BaL 28.02.14 - Schubert: Piano Sonata no 20 in A D959

[JFLL]

I have Brendel (1972) and Lupu, both of which are very fine in their different ways, IMHO. But I wish Clifford Curzon had recorded this, as I'm very fond of his D.850 and D.960.

[waldo]

I have Brendel (1972) and Lupu, both of which are very fine in their different ways, IMHO. But I wish Clifford Curzon had recorded this, as I'm very fond of his D.850 and D.960.

I have never understood the appeal of Brendel - especially in Schubert. He seems to suck the mystery out of it all and smooth over all the bumps and edges. His left hand playing is just so limp and muffled. (His refusal to play the repeat of D960, with its spikey eight bar turnaround, speaks volumes..........). But I agree with you about Curzon. A real pity he didn't do more Schubert.

[richardfinegold]

I hope you weren't struck down in mid-sentence.

I confirm that we are both attached to the same Brendel performance.

Family emergency. Now resolved

[silvestrione]

I believe the recordings stem from the 70s, although they are astoninishingly good, perhaps the most realistically captured Piano sound that I have ever heard.

Glad to see you saying that: those recordings (especially also the Schubert G Major Sonata) have always seemed to me the best that can be done on record with piano sound, even though from 70s. Performances to match! Can't understand Waldo's view on Brendel at all...Everything wonderfully characterised and coloured, and shaped: so you sense the structure, the sonata-form argument (first movements), as well as hearing the poetry.

[Nick Armstrong]

Family emergency. Now resolved

[Barbirollians]

It is rather disappointing to have D959 again just eight years or so after the last BAL rather than D664.

[richardfinegold]

Glad to see you saying that: those recordings (especially also the Schubert G Major Sonata) have always seemed to me the best that can be done on record with piano sound, even though from 70s. Performances to match! Can't understand Waldo's view on Brendel at all...Everything wonderfully characterised and coloured, and shaped: so you sense the structure, the sonata-form argument (first movements), as well as hearing the poetry.

Agree completely .
I also have Klien, Uchida, Schiff, Lupu Kempff, and Adneses. I had no idea that I had accumulated so many versions! I will be giving all except the Sciff a spin in the next few weeks. For the last several months, it's been Brendel .

[Karafan]

I am currently exploring this very reasonable little boxset from Badura-Skoda, for those interested in hearing the oeuvre sur instruments d'époque.

It is never less than a fascinating listen. I think the same alcopop-addled teenage interns referred to earlier were responsible for the contents here - it is the "complete" Schubert piano sonatas, sans the sonata in D flat, D567. The set is also very nicely presented for the price and the booklet contains images of the various forte pianos he used, all from his own extensive collection of original instruments.

K

[MickyD]

I would have gone for the Badura-Skoda set some time ago, but the closeness of the recording put me off. I much prefer the sort of acoustic that is given by BIS to Ronald Brautigam in his Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven cycles.

[silvestrione]

This is a popular work with the Third Programme/Radio 3. I'm pretty sure there were two Interpretations On Records on it: the first being mostly a demonstration that the Schnabel version offered everyone else a masterclass in how to interpret the work. The second was possibly by Stephen Plaistow: whoever it was, I remember much praise for Lupu, for picking up the work's 'Mozartian' qualities.

I also think it has been done twice on BL (if so, further evidence of how haphazard the choice of works is: the great G Major Sonata has never been done?). Brendel figured prominently on both I think, and, as has been said, his earlier Phillips recording 'won' last time. The time before, his digital version was preferred (though I'm not sure it was the winner), for its darker view of the sonata. Now there is the third, 'live' version. In one of these two BLs, the very good point was made that hardly anyone respected the quaver rest in the first bar of the theme in the last movement, so robbing it of a Viennese flavour. Only Schiff was found to honour it.

I love both the Brendel studio versions, and have a soft spot for Christoph Eschenbach also, and admire the Schnabel and Serkin versions (the later severe but with an overwhelming integrity). Must listen to Uchida again!

[gurnemanz]

I would have gone for the Badura-Skoda set some time ago, but the closeness of the recording put me off. I much prefer the sort of acoustic that is given by BIS to Ronald Brautigam in his Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven cycles.

I did get the Badura-Skoda box (partly nugded into it when I found it for only £12 at Europdisc last year) and it is well worth having, but I know what you mean about the acoustic. Much mellower both in acoustic and fortepiano tone, though quite fast, is Melvyn Tan. This was an early CD purchase (1991), such that I had almost forgotten I had it. Just played it again for the first time in ages and enjoyed it very much. Not on the Alpine list above, though apparently still available.

[clive heath]

The Schnabel is on my site

http://www.cliveheathmusic.co.uk/transcriptions_13.php

during the procedure of re-recording I was assisted in the musical content by the erudite analysis that came with many 78 albums in the form of a small leaflet with selections of the score printed to accompany the text and illustrate the main themes of the movements. I was a little surprised to find that Schnabel could be heard to deviate (in to my mind significant ways) from what the score said in nearly all of the 8 or so examples. I was reminded of this some time back by Jean's comment about the tyranny of the score on another thread. It is a paradox to me that great performances can be more true to the perceived spirit of a composition than to the actual composition itself.

[silvestrione]

I heard a great live performance by Pollini in the 1970s, in the Royal Festival Hall, which is actually available, in poor sound, on Youtube. His studio version, though good, does not have the same poetic intensity, in my view. Nor did his performance in a recent recital there, repeating the 1970s one in playing the last three sonatas. On that recent occasion, it was the last sonata that got the great performance, I felt.

Arrau gives an impressive, dark view. No-one else I've heard makes as much of the turn to the minor in the second half of the scherzo.

[verismissimo]

Wonderful performance from 1990 by Geoffrey Saba. NLA it seems. Full of drama and forward momentum that is lacking in Uchida IMO.

[visualnickmos]

A pity that it appears that Richter never recorded this one - his recordings of some Schubert on the Regis/Alto label are absolutely marvellous