Grammy-winner Ohlsson samples Beethoven’s 32 sonatas on Tuesday – JH News&Guide
Back in the late 2010s, Grand Teton Music Festival organizers hatched a plan to have Grammy-winning Garrick Ohlsson perform all five of Beethoven’s piano concertos for the 2020 season to mark the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth.
The coronavirus pandemic foiled the birthday idea, but they did pull it off in 2022, recording the performances over two nights at Walk Festival Hall with Music Director Donald Runnicles leading the Festival Orchestra. Released by Reference Records and named one of the best recordings of 2023 by Gramophone, the recordings are the festival’s first commercial albums.
On Tuesday, Ohlsson will return to Jackson Hole to give an all-Beethoven recital consisting of four of his 32 piano sonatas.
Composed between 1795 and 1822, the sonatas trace not only technological improvements to the instrument, but also Beethoven’s development as a composer and a pianist. The early compositions, lumped together as 1-15, show the unavoidable influences of Haydn and Mozart, but after that Beethoven sets off on his own daring explorations of the form.
Back in the late 2010s, Grand Teton Music Festival organizers hatched a plan to have Grammy-winning Garrick Ohlsson perform all five of Beethoven’s piano concertos for the 2020 season to mark the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth.
The coronavirus pandemic foiled the birthday idea, but they did pull it off in 2022, recording the performances over two nights at Walk Festival Hall with Music Director Donald Runnicles leading the Festival Orchestra. Released by Reference Records and named one of the best recordings of 2023 by Gramophone, the recordings are the festival’s first commercial albums.
On Tuesday, Ohlsson will return to Jackson Hole to give an all-Beethoven recital consisting of four of his 32 piano sonatas.
Composed between 1795 and 1822, the sonatas trace not only technological improvements to the instrument, but also Beethoven’s development as a composer and a pianist. The early compositions, lumped together as 1-15, show the unavoidable influences of Haydn and Mozart, but after that Beethoven sets off on his own daring explorations of the form.
Between 2006 and 2017, he recorded all 32 Beethoven piano sonatas for Bridge Records, with Volume 3, containing sonatas No. 3, 9, 10 and 26, winning the 2008 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance.