concert review: Beethoven

So this local pianist named Tamami Honma is preparing for a recording of a cycle of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas, and has decided to rehearse by playing them all in public. Roughly every two weeks from now until June, at a Methodist church right down the street from us, familiar to me because I've voted there.

Unfortunately, I missed the first concert (the Op. 2 set), but tonight's was Op. 7 and the first two from Op. 10. I went, and will get to as many more as I can. Honma is a solid pianist, though a few of the more epic gestures in Op. 7 seemed to require her to take a mental breath before leaping. She's very good at finding the seeds of the rough, turbulent Beethoven to come in these early, more genteel works. The proto-Schubertian trio section of Op. 7 was particularly fine. She also does lovely slow movements (Op. 10 No. 1), but is less native to Beethoven's light and whimsical side (of which Op. 10 No. 2 - my favorite unnamed early Beethoven sonata - has a lot).

This was rewarding as well as easy to get to. I'm looking forward to more.