Schubert Impromptus

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: Franz Schubert

Label: Philips Classics

Media Format: Cassette

Media Runtime: 0

Mastering:

ADD

Catalogue Number: 7300 587

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
Impromptus, Movement: No. 3 in B flat Franz Schubert, Composer
Alfred Brendel, Piano
Franz Schubert, Composer
Impromptus, Movement: No. 4 in F minor Franz Schubert, Composer
Alfred Brendel, Piano
Franz Schubert, Composer
Impromptus, Movement: No. 1 in C minor Franz Schubert, Composer
Alfred Brendel, Piano
Franz Schubert, Composer
Impromptus, Movement: No. 2 in E flat Franz Schubert, Composer
Alfred Brendel, Piano
Franz Schubert, Composer
Impromptus, Movement: No. 3 in G flat Franz Schubert, Composer
Alfred Brendel, Piano
Franz Schubert, Composer
Impromptus, Movement: No. 4 in A flat Franz Schubert, Composer
Alfred Brendel, Piano
Franz Schubert, Composer
Impromptus, Movement: No. 1 in F minor Franz Schubert, Composer
Alfred Brendel, Piano
Franz Schubert, Composer
Impromptus, Movement: No. 2 in A flat Franz Schubert, Composer
Alfred Brendel, Piano
Franz Schubert, Composer
These CD rejuvenations (the two sets of Imprompus were originally recorded 9 and 12 years ago respectively) sound very acceptable. Ther are not so startlingly wide in their dynamic contrasts as some recent CDs (nor should they be: this is Schubert, after all, not Richard Strauss) and the absence of a really hushed pianissimo (which I would have welcomed at, for example, the opening of the A flat Impromptu, D935 No. 2) may be as much an interpretative matter as a technical one. Similarly, the very faint background susuration may be studio atmosphere, not our old enemy tape hiss—it is, at all events, barely perceptible.
Comparing this disc with Brendel's much more recent Schumann coupling (reviewed below), which one is prompted to do by their simultaneous appearance on CD in virtually identical packaging, reveals more interestingly a noticeable difference in the sound of the piano. It may very well be the same instrument, for aught I know, but turning from one recording to the other is rather like putting on a different pair of ears. The slightly veiled quality here, emphasized by a touch of reverence, could well be accounted for by a different studio or a different microphone set-up; it is certainly warmer than in the Schumann, more 'romantic', even. Which appropriately parallels Brendel's approach to the music, his customary sharp intelligence joined to great affection and enjoyment of the music's quiddity. These are performances that I hope to return to often, and the fact that they will not, on CD, have gathered a rash of inexplicably acquired surface noises by the time I next play them is as much a relief as it is an advantage.'

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