Beethoven: 3 Sonatas op. 2 (on Graf fortepiano)

Ludwig van Beethoven:

3 Sonatas op. 2

Fortepiano Graf No. 429 (1820), restored in 2021-23.

Release: 4 October 2024.

https://www.challengerecords.com/products/17240521917331/sonatas-op-2

Can something new, interesting and ‘true’ still be said about the interpretation of Beethoven’s sonatas? I believe so, provided we break out of the conventions created by the tradition of interpretation and discography, where in 98% of cases a modern piano is used. Therefore, I thought that the choice of recording Beethoven on a historical instrument could also be a way for a more individual interpretative investigation, free from the models that listening to famous recordings on a modern piano risks accustoming us to. I do not believe that there is a ‘right’ and a ‘wrong’ instrument on which to perform Beethoven’s Sonatas Opus 2. What matters is the musical result. It depends on the alchemy that is created between the performer and the instrument. Before I came to choose the Graf No. 429, I tried at length various modern copies of fortepiano from 1795 - 1800, trying to get closer to the sound and expressive world of early Beethoven. However, having the opportunity of having a Graf fortepiano (No. 429) in my studio, restored in 2023, I was able to prepare this recording on that instrument, playing it regularly for a year, achieving a kind of familiarity with its action and timbral response that I have grown fond of.

(from the liner notes of the album, by Roberto Prosseda)