Awadagin Pratt: Beethoven Piano Sonatas

About a month ago, I decided to do a one-album-at-a-time survey of my classical CD collection. A lot has happened during that month, but this feels like the right time to start it up again.

Back when I was in high school, I sat in on a masterclass featuring pianist Awadagin Pratt. I didn’t consider myself a pianist at the time—truth be told, I still don’t—and I didn’t get much out of it. Pratt also didn’t play a single note, so I had no idea how good he was. Sometime later, I saw his name on a list of classical musicians born in Pittsburgh, so my curiosity was piqued. When I saw this CD on the clearance rack at Half Price Books, I saw no reason not to give it a spin.

This is a wonderful recording of four of Beethoven’s piano sonatas, and Pratt’s conception of the pieces is, to my ear, nothing less than remarkable. Among other things, I was struck by how he approached each movement within the context of the larger work. In the wrong hands, Beethoven can feel a bit like a greatest hits reel: Some of the individual moments are so famous that the larger structure can crumble under their weight here. Not so here. Pratt approaches each sonata as a near-seamless work, and the result is powerful and cohesive. Whether or not we really “need” more recordings of Beethoven’s piano sonatas, this is one well worth tracking down.

But there’s another thing that should to be mentioned. One of the reasons why I decided to listen to this recording is that it’s one of the handful of classical CDs I have featuring black performers. The classical music world is, like so many other creative industries, one that seems to disproportionately favor non-black artists. (From my vantage point, a vast majority of classical musicians are either white or Asian.) The first sentence of his bio from the CD’s liner notes is fascinating in its subtext: “Awadagin Pratt shatters the audience’s expectations of a great pianist.” The sad fact of the matter is that, simply by virtue of being black, he probably does. But make no mistake about it: Pratt is a great pianist, and he has made a great recording of Beethoven piano sonatas. Here’s to shattering expectations.

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