Marc Ponthus: Stockhausen's Klavierstück X / Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata
Bridge Records

Having already issued recordings of the complete works of both Iannis Xenakis and Pierre Boulez, intrepid French pianist Marc Ponthus now turns his attention to Klavierstück X by iconoclastic composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, softening the blow by presenting it with Beethoven's Klaviersonate No. 29 in B-flat, Op. 106 (“Hammerklavier”). The pairing makes for a fascinating juxtaposition and a recording worthy of attention. It's not the first time Ponthus has paired great works of the past with challenging new pieces. Recent recitals have seen him pairing Klavierstück X with Schumann's Kreisleriana and Klaviersonate with Boulez's Second Sonata. These are less acts of provocation—Ponthus is interested in nothing so childish—but more the pianist seeking to reveal parallels and connections between pieces of vastly different character. His statement, for example, that Stockhausen's and Beethoven's “put in question the whole nature of order and chaos, and in the process open unexpected territories” might seem more readily applicable to the former but could as easily be applied to the latter if its creation is considered within the context of its time.

A composer, writer, and experimental filmmaker too, Ponthus' thoughts on the two pieces are captured in an essay in the release booklet. He's a man of strong convictions, as shown by his contention that the suggestion by certain pianists and musicologists to reduce the tempi of the Klaviersonate by fifteen to twenty percent “is antithetical to the work, or to put it more directly, sheer nonsense.” Tempo is also critical in Klavierstück X, with the composer having indicated it should be played “as fast as possible while keeping the duration of the notes proportionate.” Ponthus astutely notes, however, that as speed increases, definition can begin to suffer.

A work so dazzling and destabilizing invites metaphoric description. So dense it can feel like hiking through thorn bushes, its bludgeoning chords and runs are less patterns than splashes, detonations, and eruptions. Exuding explosive energy, the highly charged, twenty-two-minute work at times overwhelms the senses with density though it intermittently decompresses to offer ruminative respite. The work also, as Ponthus writes, “transforms from apparent chaos into transparent order,” and as it does so the listener becomes more cognizant of the intense high-level thinking of the composer at work. On a purely physical level, Ponthus' performance impresses, the piece posing an immense challenge to even the most advanced pianist. His reputation as a champion of leading avant-garde composers of the ‘50s and ‘60s is upheld by the treatment, but, as a recent recording of three Schumann masterpieces shows, he's as capable of delivering exemplary renditions of earlier composers' works, including the one by Beethoven featured here.

Ponthus deems the four-part Klaviersonate a “work of truly Homeric proportions,” and the description is borne out by his forty-minute rendering. In his essay, he argues that the primary feature of the work has to do with the tension between homophonic and polyphonic structures, which, while often integrated, in this case resist integration and thus compound tension. In the majestic “Allegro” with which the work begins, Ponthus identifies the opening as a four-measure homophonic structure that's followed by a polyphonic treatment and eventual return to homophony. In his view, once we become aware of it, the design “suggests two separate and self-sufficient structures that constantly and fiercely interact and destabilize each other's flying buttresses.” This juxtaposition grows in complexity in the “Scherzo: Assai vivace” and “Adagio sostenuto” before asserting itself with clarity in the opening of the closing “Largo; Allegro.”

The buoyancy of the first movement carries over into an even breezier scherzo, even if it's only with us for two-and-a-half minutes. Like the piece with which it's partnered on the release, there is volatile energy in the Klaviersonate but serenity also, most obviously in the sixteen-minute adagio. Beginning solemnly, the hushed movement highlights the effectiveness of Ponthus' gentle touch, and the extended duration allows for a patient delivery and sensitive tempo fluctuations. The closing movement naturally reinstates the dynamism of the first, even if it does begin gently before swelling into a polyphonic storm teeming with trills, manic energy, and spiraling activity. The moment it subsides is jarring in its suddenness, but the pace accelerates almost instantly thereafter to push the movement to its exciting finish. Beyond the performances themselves, Ponthus' essay includes probing micro-analyses of the score that make for an enriching complement to the listening experience.

December 2023