Octo_Russ

Schubert - Piano Sonata 20 [Schiff] 

Well yet another Schubert Piano Sonata, that's three in a row, and only two days ago from playing this same Sonata by Alfred Brendel [20th March 2011], and it's always interesting to compare interpretations, especially when i play two different performances so close together, i really do play my compact discs on a fairly random basis, and that can mean playing the same work twice in a row by different performers, that's the strange world in which i play my compact discs, plus this two disc set of the last Sonatas is complemented by the 4 Impromptus D 899, and i played these last month, and spoke about them in my Blog [7th February 2011].

Andras Schiff is Hungarian, born in 1953, and recorded this Piano Sonata in 1993, he seems to be quite a Schubert specialist, having recorded the complete Schubert Piano Sonatas, it's good to have these three of Schubert's greatest Sonatas on one disc, i like this Decca Double booklet cover picture, a nice sparse picture of a wood of thin trees.

A bright recording, where the treble really sings out, sometimes quite fiercely in fortes, plus the bass can sound quite dull and dead, it doesn't rumble with a nice bloom, but Schiff's playing suits the recording, again i found the first movement the really most sublime, as i've mentioned in other posts, Schiff falls into the staccato camp of Pianists, and Brendel is certainly more towards legato, so Schiff brings out the jumpy rhythms and 'historical-ness' of the piece, also he plays a Bosendorfer, which is a step towards a FortePiano, so his performance can possibly be considered more towards what Schubert himself would have played, also Schiff likes to play exposition repeats in Schubert's Sonatas [here at 4:10], where Brendel does not, and so it is here, and therefore Schiff adds roughly 5 minutes to the performance [16:20 total], about halfway through there's a really nice passage [8:14-9:24], where Schiff plays quick bass beats, while the treble has a nice tune, high and singing [8:14-9:01], but then it turns louder and more angry, with nice stabbings in the mid / upper keyboard, while the bass now plays the melody [9:01-9:24], i mentioned this passage two days ago with Brendel, and it's good to notice it again with Schiff, another excellent view from a different angle with Schiff.

Here's Alfred Brendel playing the first movement on YouTube.