A Beethoven Odyssey - Volume 4: Piano Sonata No.9 in E major; No.15 in D major, Pastorale; No.24 in F-sharp major, À Thérèse; No.25 in G major; No.27 in E minor

The fourth volume of James Brawn's Beethoven Odyssey contains a handful of piano sonatas spanning the years 1798 to 1814. Many musicians speak of the qualities and moods of various keys, and Brawn is no exception. He takes us on a journey through the various keys of the album, beginning with Sonata No. 9 in the spirited key of E major, followed by Sonata No.15 (Pastorale) in the key of D major, which is also the key of Johann Sebastian Bach's glorious and joyful Magnificat. Brawn tells us that Sonata No.24, in the divine key of F-sharp major, was Beethoven's favourite sonata. The next sonata, No.25, moves up a half-step to the exuberant key of G major. With a return to E major in the final movement of Sonata No.27, this set of five Beethoven sonatas come full circle to finish where it began.

James Brawn views the programme of volume 4 as lyrical and life affirming. He feels that these sonatas exhibit Beethoven s lighter, more positive nature. Brawn freely admits that these sonatas contain brief episodes of melancholia. Yet he also believes that, through the notes on the page, Beethoven shows us that it is possible to love every aspect of life, embracing and truly connecting with the struggle of the universal human condition. How a given artist experiences music is, of course, coloured by his or her views about art and life. Nevertheless, Brawn makes a convincing argument by describing the character of the entire volume in Beethoven s own words: Mit Lebhaftigkeit und durchaus mit Empfindung und Ausdruck (With liveliness and with feeling and expression throughout), which appear at the opening of Sonata No.27.

Pianist James Brawn began his solo career at age 12 with an Australian debut in Mozart's Piano Concerto No.25. Brawn traces his professional achievements to study with major teachers whose pedagogical lineage goes back to Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt and Clara Schumann. Yet he has also forged his own musical path in solo and chamber music performance. Born in England in 1971, his musical life started in New Zealand, where he began piano lessons at age seven. He played Bartok on New Zealand television and won his first awards in Auckland. The following year his family moved to Australia, where he studied with Margaret Schofield, Ronald Farren-Price and Rita Reichman. He won major prizes at all of the Melbourne competitions and was also a recipient of the Hephzibah Menuhin Award. In 1987, Brawn reached the concerto final of the ABC Young Performers Awards, which led to concerts with the Adelaide and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras. Thanks to a grant from the Australia Arts Council, he was able to continue study with Rita Reichman in Philadelphia. In 1988, Brawn received a full scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he won many recital awards, including the Beethoven Prize and 20th Century Prize. Brawn won the Keyboard Final of the Royal Over-Seas League Music Competition at the Queen Elizabeth Hall when he was just 19. Solo recitals and chamber partnerships at music societies and festivals in the UK followed. From 1993-2001, Brawn taught piano and chamber music at King's College and St. John's College schools in Cambridge. He returned to Australia in 2001 to take up a piano teaching position at the highly regarded Scotch College, where he co-founded the bi-ennial Scotch College Piano Festival. He returned to the United Kingdom in 2010 and is currently based in the Cotswolds. Brawn regularly performs solo recitals in London at St. James s Piccadilly, Blackheath Halls, Foundling Museum, The Forge, Royal Over-Seas League, and St. Olave Church. Among his significant engagements to date are the Bosendorfer concert series at St. Mary Magdalene and the Pianists of the World series at St.Martin-in-the-Fields.