Christian Leotta Plays Beethoven

Whilst browsing Atma’s catalog for all of the Bach cantatas that Eric Milnes has recorded, I discovered that a young Italian pianist named Christian Leotta has undertaken a complete LvB sonata cycle. I was intrigued, of course, and when I noticed that the twofers are priced the same as a single disc, I figured I might as well take the plunge. As to the pianist, he’s still in his 20s, but apparently he has made playing complete cycles something of a specialty. His site and the liner notes quote a variety of laudatory critical comments, though a quick search of the net yields some more mixed reviews. So he’s not everyone’s cup of tea, or alternatively he’s great. Pretty much like every other pianist.

When I started listening I noticed one thing that seems constant: Mr Leotta takes a broad approach. The first volume of the cycle includes six sonatas, and none of them are particularly quick. The Pathetique clocks in at just a hair under 21’. The Appassionata is over 27’. Op 111 tips the scales at a potentially unwieldy 33’36”. Hmm.

For the most part Leotta is good. Not great. Certainly not terrible. But good. He makes the slower than normal approach work a lot of the time, but not all of the time. I’ll start with the most obvious example, the Op 111. The opening Maestoso is extremely slow, but the approach works, sounding dark, ominous, and building tension. The rest of the opening movement is violent enough to work reasonably well. The second movement, though, isn’t so successful. The Arietta is painfully slow, and it gets worse from the there. The variations are almost stagnant at times, the trills lifeless, and at no point does the music assume a transcendent quality. It’s pretty much a mess. Some may like it, maybe, but I don’t.

The rest of the set is better. The Op 13 is rich, broad, and romantic in conception. It lacks the last word in fire, for those preferring such an approach. Op 26 is similar, and if the funeral march doesn’t assume the scale and heft and seriousness of purpose I generally prefer, it’s good. The Appassionata starts off well, with Leotta, as recorded here, playing with great power and scale and weight. It’s really the final movement where he misfires a bit. The playing is still powerful, but it sounds a bit blocky. The best work in the set for me is Op 10/3, where Leotta combines enough energy and drive and pianistic thrills in the faster movements, and a nice sense of drama in the great slow movement. The remaining work, Op 78, is well done, with the broader than normal tempi working reasonably well, but it’s ultimately not a great take.

I can’t draw any ultimate conclusions about the cycle or Mr Leotta, of course, but he seems promising. As recorded here, his tone is rich and sumptuous, his dynamic range extremely wide, his dexterity extremely fine. Perhaps he just needs more time with the works, or perhaps I’ll just never warm fully to his approach. But I’ll sample more of his Beethoven; I already have the next volume queued up.

Sound for the set is superb. Close, with wide dynamics and a pleasantly warm sound, though one that still lets the listener know there’s some metal involved in the instrument.


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