Search - Ludwig van Beethoven, Markus Becker :: Beethoven: Sonatas Opp. 2 & 106

I'm Still Scratching My Head About This One

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 05/12/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Markus Becker is a 40-ish German pianist, a professor at the Hanover Conservatory, whose only previous recording I knew was his scintillating account of Antheil piano concertos. I'd heard good things about his recording of Dussek sonatas but hadn't heard them. I frankly didn't know what to expect with this CD containing a very early Beethoven sonata (Op. 2, No. 3 in C) and the Everest of sonatas, the 'Hammerklavier', Op. 106 in B flat.



Technically there is little Becker cannot do. For instance, he takes the outer movements of the Op. 106 at breakneck speed and manages the notes just fine. And he plays the same sonata's Adagio sostenuto v-e-r-y slowly, an immensely difficult thing to bring off. He is more successful in the slow movement, managing to sustain that movement's achingly beautiful line pretty darn well. But in the outer movements, I'm afraid, the heroic struggle gets neglected in the service of technical fluency. Maybe I'm wrong, but I truly believe the fourth movement should show signs that the pianist is doing it by guts and determination. Becker, on the other hand, plays it as if it were Bach; well, not quite that but my point is that he seems more focused on clarity, linearity and fluency than in the movement's titanic drama. (It's rather like what happens when a very technically assured string quartet plays the Grosse Fuge like it was a walk in the park.) The music suffers as a result. As for the opening movement, it seems driven to me, partly because of the fast tempo but also because Becker doesn't apply much in the way of nuance or phrase-shaping. Bottom line: this is an uneven and ultimately disappointing 'Hammerklavier' in spite of a good Scherzo and a moving Adagio.



The C major sonata is no pushover, even though it is early Beethoven. It's long and very notey and even has some profound moments in the Adagio. Becker plays up the the spirited cat-chasing-its-tail feeling of the Scherzo and really goes to town in the finale, played at the warp speed and with absolutely clear delineation.



I'd give the Op. 2, No. 3 five stars, but have to give the 'Hammerklavier' only three stars. Another factor in the latter rating is that in the Op. 106 there is some clanginess in the piano's recorded sound. Still, I'd love to hear Becker in live performance. I have a hunch that he may have been daunted a bit by the studio and that the Op. 106 might go better in the concert hall. In any event, he is obviously a very talented pianist.



Scott Morrison"