Four Beethoven sonatas for price of three: Pierre Réach at Gordes

At the end of Pierre Réach’s recital at the Festival de La Roque d’Anthéron, he stood up and declared that he was so smitten by the place in which he had just played that he feared losing concentration on the music. That’s not a normal thing for a pianist to say, but in the case of the Théâtre des Terrasses in Gordes, Réach may have a point. The village is on a giant calcareous rock; its immaculately preserved 1,000 year old Cháteau dominates the landscape, with the whole Lubéron valley laid out below; just below, the 400 seat outdoor theatre is carved into the rock below. As night falls, you are looking at one man and a piano in front of a brilliantly lit, white, sheer cliff face.

Within this magical environment, Réach treated us to a well crafted potted history of the progression of Beethoven’s style through his piano sonatas. The Sonata no. 10 in G major is gentle Mozartian grace, with just of hint of the rumbling bass runs that would be so characteristic of later work. By the time of the Sonata no. 17 in D minor, “The Tempest”, the Romantic style is well established and the sonata is full of characteristics that you would instantly recognise as Beethoven. The 1807 Sonata no. 23 in F minor, “Appassionata”, is one of the composer’s masterpieces, replete with passion from an array of compositional devices.

Pierre Réach is something of an elder statesman amongst French pianists: although he still performs regularly, his biography now focuses more on his work as an educator. He is dapper, sprightly and energetic on stage, wearing his 75 years lightly. His style is measured; humorous or passionate as Beethoven’s music may be, you get the impression that Réach is calibrating the weight of every note for maximum effect. Balance between left and right hands always feels spot on. He plays staccato notes extremely short, with strong attack and virtually immediate release, which contributes to a great deal of clarity, with every note individually distinguishable. Last night, that was a mixed blessing, because there were significant numbers of missed or fluffed notes. I decided early on that I wasn’t going to let these spoil my enjoyment, which required effort.

Ignoring the missteps, there was a huge amount to admire and enjoy in Réach’s interpretations. His lightness of touch served him beautifully in the elegant opening to the G major, with a particularly nice decoration at the end. In the second movement, that fast staccato sounded daring, as did the final three note flourish that closes the sonata, played with great humour. The Tempest was notable both on the micro scale (the precision of the accenting) and the macro (the overall architecture of the piece, with repeats ideally judged to add interest while retaining familiarity).

The Appassionata was very much Apollonian rather than Dionysian; you never had any sense of Réach abandoning control to let the music take him where it will. But it worked, with moments of intense beauty in the slow movement and immense firepower in the third.

After telling us how he didn’t want to leave the venue, Réach put his money where his mouth was, giving us no less than four encores, including a complete performance of the Piano Sonata no. 14 in C sharp minor... perhaps he liked the idea of playing the The Moonlight by moonlight. The fluffs were still there, but so was the heart and soul of the piece. A treat.

David's trip to La Roque d'Anthéron was partly funded by the Festival International de Piano de La Roque d'Anthéron