De Vries, Beethoven: Two Sonatas

Featuring

Bobby Mitchell
Klaas de Vries
Ludwig van Beethoven

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Composer's Artistic Vision

Klaas de Vries's first movement, 'Melancholie', is titled after Albrecht Dürer's copper engraving 'Melencolia I', which features a 'magic square' that inspired the proportions of De Vries's sonata.

Composition History

Klaas de Vries's Piano Sonata was modeled on Beethoven's final piano sonata, Op. 111, sharing a two-movement structure with contrasting tempos.

Composition History

The second movement of Klaas de Vries's sonata, 'Peripetie', is named after the fourth part of Arnold Schönberg's Fünf Orchesterstücke, Op. 16.

Cultural Impact

Beethoven's Op. 111 plays a prominent role in Thomas Mann's novel Doctor Faustus, influencing the tragic hero Adrian Leverkühn.

Performer Biography

Pianist Bobby Mitchell performs a wide range of contemporary and classical music, often incorporating new and seldom-heard works into his concert programs.

Instruments

For the Beethoven sonata, pianist Bobby Mitchell performs on a Conrad Graf hammerklavier from around 1827, an instrument from Beethoven's time.

Compositional Technique

Klaas de Vries's Piano Sonata uses the classical sonata form (exposition - development - recapitulation - coda) and Beethoven's motivic technique, but deliberately avoids any surface resemblance to Beethoven's music.