The 9th and final volume of Martin Roscoe’s beloved Beethoven Piano Sonata series.

“These are original readings of great style, wit and imagination, each individual sonata emerging with rare emotional and intellectual cohesion. I think you’ll enjoy them.”
-Gramophone

This album is the long-awaited final volume of Martin Roscoe’s immensely popular and critically acclaimed cycle of Beethoven’s complete sonatas for solo piano. As Martin observes, “Planning nine discs of the 35 Beethoven sonatas required a lot of thought… I tried to make each CD comprise the sort of combination of works I might programme together in a recital situation, hopefully providing a satisfying listen from beginning-to-end and shedding light on each other. I’m very pleased with the combination of the sonatas Opp 79 and 90 with the mighty Hammerklavier on this final disc. It’s well known that every work by Beethoven’s quite unlike any other; here, in these three sonatas I wanted to juxtapose three middle to late period Sonatas from 1809-1819, each one with its own unique character.”

Martin Roscoe is a versatile musician and one of Britain’s most prolific recitalists who features regularly on BBC Radio 3.  His enduring popularity and solid reputation are built on a deeply thoughtful musicianship that is allied to an easy rapport with audiences and fellow musicians alike.  He has recorded the complete piano music of Nielsen and Szymanowski, as well as this series for of the first complete Beethoven piano sonatas from Barry Cooper’s new edition, published by ABRSM.

Martin is currently a Professor of Piano at the Guildhall School of Music, London. Artistic Director of Ribble Valley International Piano Week and Beverley Chamber Music Festival.  He lives in the English Lake District, that provides inspiration and enables him to indulge his passions for the countryside and hill-walking.  www.martinroscoe.co.uk

Hammerklavier (DXL 1169) Digital Booklet

Track List:

Piano Sonata in G Op. 79
1) Presto alla tedesca (4:53)
2) Andante (2:38)
3) Allegro vivace (2:03)

Piano Sonata in E minor Op. 90
4) Mit Lebhaftigkeit, und durchaus mit
Empfindung und Ausdruck (5:37)
5) Nicht zu geschwind, und sehr
singbar vorgetragen (7:54)

Piano Sonata in B flat Op. 106 ‘Hammerklavier’
6) Allegro (10:56)
7) Scherzo. Allegro vivace – Presto (2:45)
8) Adagio sostenuto. Appassionato e con
molto sentimento (18:56)
9) Largo – Allegro – Prestíssimo –
Allegro risoluto (11:59)

“[these accounts] go out of their way to emphasis the freshness and cheekiness of Beethoven, for all his indebtedness to Haydn. No listener will be disappointed…”
In The Beginning (Vol. 5) DXL 1165, BBC Music Magazine,  February 2016 ****

“perfect musical judgement and a formidable technique from Martin Roscoe” Waldstein, DXL 1162, BBC Radio 3

” I think Roscoe’s way with them is nigh-on perfect” Pathetique, DXL 1161 Gramophone Magazine, June 2010