Paul Lewis finishes off Beethoven

Paul Lewis - Wigmore Hall, 9 June 2007

 

Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 30 in E Op. 109, No. 31 in A flat Op. 110, No. 32 in C minor Op. 111

This was the final leg in Paul Lewis's marathon Wigmore cycle of all the Beethoven sonatas. To celebrate, he returned to the stage after the interval with his pants on his head and sprayed champagne over the ecstatic audience while multi coloured balloons rained down from the ceiling and showgirls fanned him with ostrich feathers.

Actually, I had to leave at half time so that's just conjecture. These things being what they are, I strongly suspect he simply played the final sonata.

Anyway, I did catch the first two on the programme. There's no doubt Paul Lewis is a proficient and technically fluent pianist who avoids getting trapped in excesses of sentimentality or showmanship. But tonight's performance did feel a little workmanlike in places, only really connecting in the melodic final movement of no.31. He impressed here with dramatic fortissimo so thundering you could almost hear the piano begging for mercy, subtly contrasted with sweetly melodic arioso. I just wished he could have hit his stride a little earlier in the night. And of course that I could have stayed a bit longer and heard his final sonata. Or caught a souvenir balloon, as the case may have been.