Ludwig van Beethoven: Complete Cello & Piano Works Vol. 2

During the nineteenth century, the public image of Beethoven was gradually transfigured from that of a composer of genius to a true “paradigm” of an almost mythological standing; this process, to which many factors contributed, was in turn responsible, at least partly, for the development of a new concept of authorship, of copyright, of originality and creativity in art. Beethoven’s original works acquired an almost sacred status, both in their “letter” (the increasing veneration for textual accuracy) and in their “spirit” (the attempt to convey an “authentic” interpretation).

Within this framework, practices which were commonly in use and unproblematically admitted at Beethoven’s own time started to be perceived as unfitting, and, paradoxically, they caused the progressive abandonment of a substantial portion of the musical repertoire. This happened to the pieces recorded in this CD, which therefore represents a very welcome addition to the huge discography of Beethoven.

The master, in fact, was surrounded by pupils and students who worked, more or less closely, under his supervision, in a fashion not entirely different from that of Renaissance artistic workshops. The practice of transcribing and arranging other composers’ creations had been part of a musician’s standard training since many years; the pupil could gain thereby a deep insight into the work’s structure and compositional strategies, along with expertise in the field of instrumentation, while the master would give advice and comment on the result of the student’s efforts, after having proposed, in the first instance, the pieces to transcribe (which could frequently come from the master’s own oeuvre). Occasionally, these transcriptions could achieve a high level of artistry, and they could be published under the master’s name. Though today we may be perplexed by such a practice, it mirrored a common habit and had some justification: the original work was by the master, the pupil had worked under the master’s vigilance and thus the master was somehow responsible for the final result.

This is probably the context behind the Cello Sonata no. 6, op. 64, recorded here, which saw the light as a String Trio whose first sketches dated back to Beethoven’s youthful time in Bonn (probably around 1792) and which was completed in 1796 in Vienna. The influence of Mozart’s style is evident here, both on the formal and on the emotional plane, and the acknowledged model is Mozart’s Trio-Serenata KV 563; Beethoven here explored a wide range of moods and characters, ranging from the lyrical and expressive Adagio to the lighter and livelier atmospheres of the dances. The transcription for cello and piano was realised probably by either Franz Xaver Kleinheinz or Ferdinand Ries; obviously, however, Beethoven must have granted his blessing to the publication (1807), which was advertised very prominently in the newspapers of the time. It is likely that this was intended as a homage, a token of gratitude and a gift to Beethoven’s aristocratic patrons (first of all Archduke Rudolph), who would certainly have enjoyed playing such a delightful piece. The arrangement is skilful since it does not simply transform the String Trio’s cello part into that of the Sonata, but rather distributes cleverly the musical material between the two instruments.

In the case of Beethoven’s Sonata for Horn and Piano op. 17, the cello version was probably realized by the composer himself. The original work had been written in 1800: Beethoven had engaged himself to write a Sonata for the celebrated horn player Giovanni Punto, who must have been a first-rank virtuoso given the extreme technical demands found in this piece. According to Ries, Beethoven – as was not unusual for him – wrote the Sonata at the very last moment; notwithstanding this, it obtained an extraordinary success when it was premiered by Punto and Beethoven himself, in Vienna and in Pest. This acclaim prompted its eventual publication; however, in its original version, it would have had a very limited market, since only a few virtuoso horn players could face its technical challenges. Thus, the alternative version for cello and piano was promptly prepared, intervening sparsely but subtly on the original scoring in order to correspond more closely to the new instrumentation. The work’s origins, however, cannot be hidden: its main thematic elements are transparently conceived with the horn’s peculiar sound and musical gestures in mind. This does not prevent the cello version from having a charm of its own, also thanks to the extremely brilliant piano scoring which shines particularly in the Finale.

Both pieces bear witness to the richness of Beethoven’s musical invention: as happens to many great musical works, a change in the instrumental destination may reveal new facets of a well-known piece and increase our appreciation of its qualities, which are given new light by the new scoring.

Album Notes by Chiara Bertoglio