Beethoven Piano Sonatas, Op. 10 Nos 1-3 Daniel Tong (fortepiano) Resonus RES10307 61:31 mins
All pianists who take up the fortepiano after beginning on a modern instrument have their own way of describing the difference. For Daniel Tong, playing Beethoven on a copy of an 1805 Walter fortepiano, the result may be more intimate, but it’s also more incisive, ‘and even percussive,’ he says. ‘The mechanism asks you to coax out the expression with your fingers, leaving your shoulders and back to a supporting role.’ But you must push the instrument harder than you would a modern grand. The knee pedals – which Beethoven used frequently – produce different effects from those of their ‘smoothed-out’ modern counterparts, the former less resonant, and the latter more muted than the normal tre corde sound.
And with this recording, the absence of that ‘smoothed-out’ sound says it all. To the modern ear the ‘Mannheim rocket’ opening of the C minor Sonata inevitably sounds boxy and tinny, but one soon acclimatises to the soundworld Tong evokes. The high-register passage work is vividly incisive, and when the action goes down to the deep bass – as in the Adagio molto of that sonata – the sound has a generous warmth. Tong deploys fine virtuosity in catching the lightness and wit of these sonatas, and he stresses Beethoven’s seemingly throw-away attitude to his teeming ideas as they tumble out. High points for me include the mercurial Allegro and gravely questioning Allegretto of the F major sonata, and the heartfelt Largo of the D major.
Michael Church