Schubert Piano Sonata, D959. Schumann Piano Sonata 2

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: Robert Schumann, Franz Schubert

Label: Masterworks

Media Format: Vinyl

Media Runtime: 0

Mastering:

DDD

Catalogue Number: 44569

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
Sonata for Piano No. 20 Franz Schubert, Composer
Franz Schubert, Composer
Murray Perahia, Piano
Sonata for Piano No. 2 Robert Schumann, Composer
Murray Perahia, Piano
Robert Schumann, Composer

Composer or Director: Robert Schumann, Franz Schubert

Label: Masterworks

Media Format: Cassette

Media Runtime: 0

Mastering:

DDD

Catalogue Number: 40-44569

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
Sonata for Piano No. 20 Franz Schubert, Composer
Franz Schubert, Composer
Murray Perahia, Piano
Sonata for Piano No. 2 Robert Schumann, Composer
Murray Perahia, Piano
Robert Schumann, Composer
Schumann's G minor Sonata here makes its first appearance on CD in this country. (Martha Argerich's DG recording from 1972, coupled with her supersonic Liszt Sonata, is obtainable only from Japan, on 415 064-2; another classic recording is of Richter in concert, part of a two LP set on Pathe Marconi 2C 181 01727/8.)
This is the sonata whose first movement is marked ''as fast as possible'', followed by two requests for extra velocity in the coda. Perahia's choice of basic tempo shows that he is aware of the problem; perhaps too aware. Allowing space for those apparently impossible piu mossos and insuring against the danger of incoherent gabbling are intelligent musical decisions, a more perilous, but ultimately more thrilling, strategy is to start with the sensation of a true prestissimo and then cast caution to the winds in the coda, which is what Argerich and Richter (even more convincingly) manage. I think it can be taken for granted that Perahia offers consistently sensitive phrasing, intelligent structural control, tasteful rubato and nimble fingerwork. What is less strongly projected is the sense of turbulence, of dramatic sweep, of near-delirium as Florestan and Eusebius seize control of Schumann's faculties. If that sounds a rather alarming view of this composer for your taste, Perahia's civilized and beautiful playing may be ideal for you. But you will still have to turn a deaf ear to the prominent swoosh of the damping mechanism in all the quiet passages and to the poor regulation of the instrument around F in the second treble octave, just where Schumann consistently asks the piano to sing.
In general terms the Schubert is not dissimilar. The handling of often problematic textures, the refinement of rhythmic and dynamic nuance, are beyond praise, and Perahia seems incapable of making an ugly sound. The delicacy of the scherzo and the virtuosity of the last pages of the finale are quite outstanding and the only pianistic quibble I would raise is with some imperfectly articulated semiquavers in the scherzo—and to be that fussy with Brendel (on Philips) would mean querying dozens of such points in his recording. But does the extraordinary upwelling in the middle of the slow movement have to be so literally rhythmical? And where is the pain of the surrounding sections so starkly revealed by Brendel? Perahia plays by the book (contrast Brendel in the presto finale coda) and as such gives a more fully realized version of the kind of interpretation essayed by Dalberto (Erato) and Berkowitz (Meridian) Brendel gives his imagination free rein and the vision he conveys is an intense and highly personal one. Perhaps it is no more than the difference between the classical and the romantic views of Schubert, but for me the difference is between an approach which always appeals, never offends but sometimes allows the attention to wander, and one which startles, even repulses, but which is compelling from first note to last.'

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