Presentation of Appassionato on Friday 12 September 2008

Stilbaai Music Society needs to be applauded once again for mounting another successful public concert.

The concert opened with the playing of the Piano Sonata in F minor, No 23, Op. 57 by Beethoven – nicknamed ‘Appassionato’. The pianist on this occasion – Tertia Downie – gave the audience a commanding performance of one of Beethoven’s most complex and demanding piano works. It is worth noting the following:
¨ The name ‘Appassionato’ was not given to the work by Beethoven himself, but by his publisher and it certainly is regarded as appropriate.
¨ Beethoven was himself a virtuosic pianist and wrote 32 sonatas for the piano mostly for his own concert performances.
¨ Beethoven is a key figure in straddling the music of the Classical and Romantic eras – the characteristic feature of the latter being that the composer sets out to express his/her own emotions and feelings. There is therefore a shift from the more formal structures of the Classical era to music that is coloured by personal emotions ranging from anger and rage through struggle or melancholy, to delight and calm pensiveness.
¨ This shift referred to was certainly highlighted in Tertia Downie’s performance of the Piano Sonata No 23 with its powerful dissonances evoking dark and enigmatic feelings – certainly in the 1st movement. The 2nd movement had far less intensity and provided the listener with attractive lyricism before moving into a savage, impassioned 3rd movement. Beethoven – as do all composers of the Romantic era – leaves the listener to decide what emotions are evoked, which implies that there does not need to be one “correct” interpretation of such a work.

John Stonier