Search - Muzio Clementi, Pietro Spada :: Muzio Clementi: Sonate, Duetti & Capricci, Vol. 12

Ideal Performances of Ideally Joyful Pieces

Snow Leopard | Urbana, IL | 12/01/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I would imagine that, like most people who are familiar with Clementi at all, they first learned about him as students of piano, playing his six ridiculously charming Op. 36 Sonatinas. This disc, which is for all intents and purposes erroneously named, showcases all of those sonatinas, plus three lesser known ones from Op. 37.



The disc is misnamed, because it carries the title of the larger series it comprises a part of--Spada's 18-disc recording of Clementi's complete piano works. There are very good reasons to get the whole set, but at $216 in all, it may seem like too much of an investment. I confess, I started with this disc first because when someone played it for me, I realized that the pianist (Pietro Spada) was not butchering these charming small works with titanic virtuosity.



If you are not familiar with these little pieces (it's hard to imagine how you arrived here without being familiar), Clementi's sonatinas are nothing less than sweet, enjoyable charmers. The entire set is overwhelmingly dominated by major keys (in general, Clementi appears to have avoided minor keys, and even minor movements), which suggests, at least to a certain extent, the kind of joyful terrain these pieces inhabit, and the even more essential joy that Clementi brings to his compositions.



It has to be said that Spada's playing is almost ideal for these pieces. It's very difficult to pin down exactly the nature of these pieces--they are very simple, but not simple-minded, they are bright-eyed but not entirely naive. One can say that they do not have the structural complexity of a Mozart sonatina, but neither do they need or want it. There is an ebullience in them that is almost impossible to find consistently anywhere outside of Clementi's output. As such, the playing called for is absolutely not of a virtuoso sort.



Almost all of these pieces are well within reach of even an intermediate high school pianist. And it is precisely in not mercilessly turning these pieces into grand concert hall showcases that Spada shows his greatest insight. Except for this extraordinary element of judgment, one can hardly divine Spada's talent by listening to these pieces. If one (justifiably or not) contrasts elegance with natural grace, then Spada may be said to be playing here with a completely unadorned and natural grace. Almost never in performance does one want to hear "just the music" without any kind of interpretive intervention by the performer. And, of course, Spada is precisely making performance choices, but they are always in the direction of the kind of "natural grace" he exhibits throughout the whole 18-disc cycle, and certainly here.



Again, if there is one main reason to acquire this disc, it is for the sheer delight of listening to Spada give these marvelous, simple sonatinas all the space to be exactly what they are. If one listens to many of Vivaldi's violin concertos, one definitely gets a sense of Vivaldi's "vision"--the outlook he brought to his music, over and over. Clementi, for all of his unknown stature these days, has every bit a signature as Vivaldi. It is present here in his sonatinas, and in all of his copious output of Sonatas. It is a particular kind of joy that no other composer ever taps so regularly, and that's really a shame. Even more so that Clementi is not better known, since he is such an ideal exponent of this joy. In short, this is music every bit as sustaining as the known and established giants.



Happily, however, Spada has brought these pieces to life, both here specifically, and in the full cycle. It's hard to imagine Clementi being recorded more ideally.

"

Love it!

Anonymous in Atlanta | Atlanta, GA, USA | 08/15/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Great CD, very light and fun to listen to. (Check out the preview for track 15 - it's the precursor to "Groovy Kind of Love" :) )"