With his second disc, Cristian Sandrin gives us his interpretation of Beethoven's last three Sonatas. The album featured prominently on BBC Radio 3 “In Tune” in April 2025.
Once the greatness of Beethoven's output is set aside and we delve deep into the emotional essence of this music, we realise there is an abundance of expressive features that lie hidden between the lines. Beethoven wrote very precise directions, extremely advanced for his times, yet it is clear that his indications alone are certainly not enough to bring his music to life.
There are so many shades of piano, as much as there are variations in the ways an artist creates the impression of crescendos, sotto voce and infinite ways in which we conceive the effect of mit inningsten Empfindung. The Beethoven's scores are rife with recurring themes, intricate motivic relations, that wait to be discovered, fragments of melodies that repeat across shorter or longer spans of music. An artist must use these recognisable elements, infuse them with a certain individual expression, to construct the narrative, a psychological journey about becoming and the multitude of tormented and life affirming emotional states that are there as part of the transformative process.
We speak of Beethoven's Piano Sonatas by comparing them with his orchestral or string quartet music. It is for this very reason that I have included Tausig's rarely played arrangement of Beethoven's String Quartet No. 13 here, in my piano solo album. I like to imagine that Beethoven composed parts of the string quartet No. 13 seated at his piano, the topography of the piano being at the very inception of these phrases intended for the strings.
The middle section is reminiscent of the Arietta of his Piano Sonata in A flat major op. 110, bearing numerous similarities in the mood suggested by the key of A flat minor, similar idiosyncratic articulation instructions appear in the melody too. This short piano arrangement, Kavatine, is an epilogue to the serenity of op. 110 but is also the path leading to the unfathomable harmonies of op. 111.
“It quickly becomes clear that Sandrin is a wonderful Beethoven interpreter. (…) creating a cohesive impression of a young grandiose pianist”
PIANO NEWS GERMANY (May 2025)
“There’s no denying his clarity: fingerwork is immaculate (passagework, trills and tremolos are unfailingly neat) and textures are lucid. (…)If you’re looking for performances that share Richard Goode’s logic and Mitsuko Uchida’s spirituality, you should find Sandrin’s immensely rewarding”
“With his highly individualised approach, he focuses on tonal beauty and eschews anything superficial in the way of dramatic pianism. I certainly believe that he has done Beethoven justice in this way, even by today’s standards. (..)I am particularly fascinated by his melodic and intense piano and pianissimo”
PIANIST MAGAZIN GERMANY
July 2025
“Sandrin holds its own interpration elegantly thanks to a combination of respect for the score and a sense of adventure”
DE STANDAARD (20th March 2025)
★★★★
"The pianist presents a youthful, passionate, personally coloured reading of the three late Beethoven sonatas. (…) Cristian Sandrin shows that even the quick-tempered Beethoven has his place here"
"Sandrin's youthful approach to Beethoven's late works seems to me both coherent and refreshing, his interpretation is clear, precise, transparent, it is above all unencumbered and as a result leads to an even more intellectual open-mindedness towards the pieces he has chosen"
KULTURA EXTRA GERMANY, 7 April 2025
★★★★★
“Throughout this recording, Sandrin combines impeccable technique with infectious passion, offering a Beethoven interpretation that is straightforward yet profoundly effective—much like the captivating album cover that houses this remarkable musical journey”
Cover photography by Kaupo Kikkas
Recording studio photography by Steven Maes
Producer: Felicia Bockstael