Beethoven’s recital opens the international season at the Mozarteum Brasileiro

Specialist composer, pianist Rudolf Buchbinder will present eight sonatas today and tomorrow at the Sala São Paulo

Rudolf Buchbinder answers the phone at his home in Berlin, Germany, and one last note can still be heard from the piano. “I’m studying, I’m preparing for the recitals I’ll do there in Brazil. Lots of music to transmit”, he tells the Stadium.

The repertoire consists of sonatas by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827). The composer is his specialty. He has already recorded the 32 sonatas and performed the complete cycle 60 times on stages around the world – in 2021 he released a 12-disc box set with the author’s entire piano oeuvre. Therefore, it is difficult to avoid the question: what is left to prepare? He laughs. “Everything, practically everything,” replies the pianist.

Concerts take place in St. Paul Room and open the international season of Brazilian Mozarteum. This Tuesday, the 18th, Buchbinder rings the Pathetic sonataTHE Moonlight serenadeTHE Waldstein Sonatas and the Sonata no. 10. Wednesday 19 the program has the Sonata The TempestTHE The Hunt SonataTHE Passionate Sonata and the Sonata no. 6.

“The moment I sit down at the piano and don’t understand these pieces, any interpretation, like a journey into something new, I’m going to have a problem,” she explains. “It is always necessary to avoid the idea of ​​having arrived at a definitive point when talking about the relationship with a musical work. It is not a cliché: there is always something to discover”.

Sensitive

Especially for a composer like Beethoven. “The image that the composer has built over time is that of a titan, a force of nature. But look at his music, listen to what he wrote. He was an extremely sensitive man, revolutionary in many senses, but above all a humanist to everyone.”

The 32 piano sonatas were written during the composer’s lifetime. And they entered Buchbinder’s life very early. He was a student of Bruno Seidlhoferin Vienna, as well as the Brazilian Nelson Freir. She had a close relationship with Beethoven’s music, one of constant curiosity, as he puts it. But as his career took off six decades ago, he balked at the first invitation to record works.

“I thought I should record more of his piano works first, which would help me understand the sonatas differently,” says Buchbinder. He has also begun programming his works in his live recitals. Only after that did he feel free to enter the studio.

“There’s a lot to think about when playing this song. I’ll give you an example. When he notes ‘espressivo’ on the sheet music and then asks us to play it again in time, he’s telling us that there’s a dose of expressiveness in that freedom of expression. But what should it sound like? It’s the challenge that it poses to you. What is the measure of that expression? There’s no way to find a definitive answer and that’s the challenge.”

music sheet

The relationship with the works aroused another curiosity in the pianist: he is now a proud collector of various editions of the scores. His collection ranges from the first editions of the 19th century to others that belonged to or were made by other pianists.

“On the one hand you find many details, many things that are lost over time, which can suggest some ideas or interpretative notions. But it is also precious material for other reasons. I have here with me an edition made by Franz Liszt. He was a great virtuoso , the most important pianist of his time. But he retains all of Beethoven’s original fingerings. He didn’t have to do it, great pianist that he was, but he did it. And this for me is proof of this, the sign of respect that the composer’s music has inspired throughout history.”

And does it annoy Buchbinder that, despite a large repertoire, he is always associated with Beethoven? “The piano concerto I played the most was by (George) Gershwin. And people are amazed when I say that! But I have to say the association with Beethoven doesn’t bother me. A lifetime alongside his music .”

The programming will bring Bryn Terfel to Brazil for the first time

the season of Brazilian Mozarteum Sala São Paulo will have six attractions in 2023. In July, the institution also promotes Canto Mozarteum, a project dedicated to vocal music in collaboration with the International Chorakademie Lühbeck, from Germany. The highlight of the agenda are the presentations, in November, in which the Welsh bass-baritone Bryn Terfel will make his Brazilian debut, accompanied by Mozarteum Academic Orchestra.

Among the artists invited to perform at the coronation of King Charles III, Terfel has already toured the main theaters of the world and, in his recordings, mixes popular songs, musicals and excerpts from operas by authors such as Verdi and Wagner.

His most recent album, released in March on the international market, is a live recording of Falstaff, by Verdi, recorded at the Verbier Festival, Switzerland, in 2016. For the Brazilian public, there is a particular interest in the album: the presence of the tenor of Pará Atalla Ayan in the role of Fenton.

After the recitals of Rudolf Buchbinderthe series continues in May with the Kiev virtuosos. The group is made up of Ukrainian musicians, led by the conductor and the cellist Dmitry Yablonbsky. In the program, it works by Mendelssohn, Vivaldi, bartok and Ukrainian Myroslav Skoryk.

In June she returns to Brazil as a mezzo-soprano Elina Garanca, for a concert with the Academic Orchestra of the Mozarteum Brasileiro and Maestro Constantin Orbelian. He will perform arias from Italian and French operas, as well as a selection of Spanish and Russian songs.

The Wiener Kammersymphonie, formed by young Austrian artists, holds two concerts in August. The highlight of the performances is a string quintet version of Mozart’s opera The Marriage of Figaro. Violinist Lorenz Nasturica-Herschcowici gives two concerts in October with a chamber ensemble with musicians from the Academic Orchestra (concert repertoire has not yet been announced).

Rudolf Buchbinder

Sala San Paolo – Praça Júlio Prestes, 16.

Tuesday (18/4) and Wednesday (19/4) at 21h.

BRL 145 / BRL 500

Source: Terra

Earl

Earl Johnson is a music writer at Gossipify, known for his in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the industry. A graduate of USC with a degree in Music, he brings years of experience and passion to his writing. He covers the latest releases and trends, always on the lookout for the next big thing in music.