3 Sonatas Op. 10 by Roberto Prosseda

Ludwig van Beethoven

Roberto Prosseda

3 Sonatas Op. 10

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: Challenge Classics
UPC: 0608917200485
Catnr: CC 720048
Release date: 06 February 2026
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1 CD	€ 19.95	Preorder

Label
Challenge Classics

UPC
0608917200485

Catalogue number
CC 720048

Release date
06 February 2026

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

About the album

Beethoven’s three Sonatas Op. 10, written between 1796 and 1798, mark a decisive step from the Classical clarity of Haydn and Mozart toward a bolder, more individual language. Each sonata displays a distinct character: the C minor No. 1 combines tragic urgency with structural concentration; the F major No. 2 reveals Beethoven’s emerging humor and rhythmic invention; and the expansive D major No. 3 unfolds an unprecedented emotional and architectural scale, crowned by the visionary Largo e mesto. The unifying rhythmic motif of “short–long” pulses through the set, foreshadowing the composer’s later dramas. Performed on an 1820 Conrad Graf fortepiano, Roberto Prosseda’s interpretation restores the music’s raw contrasts, speaking timbres, and anti-rhetorical gestures that modern pianos often smooth away.

In his personal note, Prosseda explains how returning to these works on a historical instrument transformed his understanding of Beethoven’s expression. The fortepiano’s transparency, differentiated registers, and responsive mechanism invite a freer phrasing and more rhetorical, speech-like delivery. He aims not for novelty but sincerity—seeking to rediscover familiar music through its original sound world. Prosseda is one of Italy's leading pianists with a distinguished career, celebrated for his complete Mendelssohn and Mozart recordings and for reviving the pedal piano. This Beethoven Op. 10 album follows his acclaimed Op. 2 set for Challenge Classics, continuing his exploration of early Beethoven on period instruments.

Beethovens drei Sonaten op. 10, entstanden zwischen 1796 und 1798, markieren einen entscheidenden Schritt von der klassischen Klarheit Haydns und Mozarts hin zu einer kühneren, stärker individuellen Tonsprache. Jede Sonate besitzt einen ausgeprägten eigenen Charakter: Die Nr. 1 c-Moll verbindet tragische Dringlichkeit mit struktureller Konzentration; die Nr. 2 F-Dur offenbart Beethovens aufkeimenden Humor und seine rhythmische Erfindungskraft; und die weit ausgreifende Nr. 3 D-Dur entfaltet eine bis dahin unerhörte emotionale und architektonische Dimension, gekrönt vom visionären Largo e mesto. Das einigende rhythmische Motiv aus „kurz–lang“-Impulsen durchzieht den gesamten Zyklus und weist bereits auf die späteren Dramen des Komponisten voraus. Gespielt auf einem Conrad-Graf-Fortepiano von 1820, stellt Roberto Prossedas Interpretation die rohen Kontraste, sprechenden Klangfarben und anti-rhetorischen Gesten der Musik wieder her, die auf modernen Flügeln oft geglättet werden.

In seiner persönlichen Anmerkung erläutert Prosseda, wie die Rückkehr zu diesen Werken auf einem historischen Instrument sein Verständnis von Beethovens Ausdruck grundlegend verändert hat. Die Transparenz des Fortepianos, seine differenzierten Register und die reaktionsschnelle Mechanik laden zu freierer Phrasierung und einer stärker rhetorischen, sprachähnlichen Gestaltung ein. Sein Ziel ist nicht Originalität um ihrer selbst willen, sondern Aufrichtigkeit – das vertraute Repertoire im ursprünglichen Klangraum neu zu entdecken. Roberto Prosseda zählt zu den führenden Pianisten Italiens und blickt auf eine herausragende Karriere zurück; gefeiert wird er unter anderem für seine Gesamteinspielungen der Werke Mendelssohns und Mozarts sowie für die Wiederbelebung des Pedalklaviers. Das vorliegende Album mit Beethovens op. 10 folgt auf seinen vielgelobten op. 2-Zyklus bei Challenge Classics und setzt seine Auseinandersetzung mit dem frühen Beethoven auf historischen Instrumenten fort.

Artist(s)

Roberto Prosseda (fortepiano)

Roberto Prosseda, born in Latina in 1975, is one of the most active and versatile Italian musicians on the current international scene. He gained international fame following his Decca CDs dedicated to the piano music of Felix Mendelssohn, which he recorded in full on 10 CDs (2005 - 2014), published in a single box set in 2017 ('Mendelssohn Complete Piano Works') . Over the past twenty years Roberto has performed regularly with some of the world's leading orchestras, including the London Philharmonic, New Japan Philharmonic, Moscow State Philharmonic, Santa Cecilia, Filarmonica della Scala, Brussels Philharmonic, Residentie Orkest, Netherlands Symphony, Berliner Symphoniker, Staatskapelle Weimar, Calgary Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus. He has performed under the baton of David Afkham, Marc Albrecht,...

Over the past twenty years Roberto has performed regularly with some of the world's leading orchestras, including the London Philharmonic, New Japan Philharmonic, Moscow State Philharmonic, Santa Cecilia, Filarmonica della Scala, Brussels Philharmonic, Residentie Orkest, Netherlands Symphony, Berliner Symphoniker, Staatskapelle Weimar, Calgary Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus. He has performed under the baton of David Afkham, Marc Albrecht, Christian Arming, Harry Bickett, Oleg Caetani, Riccardo Chailly, Pietari Inkinen, Yannik Nezeit-Seguin, George Pehlivanian, Dennis Russel-Davies, Tugan Sokhiev, Jurai Valcuha, Jan Willem de Vriend. With the Gewandhaus Orchester conducted by Riccardo Chailly, he recorded the unpublished Concerto in E minor by Mendelssohn, published by Decca in September 2009. In Italy he is a regular guest of the major concert institutions, including the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, the Teatro alla Scala, the Unione Musicale of Turin, the Teatro la Fenice, the Accademia Chigiana of Siena, the Teatro Comunale of Bologna. Roberto is also particularly appreciated in the interpretations of Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, authors to whom he has also dedicated himself in his most recent Decca recordings. His recording of Mozart Sonatas, recorded on Fazioli piano with unequal Vallotti tuning (6 Decca CDs, 2015-18), has received considerable international acclaim. In 2022 Roberto completed the recording of Mozarts’ complete piano works in 11 CDs.

In 2010 Deutsche Grammophon selected twelve recordings by Prosseda to include them in the "Classic Gold" box set, published in May 2010. Since 2011, he has also played the piano-pedalier in public, having rediscovered and presented in modern premieres various pieces by Alkan and the Concert by Charles Gounod for piano-pedalier and orchestra with the Toscanini Philharmonic of Parma, which he has re-performed with the Berliner Symphoniker, the Weimar Staatskapelle, the Lahti Philharmonic, the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra and recorded the 4 pieces by Charles Gounod for Pedal Piano and orchestra with Orchestra della Radio Svizzera Italiana and Howard Shelley for Hyperion. Roberto Prosseda gave 100 concerts with the pedal piano, contributing to the rediscovery of the instrument and its repertoire. Roberto Prosseda is equally active as a music writer and author Radio and TV project, being also the creator of innovative musical programs of international scope. He conceived three TV documentaries, directed by Angelo Bozzolini, about Mendelssohn, Chopin and Liszt, produced by RAI and worldwide distributed by Euroarts.

His book "Il Pianoforte”, a listening guide to piano repertoire, was publushed by Curci in 2013.

In 2023/24 Roberto has been artistic consultant of Teatro “Verdi” in Pordenone. He is currently artistic director of Cremona Musica International Exhibitions and of Patmos Chamber Music Festival, which he co-founded in 2022.

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Composer(s)

Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential of all composers. His best-known compositions include nine symphonies, five piano concertos, one violin concerto, 32 piano sonatas, 16 string quartets, his great Mass the Missa solemnis, and one opera, Fidelio. Together with Mozart and Haydn, he was part of the First Viennese School. Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of the Holy Roman Empire, Beethoven displayed his musical talents at an early age and was taught by his father Johann van Beethoven and by composer and conductor Christian Gottlob Neefe. At the age of 21 he moved to Vienna, where he began studying composition with Joseph Haydn, and gained a reputation as a virtuoso pianist. He lived in Vienna until his death. By his late 20s his hearing began to deteriorate, and by the last decade of his life he was almost totally deaf. In 1811 he gave up conducting and performing in public but continued to compose; many of his most admired works come from these last 15 years of his life.

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