The composers represented on this release -- Muzio Clementi, Jan Ladislav Dussek, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, and the quite rare Joseph Wölfl -- are often programmed by historically oriented pianists, and they probably benefit from this treatment by a moderate star of the modern piano, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet. Hear Bavouzet's reading of the Piano Sonata No. 24 in F sharp minor, Op. 61, of Dussek, which anticipates Chopin more than it resembles Beethoven. The "Beethoven Connection" refers to the fact that these composers knew ...
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The composers represented on this release -- Muzio Clementi, Jan Ladislav Dussek, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, and the quite rare Joseph Wölfl -- are often programmed by historically oriented pianists, and they probably benefit from this treatment by a moderate star of the modern piano, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet. Hear Bavouzet's reading of the Piano Sonata No. 24 in F sharp minor, Op. 61, of Dussek, which anticipates Chopin more than it resembles Beethoven. The "Beethoven Connection" refers to the fact that these composers knew Beethoven as well as to musical connections. The latter are spelled out in an unusual group of "Musical Illustrations" that conclude the album; these tend merely to show Beethoven's influence rather than simple connections, for most of the full works here were composed after the Beethoven sonatas to which Bavouzet links them, not before, but the works themselves are well chosen and well performed. The contrapuntal, Bachian slow movement of the Piano Sonata in A major, Op. 50, No. 1, of...
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