From Finland to Boston, with 32 Beethoven sonatas
Paavali Jumppanen is nearing the end of a monumental journey. The 34-year-old Finnish pianist began a traversal of the complete cycle of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in January 2007, when he played five early sonatas. On Sunday, he performs the final three -- Opus 109, 110, and 111 -- in the eighth and concluding concert in the series.
"Obviously, it's been a tremendous journey," says Jumppanen by phone from his home near Helsinki. "It's kind of like going to the Himalayas for a pianist."
Playing the cycle in chronological order brought home to him just how staggering Beethoven's evolution was. "There is this incredible development which, of course, we read about, but to realize this in every single sonata you play - this was a surprise to me," he says. "Sonatas which were two years apart from each other have this completely different feeling, different perspective."
As an example he points to the fluently classical Sonata in B-flat, Opus 22, written in 1800. By the end of the following year, Beethoven had completed the two sonatas of Opus 27, each of which he labeled "quasi una fantasia" and which represent highly personal adaptations of sonata structure. "There were elements that were disrupting the classical balance, but they were also ways for Beethoven to enlarge his own musical universe."
Jumppanen also found his attitudes to certain works changing over the course of the cycle. One was his stance on the "Appassionata," one of the most popular of the sonatas but never his favorite. He had played it frequently and knew that it was routinely cited as "the most immediately dramatic piece ever written for piano. I read that but it didn't have any meaning.
"But when I came to this sonata from having played the others," he continues, "I really understood this, and felt in my gut, 'My God, this piece must have been terrifying for people to hear.' "
As for the last three sonatas, they have the aura of existing on a different spiritual plane than anything that preceded them (and much that came after). It is often said that they are music for wise elders, not young upstarts. Jumppanen, however, seems undaunted.
"I'm sure that these things mature over the years, I certainly hope so," he says. "But at the same time, you have to start somewhere, and you have to try to believe in what you do all the time. I can't say that I play them well or that they should be played this way. It's very humbling and very intimidating to play and even talk about this music. But at the same time, on a sort of personal level, I feel comfortable with the task."
In addition to the Gardner series, Jumppanen has been playing the cycle at three venues in Finland, meaning that by the end of next weekend, he will have been through the 32 sonatas four times in public. "It feels like a traveling Beethoven festival, a circus on the road of a sort," he jokes.
Jumppanen first came to attention as a performer of contemporary music. His best known recording features impressive readings of the three piano sonatas of Pierre Boulez. And while he's looking forward to getting back to music of his generation - working with Finnish composers in particular - the Beethoven experience has been strong enough that he's actually looking forward to repeating the cycle. "Not to wait 10 years," he says, "but to keep this an ongoing process."
Information: 617-278-5150, www.gardnermuseum.org
Leading 'til 2010
Emmanuel Music has announced that its interim leaders, John Harbison and Michael Beattie, will remain in their roles through the 2009-2010 season. Harbison, acting artistic director, and Beattie, associate conductor, have led the organization since the death of founder Craig Smith last year and had agreed to serve through the end of this season. A search committee now hopes to appoint a new music director in the spring of 2010, according to an Emmanuel press release. 