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If I Ever Become A Great Man...
Ludwig van Beethoven, Christian Gottlob Neefe

Cristian Sandrin

If I Ever Become A Great Man...

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: Evil Penguin
UPC: 0608917726824
Catnr: EPRC 0081
Release date: 04 December 2026
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1 CD
€ 19.95
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Label
Evil Penguin
UPC
0608917726824
Catalogue number
EPRC 0081
Release date
04 December 2026
Album
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
EN

About the album

On this recording, pianist Cristian Sandrin examines the musical relationship between the young Ludwig van Beethoven and his Bonn mentor, Christian Gottlob Neefe. The program pairs Beethoven’s foundational Piano Sonatas Op. 2 with Neefe's rarely recorded Keyboard Sonatas Nos. 2 & 3. By presenting these works side by side, the album illustrates how Neefe's instruction in the galant style, structural clarity, and expressive phrasing influenced Beethoven’s early composition style before his departure for Vienna.

Artist(s)

Cristian Sandrin (piano)

Born into a family of musicians from Bucharest, Cristian Sandrin has been surrounded by classical music all his life. His frequent visits to the historic Romanian Atheneum concert hall and his attendances at the prestigious Enescu Festival shaped his musical aspirations from early childhood. Not surprising, years later, he would have his own debut at the Atheneum at the age of 13. Cristian is an artist engaging with a multitude of repertoire, but especially devoted to the Classical and Romantic repertoire. His passion for Mozart's piano concertos led him to direct from the keyboard several concertos during Summer Festivals at the Royal Academy of Music, as well as for the official opening of the Angela Burgess Recital Hall. From 2018–2020 he...
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Born into a family of musicians from Bucharest, Cristian Sandrin has been surrounded by classical music all his life. His frequent visits to the historic Romanian Atheneum concert hall and his attendances at the prestigious Enescu Festival shaped his musical aspirations from early childhood. Not surprising, years later, he would have his own debut at the Atheneum at the age of 13.

Cristian is an artist engaging with a multitude of repertoire, but especially devoted to the Classical and Romantic repertoire. His passion for Mozart's piano concertos led him to direct from the keyboard several concertos during Summer Festivals at the Royal Academy of Music, as well as for the official opening of the Angela Burgess Recital Hall. From 2018–2020 he was privileged to tour the UK as an artist of the Countess of Munster Recital Scheme. Additionally, Cristian is a scholarship holder of the Imogen Cooper Music Trust benefiting from her unique one-to-one guidance and mentorship since 2017.

In 2021 Cristian travelled to Romania for his debut with the acclaimed George Enescu Philharmonic performing Mozart's K503 Piano Concerto in C major at the country's foremost music venue: The Romanian Atheneum - the same temple of music from Cristian's childhood. Since 2020, Cristian has performed challenging solo programmes including Beethoven's last three sonatas, Bach's Goldberg Variations in famous venues across Europe from Berlin's Konzerthaus, Radio Hall in Bucharest to London's LSO St Luke's - recitals that have left audiences and critics spellbound by the Cristian's mature interpretations.

As Artistic Director of the Kettner Concerts series in London, Cristian crafts engaging solo and chamber music programs that invite audiences to engage with broad landscapes of classical music. His latest project, premiering at St John's Smith Square in February 2025, offers an inventive take on Bach's Goldberg Variations: The New Goldberg Variations project interweaves three newly commissioned variation by up-and-coming composers into Bach's original work, creating a special dialogue between tradition and contemporary creativity.

Cristian collaborates often as a soloist with the Petersfield Festival Orchestra, the Oxford Sinfonia, the Bournemouth Bach Choir Orchestra as well as orchestras from his native Romania: the Bacau State Philharmonic, Sibiu State Philharmonic, Ramnicu-Valcea State Philharmonic, Oltenia Philharmonic and Bucharest Symphony Orchestra.


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Composer(s)

Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential of all composers. His best-known compositions include nine symphonies, five piano concertos, one violin concerto, 32 piano sonatas, 16 string quartets, his great Mass the Missa solemnis, and one opera, Fidelio. Together with Mozart and Haydn, he was part of the First Viennese School.    Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of the Holy Roman Empire, Beethoven displayed his musical talents at an early age and was taught by his father Johann van Beethoven and by composer and conductor Christian Gottlob...
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Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential of all composers. His best-known compositions include nine symphonies, five piano concertos, one violin concerto, 32 piano sonatas, 16 string quartets, his great Mass the Missa solemnis, and one opera, Fidelio. Together with Mozart and Haydn, he was part of the First Viennese School. Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of the Holy Roman Empire, Beethoven displayed his musical talents at an early age and was taught by his father Johann van Beethoven and by composer and conductor Christian Gottlob Neefe. At the age of 21 he moved to Vienna, where he began studying composition with Joseph Haydn, and gained a reputation as a virtuoso pianist. He lived in Vienna until his death. By his late 20s his hearing began to deteriorate, and by the last decade of his life he was almost totally deaf. In 1811 he gave up conducting and performing in public but continued to compose; many of his most admired works come from these last 15 years of his life.

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Press

Play album Play album
01.
Piano Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 2: I. Allegro
03:49
(Ludwig van Beethoven) Cristian Sandrin
02.
Piano Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 2: II. Adagio
04:30
(Ludwig van Beethoven) Cristian Sandrin
03.
Piano Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 2: III. Menuetto. Allegretto
03:14
(Ludwig van Beethoven) Cristian Sandrin
04.
Piano Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 2: IV. Prestissimo
05:02
(Ludwig van Beethoven) Cristian Sandrin
05.
12 Keyboard Sonatas: Sonata No. 2 in D Major: I. Allegretto grazioso
02:57
(Christian Gottlob Neefe) Cristian Sandrin
06.
12 Keyboard Sonatas: Sonata No. 2 in D Major: II. Tempo di minuetto
02:17
(Christian Gottlob Neefe) Cristian Sandrin
07.
Piano Sonata No. 2 in A Major, Op. 2: I. Allegro vivace
06:53
(Ludwig van Beethoven) Cristian Sandrin
08.
Piano Sonata No. 2 in A Major, Op. 2: II. Largo appassionato
05:17
(Ludwig van Beethoven) Cristian Sandrin
09.
Piano Sonata No. 2 in A Major, Op. 2: III. Scherzo. Allegretto – Trio
03:17
(Ludwig van Beethoven) Cristian Sandrin
10.
Piano Sonata No. 2 in A Major, Op. 2: IV. Rondo. Grazioso
07:00
(Ludwig van Beethoven) Cristian Sandrin
11.
12 Keyboard Sonatas: Sonata No. 3 in G Major: I. Vivace
03:18
(Christian Gottlob Neefe) Cristian Sandrin
12.
12 Keyboard Sonatas: Sonata No. 3 in G Major: II. Andante con tenerezza
02:21
(Christian Gottlob Neefe) Cristian Sandrin
13.
12 Keyboard Sonatas: Sonata No. 3 in G Major: III. Allegro assai
02:16
(Christian Gottlob Neefe) Cristian Sandrin
14.
Piano Sonata No. 3 in C Major, Op. 2: I. Allegro con brio
10:28
(Ludwig van Beethoven) Cristian Sandrin
15.
Piano Sonata No. 3 in C Major, Op. 2: II. Adagio
06:48
(Ludwig van Beethoven) Cristian Sandrin
16.
Piano Sonata No. 3 in C Major, Op. 2: III. Scherzo. Allegro
03:24
(Ludwig van Beethoven) Cristian Sandrin
17.
Piano Sonata No. 3 in C Major, Op. 2: IV. Allegro assai
05:22
(Ludwig van Beethoven) Cristian Sandrin
show all tracks

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