technique that in
the Tempo di Minuetto movement betrays the influence of Carl Philipp
Emanuel Bach. It is a landmark piece well worth knowing, and as Dussek
-- by 1812 no longer youthful, badly overweight, and suffering from a
multitude of ailments -- did not live to produce another, "L'Invocation"
stands as his valedictory statement.
By comparison, the three
sonatas of Op. 3, dating from 1786, contain no foreshadowing of
psychological form, though they do represent a highly elaborated and
expanded take on the classical piano sonata. Superficially, they seem
similar to Beethoven's early piano sonatas, but listening closely
reveals that Dussek's work has its own aesthetic and unique voice, not
to mention that Beethoven himself was only beginning to compose when
these works first appeared. While they are anything but conformist --
contrast any one of these sonatas to one of Haydn's, for example -- they
are a little more difficult to warm up to than the "L'Invocation" is
and will reward repeated listens. However, the Larghetto from the Sonata
Op. 9/2 in C major is quite penetrating, striking, and memorable.
If
one were to judge Dussek solely on his scandal-ridden and sometimes
wasteful personal life, then his relative obscurity might be seen as
well deserved. Where would we be, however, if we applied the same
criteria to the work of Richard Wagner? In terms of the final phase of
the classical piano sonata, Dussek's work has a relative value similar
to Wagner's place in the scheme of high German romanticism just prior
into its dissolution into the post-romantic ethos. Wagner was the
culmination of the process that began with Beethoven, just as Beethoven
naturally carried the torch of the aesthetic from which Dussek sprang,
and probably buried it forever. Such observations still may not compel
one to listen to Dussek; however, if a listener decides to take the
plunge, CPO's Jan Ladislav Dussek: Piano Sonatas, Opp. 9 & 77, is as
good as it gets in terms of advocacy of Dussek as a figure worthy of
first-tier status. Uncle Dave Lewis 
