Idil Biret Archive (IBA)In November 1949, at the age of eight, Idil Biret entered the studios of ORTF (Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française / French Radio and Television Broadcasting) in Paris and made her first recordings. These were works by Couperin, Bach, Beethoven and Debussy. In the following decades she made over eighty LPs and CDs (released on ten record labels - Pretoria, Véga, Decca, Atlantic/Finnadar, Pantheon, EMI, Naxos, Marco Polo, Alpha, BMP) and many recordings for radio and television stations around the world. These included the complete piano works of Brahms, Chopin and Rachmaninov and the Etudes of Ligeti. The Idil Biret Archive (IBA) will bring together as many of her recordings as possible; as the copyrights are obtained, old recordings no longer available commercially will be released together with her new recordings. The transcriptions by Liszt of Beethoven’s Symphonies, originally recorded for EMI, and the newly recorded 32 Sonatas and all the Piano Concertos of Beethoven will be the first to be released on nineteen CDs. Then, all the Piano Concertos of Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Schumann and Grieg and the nine LPs recorded for Atlantic/Finnadar in New York, including works by Boulez, Webern, Berg, Ravel and Stravinsky will follow. IBA will be distributed worldwide by Naxos on CD and on all major websites digitally.

The IBA emblem contains an etching by Albrecht Dürer sent to Idil Biret at Christmas 1959 by Nadia Boulanger with the following words: “To my little Idil. Christmas 1959. May the Angel protect her on the beautiful and dangerous path she has engaged herself in. With all my heart. N.B ”

BEETHOVENPiano Sonatas Vol. 4

Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57 (Appassionata)Sonata No. 28 in A major, Op. 101Sonata No. 31 in A flat major, Op. 110

IDIL BIRET BEETHOVEN EDITION . 8

8.571258booklet_out.indd 1-2 2/3/2009 11:22:29 AM

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)Piano Sonatas, Volume 4Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57 (Appassionata)Sonata No. 28 in A major, Op. 101Sonata No. 31 in A flat major, Op. 110

Beethoven’s Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57, ‘Appassionata’, dedicated to Count Franz von Brunswick, has its basis in opera. This, and its predecessor Opus 54 are contained in the “Leonore” sketchbook for the master opera that eventually became Fidelio, and Thayer verifies that actual sketches for all the later work’s movements “are sandwiched in to plans for the last act”. What is even more revealing and somewhat amusing is Ferdinand Ries’s description of a long walk with Beethoven that deviated from their return to Döbling, where the composer was living in 1804, because “he had been all the time humming and sometimes howling, always up and down, without singing any definite notes”. “A theme for the last movement has occurred to me”, Beethoven replied, running to his pianoforte, tearing his hat off and ignoring his young friend, “I cannot give you a lesson today, I must do some more work!”

Interpretive challenges influenced past master pianists, Lamond, Schnabel, Serkin, Kempff, Fischer, Backhaus, Gieseking, Arrau, and Rubinstein, in various ways, so that the choice of speeds became a matter of concern, with the use of rubato for ‘theatrical’ broadenings, and even in isolated instances the ignoring of that essential last movement repeat, so important for structural reasons. But admirable as these performers are, there has been a leavening of simplicity in recent years in accordance with the basic sonata-form lay-out. Somehow the tight-knit mystery of the so-called “Tempest” Sonata that contrasts with the joyously expressive “Waldstein”, culminates in a sustained torrent of tempestuous passions during Opus 57.

Beethoven’s publisher Cranz gave it the name “Appassionata”, yet the contained brilliance is only released at the end of bar 14 in a series of forte arpeggios followed by rising fortissimo chords of considerable violence. Following these the music softens for the introduction of the first movement main theme in the major, radiating a confidence which is speedily interrupted by an extended F minor sequence that moves to a more consoling G flat. With the left hand firmly in control, dramatic moves to higher spheres and sweeping semiquaver passage-work come to a partial close on four Adagio chords, an obvious invitation to end proceedings with a vehement Più allegro reply and a return to the main subject that eventually dies away on a pianissimo chord.

8.571258booklet_out.indd 2-3 2/3/2009 11:22:30 AM

The middle movement in D flat is marked Andante con moto, consisting of a theme and four variations. Essentially straightforward, the note values at the beginning of Variation 1 might allow for a slight quickening of pace, but this is debatable. As in the “Waldstein” Sonata, Beethoven introduces his Finale with an ‘attacca’ arpeggio chord. The stresses are G flat - F minor/D flat - C in the form of chordal progressions linked by patterns of semiquavers. The overall marking, Allegro, ma non troppo, is exactly right, and the Presto section of the final measures involves the listener in a peroration of exciting events that reaches an abrupt and breathless close.

The dedication of Sonata No. 28 in A major, Op.101, is to Baroness Dorothea Ertmann, renowned for sensitive readings of Beethoven’s sonatas. The word Pianoforte is replaced, for the first time, by the German Hammerklavier, denoting the piano action. While there are no sketches for the first movement, those for the second originally appeared in the sketchbook belonging to Eugen von Miller of Vienna (now part of the Koch collection). Sketches for the Finale are in the Berlin Library. The first in the series of late, great sonatas, completed in 1816, the Sonata in A major is essentially the most exact, compact and expressive, requiring immense skill in choice of tempi, flow, touch and use of rubato. It is so finely balanced throughout – and this includes repeat sections – that any deviation from Beethoven’s markings or failure to control one’s ardour can ruin everything. Beauty then becomes, instead, a travesty of misplaced accents, desperate leaps and wrong judgments.

Intimacy is suggested from the outset with the key of A major clearly stated in bar 3. The legato phrases dovetail to the a tempo four bars further on, which starts on C sharp rising to B sharp, continuing with carefully notated arch-like formations and sequences of chords mostly on intervals of the fifth and octave, providing ecclesiastical devoutness and nobility to the text. Allegretto, ma non troppo, con intimissimo sentimento at the head of the score should be used in conjunction with Beethoven’s clearly intended ‘espressivo e semplice’.

The second movement, Vivace alla marcia, is full of perilous leaps in both hands; typical of the composer’s pugnacious humour, with sudden sly, slippery asides in the change from sharps to flats at the start of the second subject following the repeat. I cannot think of another parallel anywhere, or the supremely beautiful dolce central subject with its extended trill on high F.

Beethoven introduces the words ‘con affetto’ at the head of his Adagio movement, a piece of inspired genius, half cantilena, half extemporisation. The mini-cadenza (non presto) that links it to the start of Finale

Idil Biret

Born in Ankara, Idil Biret started to play the piano at the age of three and later studied at the Paris Conservatoire under the guidance of Nadia Boulanger, graduating at the age of fifteen with three first prizes. She was a pupil of Alfred Cortot and a lifelong disciple of Wilhelm Kempff. She embarked on her career as a soloist at the age of sixteen, appearing with major orchestras in the principal music centres of the world in collaboration with conductors of the greatest distinction. To many major festival appearances may be added membership of juries for international competitions including the Van Cliburn, Queen Elisabeth of Belgium and Busoni competitions. She has received the Lili Boulanger memorial Award in Boston, the Harriet Cohen / Dinu Lipatti Gold Medal in London, the Polish Artistic Merit Award and the Distinguished Service Medals, the Adelaide Ristori Prize in Italy, the French Chevalier de l’Ordre national du Mérite and the State Artist distinction in Turkey. Her more than eighty records since the 1960s include the first recordings of Liszt’s transcriptions of the Nine Symphonies of Beethoven for EMI, Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique for Atlantic / Finnadar and for Naxos the complete piano works of Brahms, Chopin, Rachmaninov, the three Sonatas of Boulez, the Etudes of Ligeti and the complete Firebird piano transcriptions by Stravinsky, with a Marco Polo disc of the piano compositions and transcriptions of her mentor Wilhelm Kempff. Idil Biret has also recorded the 32 Sonatas and all the Piano Concertos of Beethoven. Her Chopin recordings received a Grand Prix du Disque Frédéric Chopin award in Poland and the Boulez recording the Golden Diapason of the year award in France. In 2007 the Polish President decorated Biret with the Distinguished Service Order – Cavalry Cross for her contribution to Polish culture through her recordings and performances of Chopin’s music.

8.571258booklet_out.indd 4-5 2/3/2009 11:22:30 AM

proper – typical of Chopin and Liszt at a later date – is followed by an elegant bridge section, a sudden Presto complete with trills above stunned chords, then we are literally plunged into the final section.

The glorious ebullience of the writing is typical of the composer’s wide ranging personality. He alternates themes, throwing his material in every conceivable direction while incorporating an intriguing fugue subject into the mêlée before resolving his forces into a grand conclusion. There is never a note out of place.

In a letter to Ignaz von Mosel, dated Vienna 1817, Beethoven states the following: “I have often thought of giving up these absurd terms allegro, andante, adagio, presto. Mälzel’s metronome gives us an excellent opportunity to do so. I give you my word, in my future compositions I shall not use them”. Not quite true!

The score heading of Sonata No.31 in A flat major, Op.110, reads Moderato cantabile, molto espressivo, with an additional request ‘con amabilità’, denoting warmth of understanding for the singing A flat harmonies in the four-bar introduction, a first subject that follows which soars aloft, and a variant of the same melody in demisemiquaver groupings that leads to the transition. The sonata has no dedication, but Beethoven wrote “December 25, 1821” on the score autograph. Sketches are to be found following the Agnus Dei from the Missa Solemnis, begun the same year. Schindler, however, discovered evidence that the composer intended dedicating his final two keyboard sonatas to Madame Brentano.

Basically, the opening movement consists of architectural layers that build upwards and outwards at the same time. With renewed strength of purpose, Beethoven re-examines his material over changing order sequences, signposting each fresh attempt, i.e. this originally comes in bar 25, where crescendo left-hand trills set the first change in motion. The same thing recurs later, but continuity is never harmed even at the expense of music occasionally wandering from the tonic.

The second movement in the relative minor key, F minor, a Scherzo substitute, like Opus 109, is marked simply Molto allegro, yet the soft, questing opening stanza and brutal reply figure are really turned on their heads during the middle section where crotchet sforzando leaps and running quaver figures nearly cause havoc and consternation to the musical line. After the Scherzo repeat, the Coda has stark open chords which fade away on the ritard.

The Adagio, ma non troppo, with Beethoven’s specific annotations, is one of those unique creations that defies description, yet the order of subject matter from the mysterious chordal opening embraces a Recitative, Più adagio, Andante, Adagio (twice), and Meno adagio through to a most poignantly sad Arioso dolente. The scene is set for the magnificent Fuga ending, with its succession of crescendoing chords and fade-away, and the inverted fugue which skilfully avoids any introspective byways to break out in unbelievable ongoing passions of heroism. Such music is akin to paradise.

Bill Newman

8.571258booklet_out.indd 6-7 2/3/2009 11:22:30 AM

proper – typical of Chopin and Liszt at a later date – is followed by an elegant bridge section, a sudden Presto complete with trills above stunned chords, then we are literally plunged into the final section.

The glorious ebullience of the writing is typical of the composer’s wide ranging personality. He alternates themes, throwing his material in every conceivable direction while incorporating an intriguing fugue subject into the mêlée before resolving his forces into a grand conclusion. There is never a note out of place.

In a letter to Ignaz von Mosel, dated Vienna 1817, Beethoven states the following: “I have often thought of giving up these absurd terms allegro, andante, adagio, presto. Mälzel’s metronome gives us an excellent opportunity to do so. I give you my word, in my future compositions I shall not use them”. Not quite true!

The score heading of Sonata No.31 in A flat major, Op.110, reads Moderato cantabile, molto espressivo, with an additional request ‘con amabilità’, denoting warmth of understanding for the singing A flat harmonies in the four-bar introduction, a first subject that follows which soars aloft, and a variant of the same melody in demisemiquaver groupings that leads to the transition. The sonata has no dedication, but Beethoven wrote “December 25, 1821” on the score autograph. Sketches are to be found following the Agnus Dei from the Missa Solemnis, begun the same year. Schindler, however, discovered evidence that the composer intended dedicating his final two keyboard sonatas to Madame Brentano.

Basically, the opening movement consists of architectural layers that build upwards and outwards at the same time. With renewed strength of purpose, Beethoven re-examines his material over changing order sequences, signposting each fresh attempt, i.e. this originally comes in bar 25, where crescendo left-hand trills set the first change in motion. The same thing recurs later, but continuity is never harmed even at the expense of music occasionally wandering from the tonic.

The second movement in the relative minor key, F minor, a Scherzo substitute, like Opus 109, is marked simply Molto allegro, yet the soft, questing opening stanza and brutal reply figure are really turned on their heads during the middle section where crotchet sforzando leaps and running quaver figures nearly cause havoc and consternation to the musical line. After the Scherzo repeat, the Coda has stark open chords which fade away on the ritard.

The Adagio, ma non troppo, with Beethoven’s specific annotations, is one of those unique creations that defies description, yet the order of subject matter from the mysterious chordal opening embraces a Recitative, Più adagio, Andante, Adagio (twice), and Meno adagio through to a most poignantly sad Arioso dolente. The scene is set for the magnificent Fuga ending, with its succession of crescendoing chords and fade-away, and the inverted fugue which skilfully avoids any introspective byways to break out in unbelievable ongoing passions of heroism. Such music is akin to paradise.

Bill Newman

8.571258booklet_out.indd 6-7 2/3/2009 11:22:30 AM

The middle movement in D flat is marked Andante con moto, consisting of a theme and four variations. Essentially straightforward, the note values at the beginning of Variation 1 might allow for a slight quickening of pace, but this is debatable. As in the “Waldstein” Sonata, Beethoven introduces his Finale with an ‘attacca’ arpeggio chord. The stresses are G flat - F minor/D flat - C in the form of chordal progressions linked by patterns of semiquavers. The overall marking, Allegro, ma non troppo, is exactly right, and the Presto section of the final measures involves the listener in a peroration of exciting events that reaches an abrupt and breathless close.

The dedication of Sonata No. 28 in A major, Op.101, is to Baroness Dorothea Ertmann, renowned for sensitive readings of Beethoven’s sonatas. The word Pianoforte is replaced, for the first time, by the German Hammerklavier, denoting the piano action. While there are no sketches for the first movement, those for the second originally appeared in the sketchbook belonging to Eugen von Miller of Vienna (now part of the Koch collection). Sketches for the Finale are in the Berlin Library. The first in the series of late, great sonatas, completed in 1816, the Sonata in A major is essentially the most exact, compact and expressive, requiring immense skill in choice of tempi, flow, touch and use of rubato. It is so finely balanced throughout – and this includes repeat sections – that any deviation from Beethoven’s markings or failure to control one’s ardour can ruin everything. Beauty then becomes, instead, a travesty of misplaced accents, desperate leaps and wrong judgments.

Intimacy is suggested from the outset with the key of A major clearly stated in bar 3. The legato phrases dovetail to the a tempo four bars further on, which starts on C sharp rising to B sharp, continuing with carefully notated arch-like formations and sequences of chords mostly on intervals of the fifth and octave, providing ecclesiastical devoutness and nobility to the text. Allegretto, ma non troppo, con intimissimo sentimento at the head of the score should be used in conjunction with Beethoven’s clearly intended ‘espressivo e semplice’.

The second movement, Vivace alla marcia, is full of perilous leaps in both hands; typical of the composer’s pugnacious humour, with sudden sly, slippery asides in the change from sharps to flats at the start of the second subject following the repeat. I cannot think of another parallel anywhere, or the supremely beautiful dolce central subject with its extended trill on high F.

Beethoven introduces the words ‘con affetto’ at the head of his Adagio movement, a piece of inspired genius, half cantilena, half extemporisation. The mini-cadenza (non presto) that links it to the start of Finale

Idil Biret

Born in Ankara, Idil Biret started to play the piano at the age of three and later studied at the Paris Conservatoire under the guidance of Nadia Boulanger, graduating at the age of fifteen with three first prizes. She was a pupil of Alfred Cortot and a lifelong disciple of Wilhelm Kempff. She embarked on her career as a soloist at the age of sixteen, appearing with major orchestras in the principal music centres of the world in collaboration with conductors of the greatest distinction. To many major festival appearances may be added membership of juries for international competitions including the Van Cliburn, Queen Elisabeth of Belgium and Busoni competitions. She has received the Lili Boulanger memorial Award in Boston, the Harriet Cohen / Dinu Lipatti Gold Medal in London, the Polish Artistic Merit Award and the Distinguished Service Medals, the Adelaide Ristori Prize in Italy, the French Chevalier de l’Ordre national du Mérite and the State Artist distinction in Turkey. Her more than eighty records since the 1960s include the first recordings of Liszt’s transcriptions of the Nine Symphonies of Beethoven for EMI, Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique for Atlantic / Finnadar and for Naxos the complete piano works of Brahms, Chopin, Rachmaninov, the three Sonatas of Boulez, the Etudes of Ligeti and the complete Firebird piano transcriptions by Stravinsky, with a Marco Polo disc of the piano compositions and transcriptions of her mentor Wilhelm Kempff. Idil Biret has also recorded the 32 Sonatas and all the Piano Concertos of Beethoven. Her Chopin recordings received a Grand Prix du Disque Frédéric Chopin award in Poland and the Boulez recording the Golden Diapason of the year award in France. In 2007 the Polish President decorated Biret with the Distinguished Service Order – Cavalry Cross for her contribution to Polish culture through her recordings and performances of Chopin’s music.

8.571258booklet_out.indd 4-5 2/3/2009 11:22:30 AM

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)Piano Sonatas, Volume 4Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57 (Appassionata)Sonata No. 28 in A major, Op. 101Sonata No. 31 in A flat major, Op. 110

Beethoven’s Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57, ‘Appassionata’, dedicated to Count Franz von Brunswick, has its basis in opera. This, and its predecessor Opus 54 are contained in the “Leonore” sketchbook for the master opera that eventually became Fidelio, and Thayer verifies that actual sketches for all the later work’s movements “are sandwiched in to plans for the last act”. What is even more revealing and somewhat amusing is Ferdinand Ries’s description of a long walk with Beethoven that deviated from their return to Döbling, where the composer was living in 1804, because “he had been all the time humming and sometimes howling, always up and down, without singing any definite notes”. “A theme for the last movement has occurred to me”, Beethoven replied, running to his pianoforte, tearing his hat off and ignoring his young friend, “I cannot give you a lesson today, I must do some more work!”

Interpretive challenges influenced past master pianists, Lamond, Schnabel, Serkin, Kempff, Fischer, Backhaus, Gieseking, Arrau, and Rubinstein, in various ways, so that the choice of speeds became a matter of concern, with the use of rubato for ‘theatrical’ broadenings, and even in isolated instances the ignoring of that essential last movement repeat, so important for structural reasons. But admirable as these performers are, there has been a leavening of simplicity in recent years in accordance with the basic sonata-form lay-out. Somehow the tight-knit mystery of the so-called “Tempest” Sonata that contrasts with the joyously expressive “Waldstein”, culminates in a sustained torrent of tempestuous passions during Opus 57.

Beethoven’s publisher Cranz gave it the name “Appassionata”, yet the contained brilliance is only released at the end of bar 14 in a series of forte arpeggios followed by rising fortissimo chords of considerable violence. Following these the music softens for the introduction of the first movement main theme in the major, radiating a confidence which is speedily interrupted by an extended F minor sequence that moves to a more consoling G flat. With the left hand firmly in control, dramatic moves to higher spheres and sweeping semiquaver passage-work come to a partial close on four Adagio chords, an obvious invitation to end proceedings with a vehement Più allegro reply and a return to the main subject that eventually dies away on a pianissimo chord.

8.571258booklet_out.indd 2-3 2/3/2009 11:22:30 AM

Idil Biret Archive (IBA)In November 1949, at the age of eight, Idil Biret entered the studios of ORTF (Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française / French Radio and Television Broadcasting) in Paris and made her first recordings. These were works by Couperin, Bach, Beethoven and Debussy. In the following decades she made over eighty LPs and CDs (released on ten record labels - Pretoria, Véga, Decca, Atlantic/Finnadar, Pantheon, EMI, Naxos, Marco Polo, Alpha, BMP) and many recordings for radio and television stations around the world. These included the complete piano works of Brahms, Chopin and Rachmaninov and the Etudes of Ligeti. The Idil Biret Archive (IBA) will bring together as many of her recordings as possible; as the copyrights are obtained, old recordings no longer available commercially will be released together with her new recordings. The transcriptions by Liszt of Beethoven’s Symphonies, originally recorded for EMI, and the newly recorded 32 Sonatas and all the Piano Concertos of Beethoven will be the first to be released on nineteen CDs. Then, all the Piano Concertos of Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Schumann and Grieg and the nine LPs recorded for Atlantic/Finnadar in New York, including works by Boulez, Webern, Berg, Ravel and Stravinsky will follow. IBA will be distributed worldwide by Naxos on CD and on all major websites digitally.

The IBA emblem contains an etching by Albrecht Dürer sent to Idil Biret at Christmas 1959 by Nadia Boulanger with the following words: “To my little Idil. Christmas 1959. May the Angel protect her on the beautiful and dangerous path she has engaged herself in. With all my heart. N.B ”

BEETHOVENPiano Sonatas Vol. 4

Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op. 57 (Appassionata)Sonata No. 28 in A major, Op. 101Sonata No. 31 in A flat major, Op. 110

IDIL BIRET BEETHOVEN EDITION . 8

8.571258booklet_out.indd 1-2 2/3/2009 11:22:29 AM

Idil BiretBEETHOVEN EDITION . 8

Complete Piano Sonatas, Concertos and Symphony Transcriptions

Sonata No. 23 in F Minor, Op. 57 26:21(Appassionata) 1 Allegro assai 10:342 Andante con moto attacca 06:413 Allegro ma non troppo - Presto 09:05

Sonata No. 31 in A flat major, Op. 110 20:188 Moderato cantabile 06:179 Molto allegro 02:28

10 Adagio, ma non troppo - Fuga: Allegro, 11:33ma non troppo

Sonata No. 28 in A major, Op.101 23:194 Allegretto, ma non troppo 04:555 Vivace alla marcia 06:546 Adagio, ma non troppo, con affetto 03:037 Allegro 08:27

“Biret grasps the size of Beethoven’s style. The polyphony is laid out in a relaxed way with little indulgence in point making. She keeps the big line and yet is thankfully sparing in her use of fortissimos. The piano tone is sumptuous. Biret’s gentle and almost sensuous sonorities are really captivating. One is reminded that her mentor has been Wilhelm Kempff.”

GRAMOPHONE

“Idil Biret gives an impressive performance. A supreme mastery of tempi, sonorities, polyphony and technique permits Biret – a disciple of Alfred Cortot – to embrace all the moods of Beethoven and gives her playing a symphonic depth rarely heard until now.”

LE NOUVEL OBSERVATEUR

“Idil Biret has recently recorded Liszt’s transcriptions of Beethoven’s nine Symphonies for EMI. Her superbly authentic performance of the 5th Symphony, heard at her Herkülessaal recital in Munich, received a thunderous reception.”

MŰNCHNER MERKUR

Recorded: November 2001 in Brussels, BelgiumProducer and Engineer: Michel Devos . Piano: Steinway

Booklet notes: Bill Newman

Idil Biret

8.571258B

EETHO

VEN

EDITIO

N . 8 Sonatas 23, 28, 31 (Vol. 4)

Idil Biret

8.571258B

EETHO

VEN

EDITIO

N . 8 Sonatas 23, 28, 31 (Vol. 4)

8.571258

Playing time69:57

Manufactured

by S

onopress

and d

istributed

by

& ©

2009 Idil B

iretB

ooklet notes in English

Mad

e in Germ

any

ww

w.id

ilbiretarch

ive.euIBA008