‘A little more and I would have ended my life. . . . Only my art held me back’, says Beethoven in his ‘Heiligenstadt Testament’. Partly contemporary with this key document of summer 1802, these three sonatas open up the ‘new paths’ that were to enable the composer to surmount the prospect of almost total deafness. Paul Lewis has chosen to inaugurate his complete recording of the sonatas by plunging into the heart of this Tempest.
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN [1770-1827] Sonata no.16 in G major Sol majeur / G-dur op.31 n°1 · I. Allegro vivace (7'09) · II. Adagio grazioso (10'08) · III. Rondo. Allegretto (7'22) Sonata no.17 in D minor "The Tempest" ré mineur / d-moll op.31 n°2 · I. Largo. Allegro (8'53) · II. Adagio (8'23) · III. Allegretto (7'15) Sonata no.18 in E flat major Mi bémol majeur / Es-dur op.31 n°3 · I. Allegro (9'12) · II. Scherzo. Allegretto vivace (5'27) · III. Menuetto. Moderato e grazioso (4'26) · IV. Presto con fuoco (5'19)
