Schubert - Piano Sonata 19 [Uchida] It was good to listen to the other Piano Sonata on this disc today, i listened to Sonata 20 six months ago [8th February 2011], and Uchida is a wonderful Schubert interpreter, well worth hearing her views on these works.
Mitsuko Uchida is Japanese, now 62, she is now a British citizen, and resides in London, she made this recording in 1997, the booklet front cover shows a side profile black & white picture of Uchida, though in fact there's no real black in the photograph, but merely dark greys, the back insert shows the same picture but larger, and the lettering around the dark areas, a nice concept, it's surprising why more side profile head and shoulder pictures are not taken and used.
Schubert seems to throw the weight of his Piano Sonatas on the first movement, which he makes the longest, plus exposition repeats in the first movements make things even longer, and here it's the first movement that i found the most dramatic, Uchida is given an excellent Philips sound, warm as in the Philips way, with the bass sounding slightly blunted and blurred, rather than angry and growling, the movement alternates between virtuoso angry outbursts, and a more complex and faster dance rhythms, with somewhat of a different central section for variety, it's a lovely ongoing rush, lots of drama, and Uchida keeps it going, never dragging by playing some interesting snippet slow, a really nice interpretation.
Here's Alfred Brendel playing the first movement on YouTube.
