Howard Shelley - Clementi: The Complete Piano Sonatas, Vol. 4

Howard Shelley�s splendid series of Clementi�s complete piano sonatas continues with a fourth volume containing some of the composer�s most important works. The ten sonatas of Opp 25, 26, and 33 that Shelley performs in this recording are all products of a period in Clementi�s life when he was the darling of the London music scene, acclaimed by contemporaries in the most effusive language: �But the performance beyond all others to astonish, was Clementi�s concerto on the Piano Forte: what brilliancy of finger, and wonderful execution! The powers of the instrument were never called forth with superior skill, perhaps not equal�.As well as the elements of virtuosity described above, the works recorded here�particularly the fourth and fifth of the Opp 25 sonatas�contain a high degree of compositional originality and forward-looking piano writing. The A major sonata (No 4) has a curiously nineteenth-century sound. The first movement, Maestoso e cantabile, displays a profusion of melodic ornament reminiscent of Chopin. The fifth, perhaps Clementi�s greatest sonata, was much championed by Horowitz, among others.