Since winning the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2009, the Japanese pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii has impressed audiences throughout the world with his technical perfection, refined colouristic sense and breadth of repertoire. Mastery of the most challenging works in the repertoire – including Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit, Beethoven’s Hammerklavier and the third concertos of Prokofiev and Rachmaninov – might be expected of high-level competition entrants, but for a musician blind since birth such feats are astonishing. It is fitting that Tsujii’s first recording for DG should feature the Hammerklavier, for it is a work that helped him garner the Cliburn prize years ago. It is also fitting that this work should be paired with Liszt’s arrangement of Beethoven’s song-cycle, for it was Liszt who is often credited with the first public performance of the Hammerklavier.

Op 106 is Beethoven’s only piano sonata to bear a metronome marking for each movement. Artur Schnabel, the first to record the work, strived to realise these markings but with only limited pianistic success in the fast outer movements. Tsujii sensibly favours clarity over speed. He plays both outer movements with immense vitality and a sure sense of their grand designs. The most difficult passages are clear, and he displays unusual control of touch and colour. During the mighty first movement, with its many fortissimos, his tone is never forced and he subtly observes each indication of dolce, espressivo and cantabile. The Scherzo is played with much humour, especially in the bars before the return of the A section. The great Adagio is perfectly paced, with beautiful control of sound. The final movement is exciting, building with unflagging energy to the cantabile middle section and then driven inexorably to the forceful closing pages.

All in all, this is a memorable Hammerklavier: mature, thoughtful and beautifully controlled. Liszt’s simple and lovely arrangement of the six songs of An die ferne Geliebte is an effective curtain-raiser, thankfully not added as an afterthought to Op 106. The recorded sound is rich and natural, and the essay by Michael Church provides a fine appreciation of Tsujii’s gifts.

This review originally appeared in the SUMMER 2025 issue of International Piano – Subscribe Today