BEETHOVEN Cello Sonatas & Variations
ARISTO SHAM (Piano) and Friends
Saturday and Sunday (17 & 18 October 2020)

The Joy of Music Festival commemorates the 250th anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven’s birth by presenting the great German composer’s complete cello music in two concerts, comprising five cello sonatas and three sets of variations. Uniting all these performances is Hong Kong’s very own award-winning pianist Aristo Sham, who partners cellists Richard Bamping and Artem Konstantinov from the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong respectively.

Beethoven was the pioneer of the cello sonata. Although J.S.Bach, Boccherini and Haydn all wrote significant violoncello works, the idea of this stringed instrument partnered by the piano was developed and revolutionised by Beethoven. He composed just five cello sonatas, spanning over a 20 year period, conveniently falling within his three periods of creative output. Owing to the demanding and virtuosic keyboard parts, early editions of these sonatas were sometimes referred to as sonatas for piano and cello.

 

Saturday (17 October 2020)

From Beethoven’s “Early Period” came his Op.5 pair of sonatas, composed in 1795-6. These were dedicated to King Frederick-William of Prussia (nephew and successor of Frederick The Great), who had in his court orchestra the Duport brothers, Jean-Pierre and Jean-Louis, who were French cello virtuosos. Although the king was a skilled amateur cellist himself, it was likely that the first performances were given by the sibs partnered by Beethoven on the keyboard.

Both sonatas are similar in structure, comprising just two movements each. The first movements open with a slow introduction, which is ruminative in character. A mild flourish from the piano soon leads into the allegro section, which establishes the movement’s main themes. The general mood of each opening movement is different; robust and confident in the first sonata (in F major), while capturing the “pathetique” spirit in the second sonata (G minor). The exposition and development sections make up the most extended part of both movements. There are no proper slow movements (which would come much later in the final sonata, Op.102 No.2), instead both sonatas close with energetic and cheerful Rondos.

Preceding each sonata are variations which Beethoven wrote on popular tunes from Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute. The earlier set from 1796, on bird-catcher Papageno’s aria Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen has 12 variations. Beethoven actually simplifies and shortens the aria to suit his ends, and the piano plays the leading role, even having Variation I all to its own. The cello gradually comes into its own, having its expressive qualities displayed in the slow Vars.X and XI, both in the minor key, before lyrical but lively final variation. 

Interestingly, this F major set of variations is ideally suited to be played before the F major sonata (Op.5 No.1). The interval of a perfect fourth (C-F) which opens the Mädchen variations is also the same interval heard at the outset of the sonata. Is this a coincidence, or just plain good programming?

The later set, on the duet Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen sung by Pamina and Pagageno in praise of love, was composed in 1801. This is limited to just seven variations, but with cello and piano as near-equal partners and their interplay, as in the vocal duet, is delightful. Var.IV is in the minor key, while Var.VI is the obligatory aria-like slow variation, before a lightly skipping dance in the final variation to close. 

 

Sunday (18 October 2020)

The sole sonata from his “Middle Period” is the F major Op.69 of 1808, a stand-alone work and also the longest of the five. The unaccompanied cello opens the work with a long-breathed lyrical utterance, contrasted with an energetic second subject heard on the piano. The general mood and development of the first movement is not unlike that of the better known Kreutzer Sonata (Op.47) for violin and piano.

The Scherzo middle movement, in A minor, is syncopated, with the piano in playful banter with the cello. Each instrument jostles to get its own voice in, and does so on the offbeat. The Trio section returns to the major mode, and has a bucolic quality of Ländler, the Austrian country dance. There is no proper slow movement, instead the finale begins with a slow introduction that leads into one those life-affirming melodies that Beethoven so loved. He had suffered emotional turmoil, but certainly knew how to express an unadulterated and unfettered joy in his music.

Beethoven’s Variations on See the Conqu’ring Hero Comes from Handel’s oratorio Judas Maccabaeus was likely composed in 1796, thus contemporaneous with the Op.5 cello sonatas. As expected, the piano dominates, stating the popular chorus at its outset with the cello accompanying. It also plays Variation I on its own, before the cello gets a foothold later. There are 12 variations in all, including virtuosic piano pirouettes in Var.III, the cello returning the favour in Var.VII, forays into the minor key in Vars.IV and VIII, a canon in Var.X, the obligatory slow meditation in Var.XI and a light-hearted dance for the final variation. This set is performed this evening as a prelude to the final sonata.

The pair of cello sonatas Op.102 belong to Beethoven’s “Late Period”, contemporaneous with his better-known late piano sonatas. By 1815, some of his instrumental music had become more concise and compact, as if not wishing to say more than necessary. This seems a paradox given that his Ninth Symphony, Missa Solemnis and expansive late string quartets suggest otherwise. While Beethoven’s music was written “for a later age”, as he famously proclaimed, he also took nostalgic glances at past and older forms, such as the theme and variations and fugue.

The C major sonata (Op.101 No.1) is in two movements, each opening with a slow introduction before moving on to a faster pace and weightier ideas. This resembles the sonata da chiesa (church sonata) form of the baroque era with its slow-fast-slow-fast schema.

The D minor sonata (Op.101 No.2) opens with an emphatic burst from the piano, with which a spirited conversation with the cello ensues. This is followed by the only true slow movement within Beethoven’s five cello sonatas, a long-breathed lament that plumbs the depths with “strong feeling of affection” (con moto sentimento d’affetto). Beginning diffidently with mincing steps on ascending scales is the third movement’s busy but relatively brief fugue. This fine tribute to counterpoint is shared with some of the late piano sonatas (Op.101, 106 and 110), closing the sonata and entire cycle on an animated high.

 

Programme notes by Chang Tou Liang