Beethoven half-marathon

I was up in the City again on Saturday for a musical event I couldn't resist, although less than 200 other people seemed interested enough to be there: the first day of a two-day marathon concert run through all 32 of Beethoven's canonical piano sonatas. Two concerts, each over three hours long, and I suspect the fourth concert on Sunday will be a lot longer than that.

Previous experience with listening through the entire cycle, both on recordings and in series of concerts (more spaced-out than this one) suggested to me that trying to take in the whole thing in two days would overwhelm my sensors, so with regret for missing the Waldstein and the Appassionata I just got tickets for the first day. But this event had what turned out to be a greater source of variety and refreshment than I'd expected: 12 different pianists (with another 5 to be added in on Sunday), where all my previous traversals through the canon had been by one pianist each. Most played one of the 15 sonatas each, with a couple returns, and several of them were due to reappear on Sunday. Only 2 of the 12 were women, though so were 4 of the 5 who didn't play on Saturday.

Ranging from distinguished names in the field (the most renowned I heard was Stephen Prutsman in Op. 7) down to conservatory students not quite ready for prime time, the pianists vied for titles like the most dramatic, the wittiest, the most transparent, the most lyrical, the deepest tone colors, and so on. If I were formally reviewing this I'd have taken notes and could go into detail.

But what a satisfying listening experience this was. One of the pandemic-canceled concerts I most regretted missing was Andras Schiff playing the four wonderful sonatas of Opp. 26-28, and that entire repertoire was just the second half of the second concert here. I'm sure I liked this a lot better than I would have Schiff, whom I've never been especially fond of as a pianist. Richard Raymond in Op. 27 No. 1 was quite extraordinary in his variety of expression, as was Mari Kodama in the intensity she brought to the "Moonlight" Sonata.

For some unfathomable reason, the concerts were in the SF Jazz Center, which has at least improved its acoustics since the last time I was there for a classical chamber concert. Seating was open and there was plenty of room to keep distanced. Having lunched beforehand, I drove up in just enough time for the 1 pm start. Forced by a weekend street closure on Hayes Street to go past the Grove St. garage, I decided just to park there. But a sign saying they closed for the night at 10 gave me pause, as I was quite sure we wouldn't be done with the evening 7 pm concert by then, nor were we. So after the first concert let out at 4.30, I hauled my car out and found a street space. Then I had to seek dinner. The concert hall had been strict about vaccinations and masks, my favorite nearby Thai restaurant was rather less so, but it was still pretty empty at 5.15. One healthy meal of crisp veggies, shrimp, and a little rice later, I was primed for another plunge into Beethoven.