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Austrian pianist Till Fellner is in the midst of a two-year project of playing all of Beethoven’s sonatas.
(Ben Ealovega ) |
Classical Notes
His run of Beethoven continues with this cycle
In 2004, the ECM label issued a recording of the first book of Bach’s “Well-Tempered Clavier’’ that contained some of the most remarkable, thought-provoking Bach playing in recent memory. The pianist was Till Fellner, a young Austrian and former student of Alfred Brendel. In place of the dry precision that has become conventional practice since Glenn Gould, Fellner played Bach’s preludes and fugues with a rounded palette and lyricism that gave them a mysterious, otherworldly feel. The difference was audible immediately. In the famous C-major prelude, he created an aura of genial warmth where staccato clarity is the norm.
Bach remains the composer for which Fellner is best known; earlier this year, ECM released another, similarly rewarding recording of the Inventions and Sinfonias and the Fifth French Suite. But at his recital next Tuesday at the Boston Conservatory, he will offer nothing but Beethoven. Fellner is in the midst of a two-year project of playing all 32 of the composer’s sonatas; Tuesday’s program, continuing five sonatas, is the fourth in the cycle.
His deep engagement with Bach and Beethoven confers on Fellner an air of seriousness, an impression that a conversation with him does nothing to dispel. Speaking by phone from Waterloo, Ontario, he offers succinct answers to questions about his art, quoting with approval the great conductor Hans von Bülow, who called Bach and Beethoven “the Old and New Testaments of music.’’
“And I think it’s still true, it’s still the core repertoire for piano. I did both books [of the “Well-Tempered Clavier’’] in recent years, so on to Beethoven,’’ he says, as if he had no real choice in the matter.
He credits Brendel with urging him to invest himself in Bach, telling Fellner that he had a talent for polyphonic music. “When someone like Alfred Brendel says this, of course you take it very seriously.’’ But his artistic inspiration came from one of Brendel’s own teachers: Edwin Fischer, who was one of the great pianists of the first half of the 20th century. While in his teens Fellner heard Fischer’s 1930s recording of the “Well-Tempered Clavier,’’ an idiosyncratic yet deeply expressive traversal that still has many admirers. For the young pianist, it was something of a revelation.
“I felt, first, that his playing was very poetic and innig,’’ he says, using a German word that means, roughly, inward-looking. “But also, every piece, every prelude and fugue, really sounded different. I find, with some other musicians, it can be a little bit boring because all the pieces sound a little bit too similar. So I think I try to understand the character of every piece.’’
His ongoing Beethoven cycle is a project of even greater intensity. He’s playing each of its seven programs in 10 different cities across North America, Europe, and Asia. Factor in a few extra performances, like Boston’s, and Fellner estimates that when the cycle concludes next year, he’ll have played each program between 10 and 15 times.
But the cycle is also a work in progress for the 37-year-old pianist. Fellner says that he records all of his concerts and later listens to them for possible adjustments of tempo, dynamics, and other details. The final performance of a program can sound quite distinct from the first, he says. “I hope that after five or 10 concerts I can improve and just make it feel more natural.
“I’m happy when I have the feeling it’s playing itself,’’ he adds, “which takes a lot of experience.’’
Rather than play the sonatas chronologically, Fellner is adopting an arrangement that Brendel used in his final performance of the cycle. Tuesday’s program features three compact sonatas from the composer’s middle period - Opp. 78, 79, and 90 - the lovely “Pastorale’’ Sonata, Op. 28, and concludes with Beethoven’s first large-scale piano sonata, Op. 7. Interestingly, it eschews Beethoven’s best-known and most extroverted works in favor of more lyrical ones.
“We all love the famous pieces, like the ‘Appassionata,’ but with a composer like Beethoven, even the shorter pieces are important,’’ he explains. “And I think sometimes we think of Beethoven as the great heroic composer. Which he certainly was in certain pieces, but the lyrical side is equally important.’’
When he emerges from this full immersion, he’ll have on his plate concertos, chamber music, and Schubert’s three great song cycles with the British tenor Mark Padmore.
“And no Beethoven,’’ he adds with a laugh.
At Seully Hall, Boston Conservatory; 617-912-9222, www.bostonconservatory.edu
Speaking of Brendel . . .
The day after Fellner’s recital at Boston Conservatory, his teacher will visit the school down the street. Alfred Brendel gave up public performance last year but has been keeping busy teaching and lecturing. On Wednesday he begins a three-day residency at New England Conservatory. He’ll be awarded an honorary doctorate, give a master class, and offer a lecture called “On Character in Music.’’ Follow him all three days and you might get the chance to hear one of his witty, madcap poems, two volumes of which have been published in English.
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