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Music Lane It's all about the music, dude! Sit down, relax and listen to some tunes. |
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Music Lane It's all about the music, dude! Sit down, relax and listen to some tunes. |
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In Reply to: Schubert Pno Son A min D.845 - Pollini, Uschida, Brendel, or Lupu? posted by Audiophile10000 on September 30, 2009 at 11:04:09:
Audiophile 10000,
Several years ago in Los Angeles, I attended in part the concert series Brendel gave of all the Schubert Sonatas. This came about as I'd long felt Brendel had the best grasp of Schubert's quirky melancholy- Schubert is simultaneously oddly touching and intimate, alternately dark and hopeful and also both delicate and epic. And Brendel, for me, is among the best at keeping all the balls juggled in the air.
Many point more to Beethoven for the architecture of long, long lines, but Schubert did this too and I feel it is more difficult to reveal than Beethoven. Schubert is oddly even more difficult to play than it sounds, there are a lot of aspects that pursued certain harmonies and phrases that are not keyboard idiomatic nor performer oriented.
And Brendel, took all the Sonatas seriously, elevating the lesser known with special quality- try Brendel's rendition of D.664. I would also say that Brendel's performances of the Impromptus and the three final piano compositions, the Drei Klavierstueke D.946 are my favourites. By the way, the Drei Klavierstueke are a don't miss- hauntingly beautiful. These rarely performed or recorded pieces bring tears to my eyes when I contemplate where Schubert might have gone compositionally had he not died at 31.
That said, I have tremendous affection for the Schubert Sonata recordings of Wilhelm Kempff. Kempff, like Brendel has a keen grasp of the immense range of expression and in some ways is more poetic than Brendel, substituting some of the epic architecture for an intense, semi-episodic style. Great, seemless technique too.
Richter is also especially dependable for Schubert, and does everything well. Richter makes Schubert very finely articulate and has a great sense of scale through long phrases and dynamics. I'm not certain that Richter recorded all the Sonatas.
Schnabel's Schubert is something that I recommend very highly, there's a wonderous directness to it- he gets to the point immediately and stays there. An analogy is difficult but if I would say Richter is "electric", then Schnabel is "hydroelectric",.. A Biblical analogy would be that Schnabels' Schubert is the Book of Genesis. I'm not certain that Schnabel recorded all the Sonatas.
It's interesting to compare Schnabel's approach to Schubert and Beethoven and the fact of their contemporaneous careers while having very individual styles is made clear.
My wishful recommendation for Schubert- I would dearly love to hear his approach and I'm not aware of any recordings- would be Ivan Moravec.
Schubert was a complex and deeply insightful composer and the Sonatas are especially difficult to reveal fully. To really hear these works I liken to Beethoven quartets- it requires several versions to derive the full benefit. Exploration is highly rewarded.
Cheers,
Bambi B
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Follow Ups
- Brendel, Kempff, Richter, Schnabel - Bambi B 10/1/0909:22:56 10/1/09 (3)
- Schnabel recorded much of Schubert but I can only find 3 four sonatas. All of them.... - tinear 13:33:42 10/1/09 (2)
- That's about it... - M. Lucky 16:07:02 10/1/09 (1)
- For me, audio is a means to an end. I thoroughly enjoy Rosa Ponselle! nt - tinear 08:07:40 10/2/09 (0)
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