Early Music
Gesualdo Madrigali – Libri primo & secondo Les Arts Florissants / Paul Agnew Harmonia Mundi F HAF890 5307/8 (12/19) Producer Arnaud Moral (Radio France) Engineers: Laurent Fracchia & Allison Ascrizzi (Radio France)
RECORDINGS OF THE YEAR
Although the voting in this year’s Early Music category could literally not have been closer (the winner emerging from the ‘weight’ of votes – how many first places, then seconds, and so on), Les Arts Florissants’ success is well deserved. First, they have pedigree as Gesualdians, having already contributed a superb disc in William Christie’s day; and then, the past year has brought other superb Gesualdo anthologies (from Exaudi and La Compagnia del Madrigale). So what made this stand out? Edward Breen’s review emphasised the singers’ astonishing agility, and the continuity with the ‘textcentred, quick-fire responses’ of Christie’s cast. A key feature here is the acoustic, which, though not bone-dry, is notably ‘un-churchy’. It means that there’s nowhere for the singers to hide, no room to luxuriate in relaxed tempos, no way to disguise lapses of intonation or ensemble. This is performance without safety nets, but the risk pays dividends: the virtuosity is thrilling, and Gesualdo’s quicksilver changes of mood tell all the more eloquently. If the whiff of sulphur one associates with him has ever paled through over-familiarity, here something of it is restored. But there’s more: those inclined to dismiss Gesualdo as a one-trick pony are proved wrong in these early works, which show the solid craftsmanship and dramatic sensibility on which the later, more obviously daring madrigals are built. That Paul Agnew’s troupe has achieved so much with the lesser-known pieces makes one anticipate all the more keenly what’s to come. Fabrice Fitch
Instrumental
Beethoven Complete Piano Sonatas Igor Levit pf Sony Classical M i 19075 84318-2 (A/19) Producer/engineer Andreas Neubronner Producer Stephan Schellmann (Nos 28-32)
When it comes to recordings and repertoire choices, Igor Levit goes big. His 2013 debut recording of Beethoven’s last five sonatas garnered glowing reviews, although it did not go unnoticed at the time that a 26-year-old was scaling such craggily sublime peaks. Now, after taking on the Six Bach Partitas and a trilogy of epic variation sets – Bach’s Goldbergs, Beethoven’s Diabellis and Frederic Rzewski’s Variations on The People United Will Never Be Defeated! (which secured him Gramophone’s 2016 Recording of the Year) – he’s back to Beethoven’s sonatas, completing the cycle in one fell swoop.
Given his partiality to working on a grand scale, it should come as little surprise that Levit is as concerned with the architecture of these sonatas as with their details. Like Artur gramophone.co.uk
Schnabel, he gives every phrase a powerful sense of direction, and like Schnabel, his tempos can be unusually fleet, particularly in the early sonatas – although Levit’s playing allows greater expansiveness as Beethoven becomes increasingly daring. But his direct performance is likely less expected. Not only are his interpretations imperturbably fluent, they eschew even the merest sign of showiness or affectation. And while they hold massive reserves of power (try his Hammerklavier, say), their delicacy is equally potent, even in a warhorse like the Waldstein (whose finale he makes into a radiant utopian vision).
I cannot think of another set of the Beethoven sonatas that sparkles so dazzlingly, or indeed one that focuses as sharply on the music’s urbanity as on its tender humanity. Andrew Farach-Colton
GRAMOPHONE RECORDINGS OF THE YEAR 2020 37