Muzio Clementi

Aspiring to Parnassus, the mythological mountain home of the Muses, Jean Rondeau explores the possibilities of the harpsichord in music composed over more than 400 years – much of it for the piano. He pays tribute to the Austrian composer Johann Joseph Fux, who in 1725 published the original Gradus ad Parnassum, an influential treatise on counterpoint, and to Muzio Clementi, whose similarly titled collection of piano studies came a century later. The theme continues with Debussy’s Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum, an affectionate parody of Clementi from the Children’s Corner suite.

This disc is intended to introduce a collection of keyboard instruments in Edinburgh, Scotland, but actually it accomplishes much more. The instruments featured here were built all over Europe, with the majority from the British Isles or France. They date from between 1586 and 1810, with the first example being an Italian virginal and the final one a fortepiano. Along the way come harpsichords of various kinds, a clavichord, and a small organ. Brief but relevant and engaging histories are given for each instrument.

Box set containing sonatas performed by the pianist Vladimir Horowitz. As well as the tracks listed it also includes 'Sonata in B Minor' by Franz Liszt, 'Concerto Without Orchestra' by Robert Schumann, 'Andante Moderato' from 'Sonata in F minor, K466' by Domenico Scarlatti, 'Sonata in E-Flat Major for Piano, Hob.XVI:49' by Joseph Haydn, 'Sonata Quasi Concerto, Op. 33, No. 3 in C Major' by Muzio Clementi and 'Sonata No. 21 in C Major for Piano, Op. 53, 'Waldstein'' by Ludwig van Beethoven, amongst others.

In the 250th Beethoven anniversary year, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet has chosen this programme of works by contemporary composers to illuminate and contextualize Beethovens extraordinary output for piano. In his explanatory note for the album, the pianist writes: Just as a mountain peak is always surrounded by other perhaps less lofty but no less fascinating summits, the major works of Beethoven are not isolated rock formations rising from the desert, but, as it were, Himalayas, forming part of a range in which other mountains might be the best pieces by contemporaries such as Clementi, Hummel, Dussek, and Wölfl. These composers all knew Beethoven well and were in contact with one another.

This is a fascinating programme from Dejan Lazic who had some interesting detective work tracking down the score of the Cramer. His sonata is wonderful music that deserves to be heard, and Dejan is a superb advocate for Clementi & Cramer as well as Beethoven.

Muzio Clementi occupies a unique place in the history of the piano, with his myriad sonatas pushing the traditional classical boundaries of the form, his publishing company and piano manufacturing firm prospering both in England and on the Continent, and his famed virtuosity astonishing all who heard him. Remembered as the first of the great piano virtuosos, Clementi condensed his years of composition and performance into the monumental, three-volume Gradus ad Parnassum, a repository of stylistically diverse pieces designed to demonstrate utmost technical mastery of the instrument. This is the last disc in Alessandro Marangoni’s highly acclaimed four single disc survey.