Octo_Russ

Schubert - Piano Sonata 21 [Uchida]

Mitsuko Uchida's Schubert discs are a very welcome addition to the catalogue, i have some of her other discs, notably the Impromptus, and some of the other Sonatas, and she's always an enlightening Schubert advocate, i find her ploughing a fairly middle ground, even though in the past i sense a 'staccato' player, i certainly notice a lovely legato this time, she gives a real sense of the architecture of the whole piece, rather than a flamboyant player showing off in little bursts, one of the main things i love in a Pianist, is the ability to look for the long term musical paybacks in a piece, Pianists like Kempff and Rubinstein were great at that, she's got that trend too. 

Mitsuko Uchida is Japanese, she's now 63 years old, she moved to England, and is now a citizen here, she recorded this work in 1997, the front cover [photo by Walter Schels] shows Uchida in a relaxed moment, a black and white shot, with a dark background, emphasizing the lightened face and the white lettering, certainly the white lettering stands out on the back insert, very nicely placed, well done Philips. 

It was so good to hear this gorgeous work again, it's a mammoth statement from Schubert, and his final Piano Sonata [he died 2 months later], this time i enjoyed the second movement more than usual, but it's still the first movement that has me in awe, it's almost a perfect piano statement, the opening is one of the most inspired utterances Schubert ever made, a grave tune to take your breath away [0:00-1:05], and it just unfolds in the most natural and timeless way, but there's also a dark volatile undercurrent too, i love the way Uchida creates fireworks with the first outburst [1:46-2:17], a variation of the opening tune played at the loud extreme of noise, Uchida plays the exposition repeat [5:45+], with it's own special little connecting bridge back to the beginning, unique music you wouldn't hear without the exposition repeat, this makes the first movement last nearly 22 minutes long, about a minute shorter than the other three movements put together, it shifts the centre of the piece fully onto the first movement, halfway through there's a wistful variation on the opening tune [11:04-11:35], full of sadness, especially the second half of it, and right after Uchida plays the rolling treble notes expertly [11:35-12:17], staccato and legato wonderfully combined, the sombre opening returns again [15:16+], very welcome!, it's a theme that Schubert exploited to it's full potential here, i wonder what a bunch of variations on that original theme would have sounded like from him?, something Brahms or Bach would have revelled in, another memorable musical experience.

Here's Zoltan Kocsis playing the first movement on YouTube.