BaL 24.03.12 - Schubert's Piano Sonata in C minor, D.958

[amateur51]

Harriet Smith had her work cut out for her: this is one of the most multi-faceted works in the repertoire, and no single recording/performance can do it full justice. I don't envy her her task, and as it is, I share her high opinion of her "top four", but I would also have to include Lupu, Cooper and Kempff!

Her choice of Uchida fits in with her idea of the work as "unrelentingly tragic" (I can't remember her exact phrase): this is certainly a Winterreise interpretation. (Verismissimo describes it rather politely as "chilly" - I find it "white cold"! An intense reading, not for everyday listening. Personally, I "prefer" those performances which have a wider view of the emotional panorama of the work; the ones that find the dark humour of the Finale (the ones I think Ms Smith may possibly have been referring to when she rather sniffily dismissed those that reminded her of Dick Barton) as well as the horror, the horror.

Wise words

Thanks for the Lupu and Cooper reminders, fhg

[Nick Armstrong]

Do you never sleep, dear Caliban?

Dear verismi, I'm touched by your concern! yes I do! I love sleeping!!

But at the weekends (I have to be reasonably well-behaved during the working week) I let my body-clock take over. I think my 'natural' hours of sleep are between 3am and 11am. One of the joys of the weekend (as long as other commitments don't get in the way).

[ostuni]

A good survey, which helped me to realize that I don't know this sonata as well as I know the other two late ones. And not too potentially expensive, either: I 'only' own 3 versions - Lupu, Staier and Uchida.

But I'm intrigued by fhg's allusion to some versions which are less unremittingly dark. And I liked the snippet of Perahia that I heard. Is he one of them, fhg? Or who else would you recommend? (Maybe I won't end up without spending anything...)

[Nick Armstrong]

Wise words

Thanks for the Lupu and Cooper reminders, fhg

I agree with both of you, fhg and ammy! Though I find I know this piece less well than its two successors.

Am recording the Uchida currently (another reason why an immediate purchase isn't necessary, ams )

It's always been Pollini who gets closest to the nub, in the sort of recorded piano sound I like, in this music.

Some good pointers for further exploration both from Smith on t'radio and from you fhg

(She is a bit 'sniffy' sometimes, isn't she - not enough to put one off completely - but think of the elegance with which Stephen Plaistow would have dealt with similar reservations. In fact I wish he'd been doing this survey... I must have listened to his review of Schumann piano music about 6 times: no more 'listenable' voice in broadcasting, to these ears!)

...helped me to realize that I don't know this sonata as well as I know the other two late ones.

we were writing practically the same words at practically the same time, os!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

But I'm intrigued by fhg's allusion to some versions which are less unremittingly dark. And I liked the snippet of Perahia that I heard. Is he one of them, fhg? Or who else would you recommend? (Maybe I won't end up without spending anything...)

Yes to Perahia, but Lupu, too - and Pollini's "darkness" is shaded differently from Uchida's! (I don't own it, but I think I remember that Paul Lewis begins the Finale in a "lighthearted" way that gives the ending a particularly malevolent tone.)

[ostuni]

we were writing practically the same words at practically the same time, os!

Ah well, us trombonists need to stick together

[aeolium]

I thought this was a good BaL and was glad that Harriet Smith, unlike some reviewers, chose a version that was not a perfectly balanced, 'faultless', middle-of-the-road performance that could offend no-one. Though I haven't in the past cared for some of the Uchida concerts I've heard (especially the Mozart sonatas) I thought this was an impressive recording, my only reservations being some excessive tempo changes and emphases in the slow movement and the relentless speed of the finale occasionally obscuring some details, but it was an intense performance based on a consistent vision.

In this work, as in the great A minor sonata D845, my favourite recordings are by Lupu and Pollini. I loved the broadcast performance by Paul Lewis in a concert of the last three sonatas, but his recording that followed that concert was a bit disappointing imo (possibly for the reasons given in the BaL review) - I wish they had recorded the concert performance instead. Perahia was too uninvolving, a performance that lacked tension and intensity imo. But as fhg says, it's almost impossible to make a definite choice here and quite different performances can be equally compelling in different ways.

[amateur51]

Yes to Perahia, but Lupu, too - and Pollini's "darkness" is shaded differently from Uchida's! (I don't own it, but I think I remember that Paul Lewis begins the Finale in a "lighthearted" way that gives the ending a particularly malevolent tone.)

That was the 'effect' that Demidenko's pace gave it, fhg and it became almost the sound of sonmeone humming to herself to keep the other more alarming noises out

[Dave2002]

That was the 'effect' that Demidenko's pace gave it, fhg and it became almost the sound of sonmeone humming to herself to keep the other more alarming noises out

Although grammatically OK, and your sentence can make sense, I should point out that Demidenko is male.

[DoctorT]

I yield to no-one in my admiration for Murray Perahia, particularly his Bach and Mozart, but I've always found that his recording of the last 3 Schubert sonatas lacks the 'singing' quality which I need to hear in Schubert. Rrom what I heard this morning, I would consider adding the Lupu, but I'm hoping that Paul Lewis re-records the late sonatas, since I've recently been greatly enjoying his new recording of D840, 850 and 894 etc.

[kernelbogey]

[...]I share her high opinion of her "top four", but I would also have to include Lupu, Cooper and Kempff![...]

What were her top four?

[Nick Armstrong]

What were her top four?

Pollini, Schiff, Perahia and Uchida..

[Nick Armstrong]

Although grammatically OK, and your sentence can make sense, I should point out that Demidenko is male.

Maybe Ammy knows something about Demidenko that the rest of us don't??





PS Ams you make me want to hear that Demidenko version! Is his/her performance still available, I wonder...

[amateur51]

Although grammatically OK, and your sentence can make sense, I should point out that Demidenko is male.

Indeed Dave, with a very gingery beard in those days, for incontrovertible maleness. I was suggesting that the person I was imagining doing the humming is female.

I wonder if you have read Virginia Woolf's Orlando, Dave?

[amateur51]

Maybe Ammy knows something about Demidenko that the rest of us don't??





PS Ams you make me want to hear that Demidenko version! Is his/her performance still available, I wonder...

I don't know if he's ever recorded it, Calibs - he's rather an under-recorded artist of late, I feel.

Shame