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Track(s) taken from CDA67738

Piano Sonata in F major, Op 26

composer
published in 1796

Howard Shelley (piano)
Recording details: February 2009
St Silas the Martyr, Kentish Town, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Annabel Connellan
Engineered by Ben Connellan
Release date: October 2009
Total duration: 9 minutes 40 seconds

Cover artwork: Landscape with Roman Ruins by Giovanni Paolo Panini (1691-1765)
Hamburger Kunsthalle, Germany / Bridgeman Images
 

Reviews

‘Shelley, who adds to unfailing textural clarity, sensitivity of phrasing and fine touch a willingness to seek out what is meaningful in this music and realise it to a degree that might have surprised even its composer’ (Gramophone)

‘Beautifully flexible playing … Shelley is a first-rate advocate, with passage-work of crystalline clarity, light-footed pedalling, and communicating a sense of deep commitment to this unjustly under-rated repertoire. The sound … could not be better. Unreservedly recommended’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘There is huge variety and pianistic invention … Shelley brings energy, vitality and clarity to the sparse textures of a work [Op 25 No 5] which owes much to Scarlatti … stunning recording quality, exemplary programme notes by the leading authority on Clementi, two discs for the price of one and generous playing time on each, and piano playing of the first order from Howard Shelley’ (International Record Review)
The single sonata of Opus 26, published in 1796, seems designed to appeal to amateur pianists, if rather advanced ones. The first movement begins with a theme marked dolce, but whose emphatic double-dotted rhythms suggest something more like maestoso, creating thus a precarious balance with genuinely lyrical music to follow. Clementi still seems absorbed with dotted rhythms in the rondo that follows; but this time there is nothing offered by way of contrast: they persist even in the movement’s minore episode.

from notes by Leon Plantinga © 2009

La sonate de l’op. 26, pubiée en 1796, cherche apparemment à reconquérir les pianistes amateurs, du moins les plus aguerris. Le premier mouvement s’ouvre sur un thème marqué dolce, mais dont les vigoureux rythmes doublement pointés suggèrent quelque chose tenant plus du maestoso, d’où un équilibre précaire avec la musique authentiquement lyrique à venir. Clementi paraît d’abord absorbé par les rythmes pointés du rondo qui suit; mais cette fois, rien ne vient faire contraste: ils persistent même dans l’épisode minore.

extrait des notes rédigées par Leon Plantinga © 2009
Français: Hypérion

Die alleinstehende Sonate op. 26 wurde 1796 veröffentlicht und scheint wiederum Laienpianisten anzusprechen, wenn auch eher fortgeschrittene. Der erste Satz beginnt mit einem dolce markierten Thema, dessen emphatische doppelpunktierte Rhythmen eher an ein Maestoso gemahnen, und somit eine prekäre Balance schaffen, der wahrhaft lyrische Musik folgt. Clementi scheint sich im folgenden Rondo immer noch mit punktierten Rhythmen zu beschäftigen; aber diesmal wird kein Kontrast geboten: sie dauern selbst in der minore-Episode des Satzes an.

aus dem Begleittext von Leon Plantinga © 2009
Deutsch: Renate Wendel

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