BaL 16.12.17 - Schubert: Piano Sonata no. 21 in B flat D960

[Richard Tarleton]

It's been a busy day

Ah, work....I remember that

[Alison]

Ah, work....I remember that

I love Work. I could sit and watch it all day.

[silvestrione]

Re Richter, when compiling the list, I wasn't sure how many versions he recorded, but there do appear to be at least two.

Yes, on Olympia, live from Salzburg in 1972, my favourite (but he does take 24, twenty-four, minutes over the first movement!), and one from 1964, on Living Stage, where the booklet wisely refrains from giving track timings...

[teamsaint]

Tirimo any good in this ?
That box of his looks interesting for one reason and another.

[Petrushka]

Ah, work....I remember that

Two years to go, Richard, and it can't come a moment too soon.

[visualnickmos]

Tirimo any good in this ?
That box of his looks interesting for one reason and another.

Reference Debussy (IMVHO) - Schubert - I haven't heard him.

[Sir Velo]

Norris can be amusing and his Chord of the week was the only item worth bothering with on the truly execrable Proms Plus. However, there is a real sense with his BALs of not seeing the woods for the trees. I have my doubts therefore that this of all piano works will be done justice. In short, I fear he's not a classics DON.

[mikealdren]

Norris can be amusing and his Chord of the week was the only item worth bothering with on the truly execrable Proms Plus. However, there is a real sense with his BALs of not seeing the woods for the trees. I have my doubts therefore that this of all piano works will be done justice. In short, I fear he's not a classics DON.

Worse still, it's a twofer so we will not get a carefully thought out review but a rather rambling discussion, with clumsy, pre-planned point making, that half covers the work in question. ...or I may be completely wrong and we will be delighted!

[BBMmk2]

I would like to know what rec ordings of Schubert's late sonatas be the ones to get, please?

[Keraulophone]

I don't have any Schubert piano sonata recordings, but I do have the volumes in sheet music form, which is perfect for me, as they are more playable than the sonatas of certain other composers, so I can play them on a modern piano, omit exposition repeats and even miss out a few notes, with having to anticipate disapproving sneers. And if I do perform one or more in public, I'd have bigger issues on my mind.

One of my greatest pleasures is to reach for those three green volumes (ed. Howard Ferguson) and sit down at the Bösendorfer (a retirement present to myself) and attempt to do justice to these precious works. I’ve been trying to play the B flat for over forty years (for family ears only!), and unlike EA it seems, I do enjoy listening to the thoughts of the great pianists.

Among my favourites are Schnabel, Curzon, Kempff, Richter (EMI), Lupu, Pires, Sokolov, Kovacevitch, and most recently Zimerman, who has gone to the trouble of adapting the keyboard of his Steinway* especially to play Schubert. Mark Lowther, now on, has just quoted Sir Adrian Boult noticing that every time he heard Elgar conduct Gerontius it sounded different, particularly regarding tempi. Every time I work my way through D960 at the piano is a new and life-enhancing experience. To own and listen to a single recording of this masterpiece would be unthinkable. BAL done properly gives us a guided Spotify-like survey from where we can investigate further.

* Re-reading his note, the piano maker is not actually identified but is a ‘normal piano’ with a keyboard he apparently made himself: “It is designed to create qualities Schubert would have known in his instruments. Compared to a modern grand piano, the hammer strikes a different point of the string, enhancing its ability to sustain a singing sound - though it does also set up different overtones and the piano might sound strangely tuned. Also, the action is lighter. On a modern grand the many repeated notes in Schubert could turn into Prokofiev.”

[Richard Barrett]

I've been looking at these bars, and they do seem incongruous. (...) This is like a cut-and-paste from a different work

Incongruity of course is not an unSchubertian feature, especially in his later music - think of the three piano pieces D946, particularly the second one, where he seems to be not answering but asking the question of what if anything the different sections have to do with one another; or the scherzo/trio relationship in the string quintet; or the slow movement of the A major sonata; there are plenty more examples. In other words the incongruity is quite intentional on Schubert's part, and we can decide for ourselves either to take on board this intrusive moment in the B flat sonata (surely not unrelated to the expressive world of the song "Ihr Bild", to which the movement clearly alludes) or to put it down to bad taste on his part as Brendel does. As far as I'm concerned one of the most compelling features of Schubert's music is its emotional complexity, which I think ought to be taken on board rather than swept under the carpet. The prosecution rests m'lud.

Richter plays the first movement far too slowly if you ask me.

[Keraulophone]

Incongruity of course is not an unSchubertian feature, especially in his later music... the incongruity is quite intentional on Schubert's part...

I couldn’t agree more.

Play the repeat.

(Especially after retirement, when there’s more time, but also before! )

[silvestrione]

[QUOTE=Keraulophone;65137.... Richter (EMI....)[/QUOTE]

Are you sure about that? I didn't know there was a Richter EMI recording for this sonata.

The 1964 Richter version I mentioned is from Aldeburgh, and I see from an online discography that there are versions from 1957 and 1961 also. I wonder if the 1957 is as slow as the later ones?

[Keraulophone]

Are you sure about that? I didn't know there was a Richter EMI recording for this sonata.

You’re right in that it wasn’t recorded by EMI but released by them in the UK. I have it on LP in the EMI box of Melodiya recordings entitled ‘The Art of Richter’. Is it the 1961? It could be the same recording as that reissued by Olympia, though I’m not sure.

https://i.imgur.com/GPTu65V.jpg

[gurnemanz]

I realised I also have Paul Lewis's 2004 version of this sonata which came with the Harmonia Mundi 50th anniversary box set a few years ago. I've just listened again and really enjoyed it. The first movement starts quite slowly, building subtly and offering no repeat (Brendel is his mentor). Beautiful slow movement and very attractive recorded sound. An engaging performance with lots of lovely touches but most likely not an overall "winner" (lack of repeat might not help his cause) but certainly worth a mention.