Young pianists tackling swansong Schubert, a minefield of traps and nuances, venture into treacherous waters. On the evidence of this handsome release, Aimi Kobayashi has what it takes to imagine paradise and illumine the journey. The C minor Sonata, a work she’s lived with since a short-notice masterclass with Leon Fleisher more than a decade ago and with which she graduated from the Curtis Institute in 2022 (having studied under Meng-Chieh Liu), commands for its culture, fine graining and subtleties of detail. Timing and phrasing, breathed rests and pauses no less than singing lines, purposed transitions and crafted articulations (for instance the tricky cross-beat slurs of the finale) are everything. Her conception of the music’s columns and tonal landmarks ensures imposing architectural strength. The lyricism of the A flat major slow movement is delicately watercoloured. Shades of whimsy vein the Menuetto. It all adds up to an enduringly dramatised tapestry of sonata, song and symphony, delivered with honesty to page, sound and era.

Kobayashi’s account of Schubert’s second set of Impromptus resonates with what she calls ‘the charm of a small but strong, shining diamond’, structural cohesion paying dividends in the first and fourth numbers. She strikes a sensitive balance, her playing compellingly ‘right’ and refined. With her husband Kyohei Sorita (second to her fourth in the 2021 Chopin International Competition) she spins an urbane duet reading of the 1828 A major Rondo. The Liszt song arrangements (not on the physical CD but on the digital album) glow in cantabile warmth. 

This review originally appeared in the SPRING 2025 issue of International Piano