Czerny Piano Sonatas from Nimbus

[Peter1953]

Vol. 3 of Martin Jones's beautifully played Czerny sonatas has been released. See here
My personal opinion is that Czerny's piano sonatas (and nocturnes) are written in a much more Romantic style (and higher musical level) than most of his classical oriented and less inspiring orchestral works (symphonies & concertos).

[Peter1953]

Any Czerny lovers out there? I spent a most pleasant Czerny afternoon, sitting by the fire (it's so cold this rainy summer day), with a nice bottle of burgundy, listening to Vol. 3 of his Piano Sonatas.
Forget about his countless number of exercises and studies for piano (in particular his opp. 500 & 600), and maybe his hardly original orchestral music (but who cares nowadays?) and listen to his exciting piano sonatas. Here you will discover a completely different Czerny! I think all 11 (published) sonatas are surely interesting, very well-crafted elegant works, full of original themes, with a lot of brilliant passages, but also having subtle and deeply-felt moments (like the 'Andante espressivo' of the 10th Sonata).
Absolutely wonderful stuff!

[Alan Howe]

These sonatas must obviously be investigated. They're now duly 'on the list'!

[Alan Howe]

Peter: could you recommend one out of the three volumes, please? Which of Czerny's sonatas is/are the best, do you think?

[Peter1953]

Alan, I would certainly recommend the Sixth in D minor, op. 124 (on Vol. 1). What a grandeur.... IMHO truly a masterpiece within the piano (sonata) literature.

[Alan Howe]

Thanks, Peter. I wondered that might be your answer...

[eschiss1]

I seem to recall someone's performance of sonata no.9 being broadcast a few times over the night program of the European Union awhile back - not, I think, Jones' commercial recording which wasn't yet released in any case - the only commercial recording I know of at that time of Czerny sonatas-not-sonatinas was the Etcetera rec. of sonatas 1 to 4. Impressive stuff, anycase...

[Peter1953]

Eric, I also have a Canadian CD from Analekta coupling Nos. 1 & 3, played by Anton Kuerti .

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Please let us in due course know what your opinion is, Alan.

[Jonathan]

I heard the 9th some time ago on the radio and was very impressed.  Not yet managed to get any of these recordings yet but they are on the wishlist, along with a disc of his Nocturnes which I thought would be interesting...

[Alan Howe]

Any further thoughts on this repertoire? I never did buy any of the three volumes...

[Balapoel]

I have, Alan, and they are worth it. Most early Romantic sonatas have a tendency to sound derivative of Beethoven (e.g., Ries) or Clementi (e.g., Hummel). But Czerny is something entirely different. He took his own path, quite distinct from Beethoven.

Here's an excerpt from an article by Anton Kuerti (1997) on Czerny's first sonata that gives you an idea:
The first movement is sweetly intimate, with a brief, turbulently expressive middle section, and includes some exquisitely Schubertian harmonic surprises. The third movement is a truly profound adagio, with a stunning Beethovenian modulation to an exotic foreign key for its stirring middle section. Next is a rondo, at first nearly too charming, but very soon showing an unexpected polyphonic strength and intensity of emotion, which is further heightened by a furious central episode. The theme of this episode recurs as the subject of the fugue concluding the work, which ends with a haunting echo of the sonata's opening bars.

Placing a fugue in a sonata was unprecedented at the time, as was the cyclical provenance of its theme. It was not until many years later that Beethoven first used a fugue in a sonata, and that Schubert composed his cyclical "Wanderer Fantasy." (There are earlier fugues in Beethoven's Op. 59, No. 3, String Quartet and in the Eroica Symphony.) The fugue would not be a disgrace to Bach as one of his famous 48, and could conceivably be mistaken for one (assuming we found Johann Sebastian at his most romantic); and the sonata as a whole, if it had been born from Beethoven, would not, I believe, be considered the most inferior of his 32. Having dared say this, no further superlatives need apply.

--found at http://carlczerny.blogspot.com.br/2012/04/article-about-czerny-by-anton-kuerti.html

[Alan Howe]

That's very helpful indeed, thanks. Which of the three Jones volumes should I start with, do you think?

[Balapoel]

You could start with Vol 2 (including the first two sonatas) and work chronologically to see Czerny's development. Of course you can check out Youtube which has at least a couple of Czerny's sonatas to see if they are your cup of tea. For me, I snapped them up as soon as they were released.