1 Sem 2013 - Part Three

András Schiff

Franz Schubert - Complete Piano Sonatas & Impromptus



By Patsy Morita
When András Schiff completed the recording of all of Schubert's piano sonatas in the 1990s, Decca released a box set containing all of the individual discs from the series. For this 2011 reissue, Decca goes one step further and includes Schiff's recordings of the Impromptus, the Moments musicaux, and several other shorter works. Schubert's music, along with that of Bach and Mozart, is one of the cornerstones upon which Schiff built his reputation as a thoughtful and intelligent performer. Anyone looking for a complete set of the Schubert sonatas could do much worse than to choose this one by one of the foremost Schubert interpreters of his generation.

By Sébastien Melmoth (Hôtel d'Alsace, PARIS) 
OMG!--finally a re-release of Schiff's Schubert Sonatas, so long-awaited, so superb.
Critics were unsure of themselves when this set appeared in the late-1990s, because it was so utterly remarkable.
Firstly, Schiff went to the national library in Vienna to research Schubert's original manuscripts: this is significant because even the finest published editions contain mistakes in expressive orthography. Schiff explains that many of Schubert's manual notations are so microscopic that they have been easily mistaken. Through his vital studies, Schiff brings an unparalleled new reading and realization.
Schiff takes all repeats, shunning to cut anything: he sees this as imperative to Schubert's musical architechtonics--and he is right in doing so.
Thirdly, Schiff purposefully chose to perform on a quintessentially classic Viennese piano: a Bösendorfer Grand Salle. This enormous grand piano has a stronger key action than the Steinway; moreover, the Bösendorfer exibits a remarkably soft, gentle, yet clear pastel tone.
Lastly, Schiff also recorded some significant individual piano pieces which are thought to be movements from "unfinished" sonatas. These are real gems.
The Impromptus are given the same treatment by Schiff: no artist has given them a better performance.
Kempff and Arrau are great with Schubert; but really for a complete sonata cycle there is none finer than Schiff's.

Tracks: 

disc 1
Piano Sonata in E major, D 157
1-1. Allegro, ma non troppo 8:25
2-2. Andante 6:56
3-3. Menuetto: Allegro vivace - Trio 4:12
Piano Sonata in A major, D 664
4-1. Allegro moderato11:07
5-2. Andante 4:12
6-3. Allegro 8:33
Piano Sonata in E major, D 459 "Fünf Klavierstücke"
7-1. Allegro moderato 7:07
8-2. Scherzo: Allegro 4:44
9-3. Adagio 5:33
10-4. Scherzo: Allegro - Trio: Più tardo 3:30
11-5. Allegro patetico 6:58

disc 2
Piano Sonata in C major, D 840 "Reliquie"
1-1. Moderato 16:59
2-2. Andante 9:51
Piano Sonata in A minor, D 845
3-1. Moderato 11:27
4-2. Andante, poco mosso 11:54
5-3. Scherzo: Allegro vivace - Trio: Un poco più lento  7:52
6-4. Rondo: Allegro vivace  5:24
7- Piano Sonata in F sharp minor, D 571  7:05

disc 3
Piano Sonata in E minor, D 566
1-1. Moderato 6:04
2-2. Allegretto 8:19
Piano Sonata in A minor, D 784
3-1. Allegro giusto 12:24
4-2. Andante 4:11
5-3. Allegro vivace 5:47
Piano Sonata in D major, D 850
6-1. Allegro vivace 9:21
7-2. Con moto 11:07
8-3. Scherzo: Allegro vivace - Trio 8:47
9-4. Rondo: Allegro moderato 8:48

disc 4

Piano Sonata in A flat major, D 557
1-1. Allegro moderato 4:15
2-2. Andante 3:36
3-3. Allegro 4:49
Piano Sonata in B major, D 575
4-1. Allegro, ma non troppo 8:42
5-2. Andante 5:21
6-3. Scherzo: Allegretto 5:24
7-4. Allegro giusto 5:39
Piano Sonata in G major, D 894
8-1. Molto moderato e cantabile 16:46
9-2. Andante 7:53
10-3. Menuetto: Allegro moderato - Trio 4:29
11-4. Allegretto 9:19

disc 5
Piano Sonata in E flat major, D 568
1-1. Allegro moderato 9:58
2-2. Andante molto 5:28
3-3. Menuetto: Allegro - Trio 4:31
4-4. Allegro moderato 9:37
Piano Sonata in C minor, D 958
5-1. Allegro 11:02
6-2. Adagio 7:44
7-3. Menuetto: Allegro - Trio 2:59
8-4. Allegro 9:22

disc 6
Piano Sonata in A minor, D 537
1-1. Allegro, ma non troppo 11:14
2-2. Allegretto, quasi Andantino 8:18
3-3. Allegro vivace 4:55
Piano Sonata in A major, D 959
4-1. Allegro 16:27
5-2. Andantino 7:17
6-3. Scherzo: Allegro vivace 5:13
7-4. Rondo: Allegretto 12:24

disc 7
Piano Sonata in C major, D 279
1-1. Allegro moderato 9:23
2-2. Andante 5:11
3-3. Menuetto: Allegro vivace - Trio 3:41
Piano Sonata in F minor, D 625
4-1. Allegro 7:34
5-2. Scherzo: Allegretto - Trio 4:41
6-3. Allegro 5:58
Piano Sonata in B flat major, D 960
7-1. Molto moderato 20:03
8-2. Andante sostenuto 9:00
9-3. Scherzo: Allegro vivace con delicatezza - Trio 3:58
10-4. Allegro, ma non troppo 9:14

disc 8
1-Hungarian Melody in B minor, D 817 3:50
- 4 Impromptus, D 899
2-No. 1 in C minor: Allegro molto moderato 10:10
3-No. 2 in E flat major: Allegro 4:53
4-No. 3 in G flat major: Andante 5:21
5-No. 4 in A flat major: Allegretto 7:50
- 6 Deutsche Tänze, D 820
6-No. 1 in A flat major: Tempo giusto 0:33
7-No. 2 in A flat major 1:00
8-No. 3 in A flat major 1:00
9-No. 4 in B flat major 0:49
10-No. 5 in B flat major 1:03
11-No. 6 in B flat major 1:40
- Moments musicaux, D 780
12-Book 1: No. 1 in C major: Moderato 6:26
13-Book 1: No. 2 in A flat major: Andantino 6:27
14-Book 1: No. 3 in F minor: Allegro moderato 2:04
15-Book 2: No. 4 in C sharp minor: Moderato 5:37
16-Book 2: No. 5 in F minor: Allegro vivace 2:31
17-Book 2: No. 6 in A flat major: Allegretto 7:32
18-Grazer Galopp, D 925 2:10

disc 9
1-Allegretto in C minor, D 915 5:14
- 3 Klavierstücke, D 946
2-No. 1 in E flat minor: Allegro assai - Andante - Andantino 7:48
3-No. 2 in E flat major: Allegretto - L'istesso tempo 10:38
4-No. 3 in C major: Allegro 5:17
5-12 Deutsche Tänze (Ländler), D 790 10:28
- 4 Impromptus, D 935
6-No. 1 in F minor: Allegro moderato 10:31
7-No. 2 in A flat major: Allegretto 6:22
8-No. 3 in B flat major: Theme (Andante) and variations 11:32
9-No. 4 in F minor: Allegro scherzando 6:30