Wide selection of editions
Both the Wiener Urtext-Edition as well as Henle and Bärenreiter have extensively annotated new editions of the piano sonatas ready for the Beethoven year 2020.
The Beethoven Year 2020 has long been casting its shadow and the music publishers naturally don't want to be left behind.
The Wiener Urtext-Edition has just published the complete piano sonatas in three volumes, the first of which is available here: a thick book that only contains sonatas 1 to 11, but about 80 pages of critical notes (UT 50427). Henle-Verlag is trying to take advantage of the moment with anthologies of lighter and popular works. Not a bad idea! Unfortunately, Murray Perahia's fingerings are often awkward and complicate what is actually a wonderfully clear score. (Five easy piano sonatas, HN 1391; Five famous piano sonatas, HN 1392)
That leaves Bärenreiter-Verlag, which has just published the last three sonatas in individual editions. All have an informative introduction, notes on performance practice and a detailed critical commentary. There are also illustrations in all three volumes which impressively document Beethoven's impulsive notation. Only a few unnecessary careless errors mar the impression of a very carefully prepared edition. In the German translation of the preface, for example, Opus 110 is occasionally confused with Opus 109. Also, the expression "cheerfully relaxed" is probably not appropriate for the concluding variation movements of the E major and C minor sonatas.
It is also claimed that Antonia von Brentano is regarded by current research as the mysterious "immortal lover". This is very controversial. After all, the Sonata op. 109 is dedicated to Brentano's daughter Maximiliane, while op. 111 was finally dedicated to Archduke Rudolph. The English first edition still reads: To Madame Antonia de Brentano. (Opus 109: BA 10854; Opus 111: BA 11813)
And the Sonata in A flat major op. 110? This perhaps most enigmatic of all piano sonatas bears no dedication. This fact inspired the Beethoven biographer Jan Caeyers to come up with a very daring but plausible thesis, which is presented in his book Beethoven. The lone revolutionary can be read here. We won't reveal any more at this point ...
Ludwig van Beethoven: Sonata for Piano in A flat major op. 110, edited by Jonathan Del Mar, BA 11812, € 6.95, Bärenreiter, Kassel
