# Surprising discovery: Clementi sonatas



## Ravellian (Aug 17, 2009)

I really had no idea these were of such a high quality. Mostly composed in the 1780s and 90s, these sonatas were highly influential to Beethoven... many characteristics of Beethoven's piano works are here: highly dramatic works with extensions of form, sudden changes in dynamics, highly idiomatic writing, etc. I find it amazing that he gets so little credit nowadays.

Here's a couple of my favorite movements.

Sonata in G minor, Op. 34/2 (1795). This first movement actually has a slow introduction which is later incorporated into the rest of the piece, just like the Pathetique sonata but written several years earlier:






Sonata in G major, Op. 37/2 (1798). Decent recording:


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

I've been telling people...

Horowitz knew how good this sonata was


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## Ravellian (Aug 17, 2009)

^ That is also one of my favorites. I considered posting it too.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Yeah, Beethoven liked his sonatas, as did Moscheles, who became friends with him. Both Horowitz and Michelangeli played his sonatas in recitals. In a Moscheles biography he is quoted as liking Clementi's pianos, playing them until Erard came out with their double escapement mechanism.


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

Towards the end of the 18th century, piano sonatas were already well on its way to becoming standalone concert hall pieces. The Clementi sonatas are enjoying a second renaissance, with several artists recording the whole cycle. Howard Shelley (on Hyperion), Costantino Mastroprimiano (fortepiano, on Brilliant Classics), and Naxos is also doing a whole cycle that I have come across. These are pieces worth exploring beyond the Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven sonatas.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Clementi has been on the backburner for me for a while. I hope to eventually get the 2 cd set of a selection of the sonatas on Decca Eloquence played by Lamar Crowson. It's a good start to just get my teeth into some of his things. 

Apparently he was the only serious rival of piano playing versus Mozart during that time, but I think that by the time Beethoven came along, Clementi and his style were considered old hat. 

I am interested in his music and will probably get that set before I aim to not buy any cd's for about a year and just absorb my current collection...


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

Okay, here is a truly fantastic sonata of his:


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

Another ingenious and interesting Clementi sonata:


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## HaydnBearstheClock (Jul 6, 2013)

clavichorder said:


> Another ingenious and interesting Clementi sonata:


Thanks for sharing (25 characters).


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## HaydnBearstheClock (Jul 6, 2013)

The G minor sonata is excellent; I hear a lot of what Beethoven would later do in it. But wait ... this sonata was only published in 1821 but was apparently composed earlier.


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

Horowitz, Demidenko, ABM.


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## beetzart (Dec 30, 2009)

They are very high quality indeed. His Gradus ad Parnassum of 100 pieces is a remarkable achievement that is overshadowed by Beethoven's late great piano works but is still quite a monument in pianistic development.


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## Cosmos (Jun 28, 2013)

I'm not to familiar with Clementi's sonata output, but the B minor one stuck with me ever since I first heard it


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