Review
Superbly recorded,this 10th volume in Brautigam's Beethoven series makes a distinguished companion to a sonata cycle that illuminates and refreshes in equal measure.***** EDITORS CHOICE --Classic fm Magazine,Oct'11
Brautigam explores the music with acuity and if,predictably,the fast dramatic Bagatelles bring out the best in him. Performance **** Recording **** --BBC Music Magazine,Oct'11
From the familiar to the intriguing,Brautigam reclaims the Bagatelles. --Gramophone awards issue '11
What is immediately striking about Brautigam's approach is his ability to voice melodies clearly without forcing the tone. --IRR,Nov'11
CD Description
On this new disc, Ronald Brautigam now embarks on the second leg of his traversal of Beethovens complete music for solo piano. In this volume he gives us the complete Bagatelles, and includes not only the three sets published during Beethovens life time, but also thirteen further pieces composed throughout Beethovens career, between 1795 and 1825. Among Beethovens Bagatelles whether official or unofficial ones are pieces that may originally have been intended as movements of piano sonatas, as well as pieces of an extreme brevity, such as the 11 seconds long Allegramente, No. 10 of Elf Neue Bagatellen, Op.119. Previous volumes in this cycle have been highly praised by reviewers around the world: performances of the Waldstein and Appassionata Sonatas (BIS-SACD-1573) which were described by Gramophone as stunning technically breathtaking, stylistically astute, emotionally intense and musically alive in every moment.