Customer Reviews

Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos. 13, 14, & 23 ~ Watts

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This CD has been unfairly given a poor rating. This CD was my very first CD ever. My parents purchased this when I was first learning the piano, to sort of inspire me. Unfortunately, I rarely listened to it, and it quickly became lost. However, ten years later, I found it, and by then I had already listened to many great interpretations of Beethoven. Some of my favorites include Brendel, Richter, and Kempff. But upon listening to Watts for the first time in many years, I found myself enjoying his version of Moonlight a lot more.

Watts is more subtle than the rest. This does not mean his music is passionless or lacking in emotion. His Moonlight 3rd movement is spectacular. It is played with incredible precision, while being incredibly dynamic. I love how he shapes everything. It's an extremely exciting rendtion. However, the piece isn't played too dramatically, since Moonlight was crafted by a more classical (and not romantic) Beethoven. Sonata 14 is exceptional as well. His rendition of the second movement is amazing. The clarity and precision is very noticeable in his articulations.

Despite owning Brendel, Richter and Kempff, I find myself coming back to Watts more so than the rest. He seems to own a perfect balance of clarity and emotion. You will definitely note how precise he is with his playing, and if that's something you take value of in Beethoven, then you should give this a shot.

In the United States a few pianists are beginning to break out of the straitjacket. Chief among them are Andre Watts, Horacio Gutierrez and Murray Perahia. Watts, born in 1946 of a black American father and Hungarian mother, is the first black pianist to have achieved a major international career. He attracted the attention of Leonard Bernstein, who featured him in one of his televised series with the New York Philharmonic.

Watts displays an unusual flair backed by a brilliant technique. The Sonata in E flat major comprises four movements which distinct as they are, are meant to be played without pause. The subtitle of this work, 'Sonata quasi una Fantasia', is amply justified, for Beethoven seems not to be overly concerned with the sonata's traditional structure. In the first movement, Watts performs with the essential rhythmic firmness and tonal control and as the material unfolds, two contrasting impressions are left--one of a dreamily introspective and almost improvisatory expansion, the other of an overall guiding logic. The second movement is a Scherzo, and based on a deceptively simple yet quite beautiful pattern with a gently galloping trio section. Watts moves throughout the ruminative Adagio with a lovely sustained legato touch. He conveys his technical virtuosity in the finale defining its vibrant, impetuous character. One of the most favored sonatas, the "Moonlight", is performed by Watts with an opening movement filled with an expressive, lyric cantabile line and with a marvellously varied range of pianissimo so necessary for this magnificent movement. The allegretto; Liszt called this movement " a flower between abysses", but is actually a spontaneous scherzo and trio in which Watts conveys a fine rhythmic swing. The Presto agitato is performed with a splendid display of dramatic depth, animation and tumultuous bravura. Watts gives a performance of the "Appassionata" that demands several rounds of applause! The Allegro assai is filled with every ounce of the emotional and dramatic qualities necessary. In the second part of the second subject, Watt's amazing speed and tremendous tone production is mind boggling! The last movement, Allegro ma non troppo has intense emotional drive in the tremendous sweep of the movement. Beethoven considered this to be his best sonata.

Andre Watt's performances on this recording are truly unique and should be considered having seriously. The overall problem I find with this CD is certainly not the playing but the poor quality of its sound. It is quite muffled and "thick". I am surprised that Andre Watts didn't take issue with the technicians that oversaw its sound quality?

Author: Raymond Vacchino M.Mus.(MT) A.Mus. L,R.S.M. Licentiate (honoary)

After listening to Andre Watts play Liszt and thoroughly enjoying his musical sensitivity and virtuosity, I purchased this CD, expecting to hear lively yet nuanced interpretations in two of Beethoven's better known piano sonatas, the "Moonlight" and the "Appassionata". Instead, I found myself listening to both with great disappointment, especially the latter. Where was the verve, the passion, the virtuosity that I had heard in Watts interpreting Liszt? There are glimpses of it every now and then, but on the whole, they were missing from these pieces. While his interpretation of the "Moonlight" sonata was fair, I can only describe his playing of the "Appassionata" as being plodding. I was deeply disappointed with this bland treatment of a piece that is so emotionally charged, so moving if only the pianist can properly coax the lyrical music to life. That didn't happen in this recording. Watts's fairly interesting treatment of Sonata #13 is the only reason I rate this CD with two stars instead of one.

When he debuted on television with Bernstein on a Young People's Concert, the teen-age Andre Watts was a phenom and also a news story, thanks to his racial heritage (he's the child of a black G.I. and German mother who met after WW II). I vividly recall him and always hoped he would continue to rise. Today he is a resspected member of the New York musical scene, but as this humdrum recital of famous Beethoven sonatas demonstrates, Watts never grew musically--he's an impressive technique looking for a point of view.

His Moonlight Sonata is no more than pleasant, with its routine account of the famous first movement and lackluster showing in the challenging finale. The gentle paired sonata in Op. 27 "Quasi una fantasia" utterly lacks fantasy, although it goes by agreeably enough. I waited with expectancy for some passion in the Appassionata, but this is the most workaday reading I've ever heard. Such overly comfortable playing deserves three stars at best.

Andre Watts has really brought the best of Beethoven In this CD! I listen to it daily and can't get over how well it is preformed! I would recomend this CD to any die hard Beethoven, or anyone who wants to get started listening to Classicial Music.