BEETHOVEN Bagatelles (complete) • Ronald Brautigam (pn) • BIS 1882 (SACD 71:07)

Ronald Brautigam’s seemingly universally praised project of recording all of the solo piano music of Beethoven on appropriate historical instruments continues with another wonderful installment. This CD includes all of the bagatelles, which were written across nearly the entire length of the composer’s creative life, and tend to appeal to the quirky side of his artistic soul. Actually, it is really just a good guess to call this a complete set of the bagatelles, because beyond the three published sets, opp. 33, 119, and 126, we have a sort of ad hoc collection of short pieces, many unpublished in Beethoven’s lifetime, some from his sketchbooks, but also including the hugely familiar Für Elise.

In the name of authenticity, or some semblance thereof, Brautigam uses two instruments on this CD, reflecting the rapid change in piano technology in Beethoven’s time. Both are reproductions from the Amsterdam workshop of Brautigam’s artistic partner in this endeavor, Paul McNulty. The early bagatelles are played on a copy of an 1805 Walter, and everything written after 1810 is played on a copy of an 1819 Conrad Graf. The distinction is not subtle. The Walter reproduction belongs firmly in the pianoforte class. Mozart wrote most of his piano music on a Walter-made instrument. The sound is very lucid, due to the lighter tonal weight and quick decay, rendering the music in a pleasingly light and crisp manner. With Graf, we are solidly at the outset of the modern era of piano making, with a familiarly broad and rich tonality, and greatly enhanced damping. This is a close cousin to the modern grand, absent the heft and dynamic range.

Brautigam’s style is well established by now. His overall approach in terms of tempi and dynamic phrasing is moderate and sensible. His distinctiveness as an artist is revealed in subtle rhythmic adjustments and a keen ear for tonal shading, as befits a connoisseur of the technical aspects of the piano. His intuitive sense for how to use the unique timbral qualities of the different historical instruments he plays is also central to the strength of this important project. As just one example, the rapid figures in the main theme of op. 126/2 are expressed with a remarkable combination of textural clarity and brilliant coloration, such as I have never heard on a modern piano.

The bagatelles cannot be considered major Beethoven, and some of the works without opus number are even prosaic, probably never intended for public performance by the composer. But the two late opus groups are filled with musical wonder, especially notable in these special performances. Peter Burwasser