Bobby Mitchell
Two Sonatas
Physical and digital album release: October 11, 2024
Distribution: PIAS NL
Contacts:
Label/ 7 Mountain Records NL: Frerik de Jong info@7mntn.com
Pianist: Bobby Mitchell mitch.bobby@gmail.com
Short album description:
American and Netherlands-based pianist top pianist Bobby Mitchell performs two masterpieces for solo piano: Beethoven’s last piano sonata, Sonata No. 32 in c minor opus 111 and Klaas de Vries’s Sonata for piano. Both pieces are played on the most sophisticated instruments available to the composers in question: Beethoven on a Conrad Graf hammer-clavier from around 1827 (from Edwin Beunk’s collection) and a Steinway D-274 for De Vries.
Both piano works demand the utmost from both the pianist and the instrument itself. Beethoven’s opus 111 prescribes thundering dynamics and extraordinarily virtuoso rhythmicity, and requires the performing musician to have a strong sense of the longer musical line, as the development of the themes spreads over long distances. The genius of the great master constantly portrays itself, especially in the hushed moments. The pianist is mentally challenged, cannot slacken his high concentration.
De Vries’ Sonata also presents great demands, including the continuous presence of sostenuto passages (certain notes which must be held while others are played separately), harmonic richness and inventiveness, and at times vigorous dynamics. Mitchell dove deep into the music with the composer, which, like Beethoven, has brilliant moments of introspection and sonic beauty. The Sonata for piano (completed in 1987) has so far not been released on CD. The Dutch publisher Deuss Music is publishing the score, which before this moment only existed as a handwritten version, on the occasion of the album’s release.
Two Sonatas is an extraordinary ode to the piano sonata, performed by one of the most adventurous pianists of his generation.
Links:
Download link with full album and CD booklet (password protected)
Information about score Klaas de Vries – Sonate voor piano
Press photos:
Audio fragments:
Ludwig van Beethoven
Sonate No. 32 in c kl.t. opus 111: I. Maestoso – Allegro con brio ed appassionata
II. Arietta: Adagio molto semplice e cantabile
Klaas de Vries
Sonate voor piano: I. Melancholie
II. Peripetie
Full tracklist:
Klaas de Vries (*1944)
Sonate voor piano (1986/87)
1. I. Melancholie [21’27]
2. II. Peripetie [11’41]
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827)
Sonate No. 32 in c kl.t. opus 111 (1821/22)
3. I. Maestoso – Allegro con brio ed appassionata [8’54]
4. II. Arietta: Adagio molto semplice e cantabile [16’04]