Beethoven For the King of Prussia: Sonatas for Fortepiano and Cello, Op. 5 Nos 1 & 2; Variations on See the conquering hero comes Marco Ceccato (cello), Anna Fontana (fortepiano) Arcana A546 64:12 mins
The two cello sonatas which Beethoven wrote in 1796 for himself to play with the cellist Jean-Louis Duport for the King of Prussia are astonishing, revolutionary works. The idea of duos for cello and keyboard alone without continuo was quite new, and Beethoven writes these on the largest scale – the main movements in each sonata are both 14 minutes long, full of dramatic twists and turns. Conceived (like Mozart’s violin sonatas) as led from the keyboard, the big difficulty is how to balance cello and piano. The use of period instruments helps here – the fortepiano in the sonatas is a lovely 1830 Graf from Rome, the cello an anonymous Italian instrument – but it does not totally solve the problem, as Anna Fontana’s brilliant keyboard playing sweeps all before it, while Marco Ceccato’s cello sometimes struggles to make itself heard even when it is answering material in the piano. Perhaps the recorded balance is partly to blame.
There is much to savour in the way that Beethoven orchestrates the cut and thrust of the big movements and the chirpier Rondos that follow, especially when ethereal slow moments interrupt the relentless flow. With a different piano, the Variations on the famous theme from Judas Maccabeus, showing Beethoven’s debt to Handel, are oddly short-breathed but wittily delivered, allowing the cello to shine delicately in Variation 7, and then to take command of the tune in Variation 10 while the piano cleverly treats it in canon. When Henry Wood included this theme in his Sea Songs even he didn’t think of that!
Nicholas Kenyon