Beethoven - Jonathan Biss (Onyx)

„What is it that we talk about when we talk about The Beet- hoven Sonatas? About The Sonata Form?“ Das fragt der Pianist Jonathan Biss in einem Text, der im Beiheft zu dieser CD nachzu- lesen ist. „These questions (..) often occured to me as I prepared to make this disc. Other than their determination to confound every expectation (and, of course, their greatness, and the bloody-mindedness of their author), is there any common thread running trough these works? Together they demonstrate that the form of the sonata – the idea of the sonata – is large and mutable enough to accomodate history’s most restless and relentless musical imagi- nation, over and over again, no matter his mood or his priorities of the moment.“ 
Biss und Beethoven – das ist eine spannende Kombination, zumal der Pianist auch seinen eigenen Kopf hat, man sehe nur seine Webseite. Die Aufnahmen allerdings zeigen, dass trotz aller persönlichen Originalität die konsequente Auseinandersetzung mit Musik zu einem ziemlich konventionellen Ergebnis führen kann. Überraschung! Oder, wie schreibt Biss doch selbst?: „With virtually every piece he wrote, he challenged himself, and us, to hear music anew. When we talk about The Beethoven Sonatas we talk about Everything.“