Beethoven! Ronald Brautigam speelt o.a. de 'Pathétique' en 'Mondschein'

Ronald Brautigam

Ronald Brautigam, honored with the Concertgebouw Medal in 2024, has left quite a few footprints in the halls on Van Baerlestraat. The number of times the pianist has performed there is impressive. At the time of the Medal, the count stood at 268, and the counter has continued to rise steadily ever since. During three afternoons in the Small Hall, Brautigam plays a selection from Beethoven's piano works, which he considers the bible for pianists. 'I have been playing this music for a very long time; there isn't so much a challenge when I start a sonata like this, it is more a matter of enjoyment. When I play, I listen along. Often I think: how incredibly beautiful this is, or: what a strange turn! This music remains fresh, no matter how often I play it, and it remains a mystery why that is.'

Beethoven's piano sonatas (early)

'In the three concerts, you can very clearly hear the three periods into which you can subdivide Beethoven's oeuvre,' says Ronald Brautigam. 'First, he is still the pianist who composed; in the second period, you hear the balance in that; and at the end, there is the composer who has absolutely no connection with the piano anymore, but focuses purely on the music.' During Brautigam's Beethoven Afternoon No. 1, the First Piano Sonata is performed; this was also the first Beethoven piece Brautigam received to practice for his piano lessons. Alongside this lively work, the well-known Pathétique and Moonlight Sonatas are also featured, the masterpieces from Beethoven's early period. A critic wrote that the Fourteenth Piano Sonata reminded him of moonlight on Lake Lucerne—the name Moonlight Sonata was born. Brautigam plays on a fortepiano; he considers it important that these works be performed on a bright-sounding instrument.