Much the same comments apply to Paul Berkowitz's Schubert C minor Sonata as to his recording of the A major, D959 (CD CDE84103), which I reviewed in June. His playing makes admirable sense, has a good measure of pianistic control and is by no means insensitive to nuance. But the recording does not flatter him—it sounds at once dry and congested—and comparison with a master Schubertian shows up a lack of individuality in details and a certain cautiousness in the projection of structure.
The master I have in mind in the C minor Sonata is not Badura-Skoda, although his reading is in most respects clearly superior. He shows more insight into the disturbing chromatic excursions of the outer movements, is particularly careful to weigh the meaning of Schubert's silences, and gives the finale a strong dramatic image by jacking up its allegro to allegro assai, or even presto, calling to mind the 'hellish rides' of the D minor and G major Quartet finales. But the technique is distinctly fallible, over and above the pardonable slips of a live performance, and the recording is very constricted and close, possibly in an attempt to minimize persistent audiences noise. No, the classic reading is Radu Lupu's on Decca. He it is who shows how to find the expressive centre of gravity of each phrase, how lyrical ideas can be allowed to yeild in tempo and yet add to an evolving structure, how paragraph can succeed paragraph and movement succeed movement in the service of a compelling overall vision. His recording is on LP only at the moment, but a CD issue surely cannot be long delayed (the coupling is the Moments musicaux).
The three fill-ups on the Meridian issue are all rewarding. The Ungarische Melodie is a delightful piece and the Allegretto is one of Richter's favourite encores (the beginning of the trio section needs more special placing than Berkowitz gives it). The G flat Impromptu shows some beautiful artistic intentions, the magic of the harmonic revelations fully appreciated; but even here the texture is imperfectly controlled (where is the left hand in bar 7, for instance?) and the conception has not quite the inner power to overcome this deficiency.
Badura-Skoda's Schubert is presented by Harmonia Mundi as something of an afterthought to the Beethoven symphony transcription. Unfortunately the latter is all too often marred by smudges when technical obstacles present themselves. When there is not too much going on there is a clearer sense of a distinguished underlying musicianship, and the finale goes rather well (but by then one's expectations have been lowered considerably). No, if you want to hear a performance which does justice to Beethoven's conception, seek out Glenn Gould's (an expensive, not widely available two-CD import, CBS/Sony CD 56BC279/80).'