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VANESSAWAGNER
Why this choice of repertory?
I already recorded a Mozart disc in 2000, and I’ve wanted to go back to him for a
very long time. As for Clementi, that happenedmore by chance! I was asked to play
his Sonata op.23 no.2 in a recital programme – the work is on this disc but has only
been very rarely recorded.
The image I had of Clementi was of an interesting and underestimated composer.
I knew only a few pieces, such as the Sonata op.24 in Horowitz’s interpretation.
Clementi is unfairly neglected, because he was unlucky enough to live between
Mozart and Beethoven. Incidentally, Joseph II organised a competition between
Mozart andClementi at the time – it ended in a deadheat! Clementi deeply admired
Mozart . . . but the feeling was not reciprocated. Beethoven, however, regarded
Clementi as an absolute master of the sonata.
I must say, for my part, that when I immersedmyself in his world, I was totally won
over. I chose to record the Sonata op.50 no.3, the last one he composed and one of
his masterpieces. The themes of the first and last movement are sublime and give
the full measure of his talent as a melodist.