Kodama Unifies Sonatas With Passion

For all his storied wildness, Beethoven was as much about bringing things together musically as he was about breaking them apart. His most disruptive gestures and seam-splitting exuberances are purposefully motivated, or so Mari Kodama suggested at the Huntington Library this weekend, continuing her multi-season traversal of the composer’s piano sonatas for Southwest Chamber Music.

Kodama had a relatively temperate agenda with which to make this point. She opened in casual grace with Opus 79, Sonata No. 25 in G. It does not take much exaggeration to fill this little piece with quirky omens of the late sonatas, but Kodama seemed content with charm and elegance, leaving the portents placidly understated.

Dramatic, psychological and musical integration came to the fore as she continued with Beethoven’s first two sonatas from Opus 2, No. 1 in F minor and No. 2 in A. Kodama did not resort to expressive extremes, trusting Beethoven’s calculations in matters of weight, shape and force. Cohesion was gained with no loss of impact or immediacy.

The third sonata of Opus 2, an arduous challenge honestly met Saturday, closed the program. If one had to choose highlights from a recital where unity and cumulative effect were the ruling orders, they would have to be the adagios from the Opus 2 sonatas. Kodama built each with intelligently measured power and passionate conviction.

She reserved her richest, most varied sound, however, for the “Pathetique” Sonata, No. 8 in C minor. Kodama made the rhetorical introduction a compelling demand for attention, a gathering of focus for herself and her listeners alike. She took an unsentimental view of the famous work, vehemently but swiftly articulated with sinuous energy and great clarity of purpose and texture.