The Lighter Side of Beethoven: Paul Lewis

courtesy of PIAS

At the beginning of this year, harmonia mundi launched its 2020–2027 project, defined in terms of the 250th anniversary of the birth of Ludwig van Beethoven and the 200th anniversary of his death. All of the classical music recording artists on the harmonia mundi label are contributing to what promises to be a vast canvas depicting the many different aspects of performing Beethoven’s music. The project got off to an early start this past November, when harmonia mundi released a fourteen-CD box set reissuing recordings of pianist Paul Lewis. At the beginning of this year, I prepared a “piecemeal” coverage of this collection, beginning with the ten CDs of the published piano sonatas, followed by three CDs of the piano concertos, and a single CD for the Opus 120 collection of 33 variations on a waltz theme given to the composer by the music publisher Anton Diabelli.

A little over two weeks ago, harmonia mundi added a new Lewis CD to the 2020–2027 collection, this one devoted to shorter compositions and a sunnier disposition. The three published collections of bagatelles, the Opus 33 set of seven, the Opus 119 set of eleven, and the Opus 126 set of six, begin the album, followed by the unpublished WoO 59 bagatelle, best known by the title “Für Elise.” This is followed by three more unpublished short pieces, WoO 60 in B-flat major, WoO 61 in B minor, and WoO 61a in G minor. The album then concludes with the Opus 77 fantasia in G minor.

This past Thursday, when I was writing about Peter Serkin’s Beethoven recordings, I observed that Opus 120 was a personal favorite in my ongoing campaign to undermine the “scowling Beethoven” cliché. Indeed, I took another shot at that epithet when I wrote another “lighter side of Beethoven” article at the beginning of February. There is definitely no scowling on Lewis’ new recording. He brings just the right rhetorical touch to all 29 of the album’s tracks without ever succumbing to the Monty Python nudge-nudge aggression. More often than not, those of my generation are more likely to experience a Spock-raises-left-eyebrow reaction to Lewis’ engaging style.

Those unfamiliar with these pieces are also likely to raise eyebrows at Beethoven’s prodigious gift for casual subtlety (although I must confess that my own personal reaction to Opus 77 is that it raucously serves up one belly-laugh after another).