Stewart Goodyear to perform Beethoven sonata marathon next week

Photo provided/Anita Zvonar

Beethoven wrote 32 Piano Sonatas spanning his lifetime. It’s possible to view his musical evolution through these sonatas, from the early classical ones to the late, more revolutionary pieces.

Many of you have heard, or perhaps even played some of the most famous ones: The Moonlight Sonata, the Appassionata, the Waldstein, the Pathetique and the Hammerklavier. But few pianists have attempted to perform them all together, in a daylong marathon from beginning to end.

Pianist Stewart Goodyear opens Chamber Music Cincinnati with a Beethoven “Sonatathon” next Saturday, Sept. 7, in Memorial Hall.

He’ll begin at 10 a.m. and finish at 11 p.m., with breaks for lunch and dinner.

It’s a daunting feat, but in fact, he’s done it before and survived — at Toronto’s Koerner Hall, Princeton’s McCarter Theatre, California’s Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, the Dallas AT&T Performing Arts Center., and at the Savannah Music Festival. And he has made an acclaimed recording of the complete sonatas for Marquis Classics, available here.

Click here for information and tickets.

If you have other commitments during the day, you can still catch an installment or two. Here’s the schedule:

Part 1: 10:00 a.m.–1:40 p.m.
No. 1–11, plus 19 and 20
Op. 49, No. 1 and 2
Op. 2, No. 1, 2, and 3
Op. 7, “Grand”

INTERMISSION

Op. 10, No. 1, 2, and 3
Op. 13, “Pathetique”
Op. 14, No. 1 and 2
Op. 22

1:40–3:00 p.m. LUNCH BREAK

Part 2: 3:00 p.m.–6:30 p.m.
Sonatas No. 12–23 (except 19 & 20)
Op. 26
Op. 27, No. 1 and 2 “Moonlight”
Op. 28, “Pastoral”

INTERMISSION

Op. 31, No. 1, 2 “The Tempest,” and 3
Op. 53, “Waldstein”
Op. 54
Op. 57, “Appassionata”

6:30–8:00 p.m. DINNER BREAK

Part 3: 8:00 p.m.–10:50 p.m.
Sonatas No. 24–32 including “Les Adieux”
Op. 78
Op. 81a, “Les Adieux”
Op. 90
Op. 101
Op. 106, “Hammerklavier”

INTERMISSION

Op. 109
Op. 110
Op. 111