Haydn & Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Olivier Cavé

• Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827): Piano Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 2 No. 1:
• 1Piano Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 2 No. 1: I. Allegro03:43
• 2Piano Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 2 No. 1: II. Adagio05:03
• 3Piano Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 2 No. 1: III. Menuetto. Allegretto03:04
• 4Piano Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 2 No. 1: IV. Prestissimo04:53
• Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809): Keyboard Sonata in B Minor, Hob. XVI:32:
• 5Keyboard Sonata in B Minor, Hob. XVI:32: I. Allegro moderato06:30
• 6Keyboard Sonata in B Minor, Hob. XVI:32: II. Minuet - Trio03:43
• 7Keyboard Sonata in B Minor, Hob. XVI:32: III. Finale. Presto03:03
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 2 in A Major, Op. 2 No. 2:
• 8Piano Sonata No. 2 in A Major, Op. 2 No. 2: I. Allegro vivace06:45
• 9Piano Sonata No. 2 in A Major, Op. 2 No. 2: II. Largo appassionato06:48
• 10Piano Sonata No. 2 in A Major, Op. 2 No. 2: III. Scherzo: Allegretto03:02
• 11Piano Sonata No. 2 in A Major, Op. 2 No. 2: IV. Rondo: Grazioso06:04
• Franz Joseph Haydn: Keyboard Sonata in C Major, Hob. XVI:48:
• 12Keyboard Sonata in C Major, Hob. XVI:48: I. Andante con espressione07:03
• 13Keyboard Sonata in C Major, Hob. XVI:49: II. Rondo. Presto04:02
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 6 in F Major, Op. 10 No. 2:
• 14Piano Sonata No. 6 in F Major, Op. 10 No. 2: I. Allegro05:33
• 15Piano Sonata No. 6 in F Major, Op. 10 No. 2: II. Allegretto03:41
• 16Piano Sonata No. 6 in F Major, Op. 10 No. 2: III. Presto02:33
• Total Runtime01:15:30

Info for Haydn & Beethoven: Piano Sonatas

Ludwig van Beethoven was just twenty years old when he first met Joseph Haydn, in 1790. Two years later, the young composer joined the Viennese master’s numerous pupils. But, weary of his teacher’s frequent absences and stung by his criticisms, he soon broke off his lessons, declaring bitterly some years later ‘I never learnt anything from Haydn’. It is this distance, this difference of style and ambition between Beethoven and his former teacher that are to be heard in this new recording by Olivier Cavé, the award-winning Swiss pianist who is a regular guest at the leading festivals. Whereas Haydn’s Sonata Hob. XVI:32 (1776) aims for a classical but vigorous style, Hob.XVI:48, composed only four years later, is more subdued and academic. Beethoven sought to break with this classicism, allowing himself greater expressive scope and replacing the traditional third-movement minuet with a scherzo in his Sonata no.2, a clear sign of his revolutionary spirit.

Olivier Cave, piano

Olivier Cavé
Born in Switzerland on December 18, 1977, Olivier Cavé studied piano at Sion Conservatory and later at the Conservatory in Lausanne where he earned a Diplôme de Piano with honors and was the recipient of an accolade for excellence. The pianist also participated in master classes given by Maria Lilia Bertola in Milan and by Nelson Goerner in Geneva. 1995 brought Cavé into the sphere of Maria Tipo, whose master classes he attended at the Fiesole School of Music, followed by a two and a half year study under Aldo Ciccolini in Italy and France.

Cavé gave his first concert with the Camerata Lysy under the direction of Yehudi Menuhin in September of 1991. He has collaborated with artists such as Alexis Weissenberg, Menahem Pressler, Arie Vardi, Howard Griffiths, Tibor Varga, Barbara Hendricks and Isabelle Huppert, and performed as a soloist with the Dusseldorf Symphony Orchestra, the London Soloists Chamber Orchestra, the Galileo Galilei Orchestra of Fiesole, the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra and the Basel Chamber Orchestra (Kammerorchesterbasel).

In June 2000, Olivier Cavé placed among the finalists of the Clara Schumann Competition in Dusseldorf. In 2002, he performed Beethoven’s first piano concerto for an RAI radio broadcast as part of a special series featuring a comprehensive program of Beethoven’s concertos for piano and orchestra in honor of Maria Tipo’s 70th birthday. He was invited by La Scala in Milan for the reopening of the theater museum and library in 2003 where he performed Liszt’s opera transcriptions on a piano that once belonged to the composer.

Olivier Cavé’s first recording “Réflexions” was released by Deutsche Grammophon in May of 2004; the CD features works by Beethoven, Schubert, Scarlatti and Schumann. His career took a new turn in September 2008 with the release of his first recording for Aeon, which features sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti. Critics across Europe praised the Swiss pianist with Neapolitan roots for having returned to the source. Dedicated to Muzio Clementi, Cavé’s second recording is even more striking than his first. Released in the autumn of 2010, the CD was given a 5 Diapason rating, 4 Stars from Classica and the highest award from the Japanese magazine Geijutsu Records. This success also led to invitations to perform at prestigious locations throughout the world, such as the Teatro Olimpico in Rome, the Tonhalle in Zurich, and the Phillips Collection in Washington.

His tour along the American eastern seaboard, during which he presented a program entitled “Il Pianoforte Italiano” and gave master classes at Duke and West Virginia Universities, was a great success and preceded his debut with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra in February 2012 under the direction of Rinaldo Alessandrini, where the pianist was praised as a "model of refinement behind the keyboard". The performances drew wide attention from both public and press.

Early in August 2012, Olivier Cavé made a remarkable debut at La Roque d'Anthéron International Piano Festival in France. He will release his third disc with Aeon in May 2013, dedicated solely to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and entitled, “Nel gusto italiano – Concerti, Capriccio e Aria,” a program which the pianist interpreted in January of this year at Venice's Teatro La Fenice and will bring to his debut at the Menuhin Festival Gstaad in August.

This album contains no booklet.