Richard Goode first gained recognition as a chamber musician before cementing his reputation as a recitalist with his performances – both on stage and recorded – of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas. His approach to music-making has always eschewed the ‘virtuoso fighting an orchestra’ paradigm; instead, he focuses on thoughtful interpretation and profound understanding, prioritising artistic insight over mere technical prowess.
Composed between 1821 and 1822, Beethoven’s last three sonatas, Opp.109–111, are considered by many to form a unified triptych, with pianists dedicating recitals to uncovering and demonstrating their structural, thematic, harmonic, and even philosophical links. Immersed in this music for decades, Goode does not worry too much about connections. In a permanent dialogue with the sheet music, he treats these compositions matter-of-factly, acknowledging their amazingly prescient character while focusing on individual dynamic and rhythmic shadings.
At the same time, in his rendering of Op.110’s fugue and Op.111’s theme with variations, he underlined with pedagogical clarity how Beethoven, in his quest to redefine the sonata, also radically transformed conventional musical mechanisms from within their constraints. Conscious that the music represents a summation of keyboard literature from the Baroque to Debussy, he never overemphasised its Romantic character, even though hints of Schumann, for example, were clearly distinguishable in his interpretation.
Truth be told, I was concerned that Goode, now an octogenarian, may struggle with the serious technical demands of rendering these scores. However, he rose to the challenge. In the hot and humid conditions of a rainy summer evening under the Caramoor tent, the semiquavers might not always have sounded as clearly distinguished as little pearls on a string, but the audience came not for a lesson in accuracy but to experience and absorb his deep musical wisdom.