Donat's vast expertise provides unique insight into the history and genesis of key works in the chamber music repertoire.
This is the first full-length study in English of an important area of Beethoven's output that has seldom been explored in detail. The principal compositions covered are the violin sonatas, cello sonatas and piano trios of the composer's maturity, ranging chronologically from the three piano trios op.1, to the two cello sonatas op.102 which stand on the threshold of his last period. The repertoire includes some of Beethoven's most famous chamber pieces, among them the 'Spring' and 'Kreutzer' violin sonatas, and the 'Ghost' and 'Archduke' piano trios.
The works are analysed in detail with the help of copious music examples, and are placed in their historical context through extracts from letters and contemporary reviews. The book provides performers, music students and music lovers with an insight into the history and genesis of some of the greatest works in the chamber music repertoire.
Recenzijos
An admirable blend of musicianship and scholarly grasp. * Alfred Brendel * To me, Misha Donat is one of the few who know the secret of writing about music. His interpretations will benefit all those who cherish this wonderful repertoire. * Sir Andrįs Schiff * Misha Donat's unique understanding of this remarkable music and its place in history makes for not just fascinating, but genuinely riveting reading. His book will be valuable to so many. * James Ehnes *
List of Illustrations
Foreword by Alfred Brendel
Preface and Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
1. Introduction
2. Prelude: Early Years in Bonn
3. The Three Piano Trios Op.1
4. Interlude 1: The Quintet for piano and wind instruments op.16
5. Works for piano and cello, 1796-1801
6. Interlude 2: The Clarinet Trio op.11
7. Sonatas for piano and violin, 1798-1800
8. Interlude 3: The Horn Sonata op.17
9. Sonatas for piano and violin, 1802-1803
10. Works of 1807-1808
11. Works of 1810-1812
12. Works of 1815-1816
13. Postlude: Beethoven and George Thomson
Bibliography
Index of works by Beethoven
General index
MISHA DONAT has composed music for the theatre and the cinema, including films directed by Lindsay Anderson and by Albert Finney. For more than 25 years he was a senior producer at BBC Radio 3, where he worked with many of the world's leading musicians. He has contributed many programme notes to such venues as London's Wigmore Hall and South Bank, as well as for festivals including Aldeburgh, Edinburgh and Brighton. He has written CD booklets for Decca, DG, RCA, Philips, Hyperion and other labels, and his articles have appeared in The London Review of Books, The Guardian, The Musical Times, and elsewhere. He has taught at the University of California in Los Angeles, and has given lectures, seminars and preconcert talks at Vassar and Bard Colleges in New York State, Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore); and in the UK, at Aldeburgh, the Dartington Summer School of Music (where he has also coached chamber music) and Durham University. For several years he worked as a producer for the Philharmonia Orchestra, where his recordings included a Mahler and Schoenberg series with Esa-Pekka Salonen, Brahms and Schumann cycles with Christoph von Dohnįnyi, and a Mahler symphonies cycle with Lorin Maazel. From 2017-24 he was Artistic Director of Norwich Chamber Music, and in recent years he has provided the introductory texts for Jonathan Del Mar's new editions of the Beethoven piano sonatas, piano trios and late string quartets published by Bärenreiter.
