Brilliant Classics: 93685

Clementi - Pianoforte Sonatas Volume 2

The Earliest Sonatas

This is a sequel to the 3-CD album with the Viennese sonatas by Clementi released last year. Fortepianist Costantino Mastroprimiano now continues with the composer’s earliest sonatas. They range from really early ones – Clementi may have been only 11 when he wrote the first piece – to mature and technically demanding works. At twelve and already an organist at the churches of Rome Italian Muzio Clementi was taken to England by a ‘patron’. This Peter Beckford was the dedicatee of Clementi’s first set of published works. They are sonatas which are musically uncomplicated. This issue also comprises Clementi’s Opera I and II, sets of sonatas composed after his extremely busy period with Beckford, studying and performing as a virtuoso pianist. Especially the three works for solo piano from Opera II are of exceptional virtuosity for that time (1779) and reflect Clementi’s own dexterity. Once again fortepianist Costantino Mastroprimiano takes the listener on an interesting journey through mostly unknown territory.