Book review: Kenneth Drake. Beethoven Sonatas and the Creative Experience Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994 IN THIS SECOND STUDY OF BEETHOVEN'S PIANO SONATAS, Kenneth Drake, professor of piano at the University of Illinois and fortepianist, expands on what he had previously broached, but not developed. Sonatas of Beethoven As He Played and Taught Them (1972) concerned mainly such technical matters as announced by the various chapter headings: Tempo and Modifications of Tempo, Dynamics, Pedaling, Ornamentation. two remaining chapters of the earlier book treat Beethoven's creative milieu and the milieu of the present interpreter whose aim is at bottom more a matter of philosophy than of execution. Beethoven Sonatas and the Creative Experience Drake begins where the earlier book ends. The present work, Drake declares, is not an exercise in musicology or performance practice, nor does it offer measure by measure analysis. Instead it is a work about a personal account of studying, teaching, and playing the Beethoven sonatas, the significance they assume in the innermost self, and, especially, the musical basis for their significance. immediate purpose is isolate ideas within the score and perceive in them and derive from them. Drake readily admits the difficulties inherent in the idea of meaning in the context of a musical composition. And yet, following the example, for example, of Owen Jander, who took his cue from, among others, Adolph Marx and Carl Czerny, Drake insists upon the significance of the extra-musical images that ultimately imbued a newly found musical idea with character. humanly moving that gave rise Beethoven's musical ideas provides the key the performer's total involvement in the music, an involvement that rises above technique communicate the inner, the spiritual, content of the printed score. In describing Beethoven's visions and images as the true key interpretation, Drake insists, Czerny was stating as the one, all-encompassing rule of performance practice for the playing of Beethoven, total personal involvement. emphasis upon the extra-musical might lead the reader believe, perhaps fear, that Drake's book is a regression a branch of Romantic music criticism that naively saw paintings in every tune, and a story in every period. book, however, avoids all such anachronism, and provides in fact a highly sophisticated analysis of the musical content of the sonatas. Drake's point remains, however, that unless the player accepts the basic humanity of what Beethoven conveys, he or she is bound merely go through the motions, however competently, without conveying meaning. introductory portion of the book ends with the reminder of the significance Beethoven of the concept of suffering. Drake's is the willfully Beethoven, driven reach beyond his grasp, who finds in struggle. Drake quotes Beethoven's joy through suffering letter Countess Erdody, a letter in which the composer asserts that Man ... must endure without complaining and feel his worthlessness and then again achieve his perfection, that perfection which the almighty will then bestow upon him. performer must therefore reach beyond, risk failure, even, as Drake quotes Lily Kraus, risk shame. truly communicated Beethoven sonata, in Kraus's words, sheds grace upon the audience. And to experience grace is be forgiven for the one forgiven and forgive for the forgiven It is an act on the part of both performer and listener requiring a belief in meaning, and this is the ultimate involvement. It would be tempting say here, so much for philosophy. But the strength of the book, in fact, lies precisely in its philosophical conceptualization. Kenneth Drake is a seasoned teacher and performer who has devoted his career the accurate conveyance of the spirit as well as the body of the works of the great composers, particularly those of Beethoven. …