Acclaimed pianist Jonathan Biss focuses on Beethoven for concert, new CD

The future appears unlimited for Jonathan Biss.

He has already established a worldwide reputation as arguably the finest American pianist of his generation, with an enviable schedule of concert dates here and overseas as well as an exclusive recording contract with EMI Classics.

This summer at Ravinia, music director James Conlon, speaking from the podium, called Biss "our hero of the evening" when the 27-year-old pianist performed three Mozart concertos with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under extremely hot and humid conditions. Biss gave an astonishing performance, completing a week at Ravinia in which he also collaborated with his mother, Miriam Fried, on an evening of Beethoven violin-piano sonatas in the Martin Theatre.

Beethoven is back in focus for Biss this fall. He returns to the Chicago area next week for a 7:30 p.m. Oct. 26 recital at the University of Chicago's Mandel Hall, featuring three sonatas by Beethoven, along with two works by Leos Janácek.

Biss' third CD for EMI has just been released, featuring four Beethoven piano sonatas (three of them on next week's recital program). They range from the early "Pathetique" (No. 8) to No. 30 in E minor (Op. 109), a mature work from Beethoven's later years. We'll review the new CD in a future column.

"Each of Beethoven's 32 sonatas is so different; the development from the first one to the last one is amazing," said Biss during a break in his July Ravinia schedule. "He didn't write nearly as many pieces as did Mozart or Schubert, but when you think of the number of ideas he explored, it's pretty astonishing."

It's obvious Biss, a graduate of the Indiana University School of Music and Philadelphia's Curtis Institute of Music, has an affinity for Mozart and Beethoven, the two composers at the Mount Everest of classical music.

"Beethoven's Opus 1 was written when he was already in his 30s, while Mozart had been writing music since he was a child," Biss said. "Beethoven and Mozart's genius are totally unfathomable in totally different ways. With Mozart, you very often feel the complete assimilation of the form, the understanding of the material is so absolute from the very beginning. He almost isn't human, in a way.

"With Beethoven, you feel he is very, very human. You feel that he struggled with his material, that he had to figure out how to work within its context. He was like the rest of us, but a lot more talented!"

Of course, Beethoven battled deafness, which progressed during middle age through the end of his life in 1827.

"On the one hand, it's totally unbelievable what he accomplished, but on the other hand, I almost wonder if it becomes more possible to write music that's completely visionary, if you're not tied to hearing the sounds of the world you live in," Biss said.

"As you look at the 10th Beethoven sonata, just like so many of the late pieces, it's so far beyond anything anyone of the day had conceived. So maybe, he needed silence for that, I don't know. I'm not saying that in any way Beethoven was fortunate to live without his hearing. Clearly, there can be no worse fate for a musician, but I almost wonder if it may have liberated him."

Biss is hesitant at the moment to tackle a complete concert series of Beethoven's 32 sonatas, something he says he'll delay for 10 to 15 years.

"I play about 14 or 15 of them; that's enough to have a cross-section," he said. "Of course, I'm familiar with all 32, but as far as performance of the complete cycle is concerned, I made a decision not to rush it. That's probably the body of music that's the most important to me as a pianist, but I just felt that it would be a kind of immersion in that music to the exclusion of all else at this stage of my life."

Tickets for next week's Mandel Hall recital, part of its "Discovery Encore!" series, cost $32 (subject to availability) for general admission and $5 for students with a valid ID.

Mandel Hall is located at 1131 E. 57th St. on the University of Chicago's Hyde Park campus. For additional information, visit chicagopresents.uchicago.edu.