True to form, the celebrated Vienna-born Canadian pianist Anton Kuerti excelled in Beethoven in his recital on Sunday evening, November 18, 2007 at Le Petit Trianon, San Jose.

In these days when Beethoven sonatas seem to appear more and more rarely in concert programs, it was good to be reminded of the quality and vigor of the master's musical thinking, already evident in the early F major sonata, Op.10 no.2. This is a relatively modest work - even its Op.10 bedfellows in C minor and D major are heard more often - yet Kuerti gave it real substance, with full sonority and dynamic range, perfectly judged to push the limits of classical proportion without exceeding them, and to balance clarity and warmth. Particularly felicitous was the “reluctant melody” effect in the development section of the first movement where the right hand lags behind the left, played with a meltingly beautiful tone color. The Allegretto movement was taken on the slow side, possibly to compensate for the absence of a genuine slow movement, and to take note of the serioso part of the marking for the opening F minor section, and also to make the most of more delayed melody effects when that section returns. The D flat major trio in the middle of the movement was lovable as ever, its lilting cantabile disturbed from time to time by sf bass syncopations. Kuerti solved the problem of the rather trite tunes in the finale by adopting a very brisk Presto, reminiscent at times of Beethoven's “Rage over a lost penny”, and maintaining this flow without the least hesitation. The sudden switch into A flat came off well, as did the hushed pp before the dramatic loud ending. One could have gone on listening to Kuerti play Beethoven for the whole evening - he expresses both the intellectual and the emotional content as to the manner born.

The program had begun with another humble three-movement F major sonata, Haydn's Hob.XVI no.23, endowed with distinction by Kuerti as he sat hunched at the piano with his wrists often below the level of the keyboard. The first movement was an object lesson in how to respect classical style without being mechanical - the tone was warm and sustained, and the subtle rubato usually took the form of speeding up slightly at the start of a phrase and relaxing after that. The fleeting modulation to A flat was delicately done, as was the chromatic descent of arpeggios reminiscent of Bach; and the long stretches of running thirty-seconds were beautifully even. The slow movement exhibited a gentle piano, with lovely melodic trills, and the finale was pleasing in its innocence.

In Schumann's C major Fantasie, Op.17, Kuerti was at his best in the quieter moments, and in the most demanding climaxes - for example with excellent momentum at the end of the first movement. There were magical moments when the music transcended the mere notes, but also times when Schumann was made to sound heavy-handed, and muddy through over-pedaling. This was perhaps how one might have more often heard romantic music played fifty years ago, whereas in the classical repertoire Kuerti has all the virtues of the “old-fashioned” school from that period, with its deep understanding of tradition and seriousness of interpretation.

One of Kuerti's specialties has been to rescue Carl Czerny's sonatas from oblivion, and here he gave us a tantalizing glimpse with just the Scherzo from the A flat sonata, Op.7. This had a pianistic richness far beyond that of Czerny's numerous celebrated exercises, with the agitated outer sections enclosing a singing trio.

The Chopin Polonaise-Fantaisie, Op.61, was another welcome performance. After an opening of quiet harmonic fantasy, the polonaise breaks in with moods alternately stirring and charming. Kuerti gave us a moving central nocturne section in a solemn B major, dissolving via delicious triple trills into the return of the opening fantasy, before launching into the headlong closing pages.

Finally, we were treated to a barnstorming performance of Chopin's B flat minor Scherzo, Op.31 - a far cry from the empathy that Kuerti had earlier shown with Beethoven.