United Kingdom Beethoven: Boris Giltburg (piano). Wigmore Hall, London, 1.2.2025. (CSa)
Beethoven – Piano Sonata No.9 in E, Op.14 No.1; Piano Sonata No.4 in E-flat, Op.7; Piano Sonata No.20 in G, Op.49. No.2; Piano Sonata No.8 in C minor, Op.13 ‘Pathétique‘; Piano Sonata No.26 in E-flat, Op81a ‘Les Adieux‘
‘Beethoven is not an easy composer for any instrument’, wrote the Moscow-born Israeli pianist Boris Giltburg, ‘and I remember struggling as a kid with his finger-breaking piano writing, with the seemingly stringent demands of articulation, peddling, dynamics and tempo’. He claims that even as a child he was ‘driven by a kind of hunger for the composer, ‘stubbornly, sometimes blindly trying to grasp the music’ and attempting to connect with the ‘life-affirming, purifying charge’ contained within it. Now 40 years old, Giltburg has established himself as one of today’s leading exponents of Beethoven’s keyboard works. He completed his recordings of the 32 sonatas in 2021 and his recent Wigmore Hall recital marks the third concert in his Beethoven Sonata cycle.
Slender in build and elegantly tailored, with high cheekbones, aquiline profile and a sensitive and expressive face, Giltburg’s stage presence is both intense and engaging. His performance style is graceful and unobtrusive, yet he sits and plays with the concentrated strength of a coiled spring.
The first item on Giltburg’s programme was Sonata No.9 in E, Op.14 No.1, completed in 1798, just before Beethoven embarked on his First Symphony, and a year after the wrote the ‘Pathétique‘. Cast in three movements, Op.14 begins with a light and cheerful Allegro with a majestic conclusion, played here with great poise, lightness of touch and vigour. The ensuing Allegretto, with its simple church-like harmonies unfolded almost spiritually, while the third movement Rondo and Allegro was given a deliciously warm, playful and ultimately dramatic reading
Next came a grand and expressive performance of Sonata No.4 in E-flat, Op.7, one of Beethoven’s longest, save for the Hammerklavier written between 1817 and 1818, almost 20 years later. Giltburg’s account of the opening Allegro was full of vitality, subtly shaded and masterfully controlled even in the most technically challenging syncopated passages. His realisation of the second movement Largo introduced us to a world full of tragedy and pathos, swiftly moving to sunnier climes: a songful Allegro which concluded with a high spirited and often fiery Rondo and Allegretto.
The second half of the concert featured three works, the first of which was Piano Sonata No.20 in G, Op.49 No.2. The composition’s two movements are short and well familiar to piano students. When considered alongside the demands of Sonata No.8 in C minor, Op.13 ‘Pathétique’, and No.26 in E-flat Op.81a ‘Les Adieux‘ (of which more later) it is comparatively simple to play, although arguably more technically challenging when performed as masterfully as it was by Giltburg. He brought a crisp clean authority and playfulness to the Haydn-like Allegro, and charm and refinement to the Tempo di Menuetto.
A perfect segue then, to the myriad technical and intellectual complexities of the ‘Pathétique’, made to look effortless in Giltburg’s formidable and utterly compelling interpretation. The nickname ‘Pathétique‘ was bestowed on the sonata by Beethoven’s publisher who used the original meaning of the word to describe its stormy passion and shifts of mood. From the solemn, disconsolate opening bars of the first movement – a Grave which quickly transformed into a nobly defiant Allegro di molto e con brio – Giltburg grasped the full measure of the work’s emotional extremes. In the same way, his Adagio cantabile sang sweetly but with an increasing undertow of agitation, until the building anxiety was assuaged and calmed in the final bars. The last movement Rondo was characterised by sudden dynamic contrasts and a gloriously energetic and decisive coda, delivered with deadly accuracy and quicksilver lightness of touch,
After a mere two-minute pause to mop his brow and acknowledge the applause, Giltburg immediately launched into Op.81a ‘Les Adieux’ – Beethoven’s expression of friendship and loss for his pupil, patron and dedicatee the Archduke Rudolph, who temporarily left Vienna when the city was attacked by Napoleon’s conquering army. The first movement Adagio marked Lebewohl (Farewell) was taken at a relatively fast pace, each note superbly articulated, and every phrase dramatically charged, while the Andante – Die Abwesenheit (Absence) – was richly expressive, each languishing musical sigh exquisitely crafted. The final movement entitled Das Wiedersehn or Meeting again with the annotation Vivacissimamente which translated means ‘as vividly as possible’ was a hugely enthusiastic, life-affirming and flawless burst of Beethovenian joy. Little wonder that the dying notes were greeted with a standing ovation and roars of approval. The only surprise was that Giltburg, having given his all, found the necessary reserves of strength and generosity to give an encore: ‘Zart und singend‘ from Robert Schumann’s Davidsbündlertänze, Op.6.
Chris Sallon
Featured Image: Pianist Boris Giltburg continues his complete cycle of Beethoven’s piano sonatas at Wigmore Hall © WH