Schubert - 3 Klavierstucke [Brendel]
The third Schubert disc from Brendel in my Blog this month, of Brendel's newer Schubert series, seems like he's getting a lot of exposure, i've got a soft spot for Schubert's Piano Sonata 16, however in listening to this disc it's the 3 Klavierstucke that amazed me more, considered to be Impromptus like his earlier sets, it was originally conceived to contain a fourth piece, to be exactly like the other sets, but the fourth never materialized, these pieces are wonderful, and are worthy to be called Impromptus, and live in that exalted company with them, and Brendel seems to get the very feel of these pieces spot on.
Alfred Brendel is Austrian, he is now 81 years old, the photography for this series was done by Gabriela Brandenstein, all black & white photography, this one shows Brendel with life mask of Schubert.
All three of these pieces are wonderful, but i find the second to be of the highest order, a strange yet simple structure, here's the timings below,
A, C & E are the short song-like main theme, the glue if you will that holds the stack together, another analogy is like it's a 'double sandwich', where the opening / closing melody are like slices of bread, and the extra middle slice separates the two different main fillings [B & D], i think it's called a 'club sandwich', anyway enough of the food analogy, next i'll be giving you the recipe!, the slices of bread are all the same thickness, but the ingredients / fillings are much more thicker, especially the second one, The opening is a gorgeous little melody, could easily have been used as a theme with a bunch of variations after it, the first 'filling / trio' changes things from Major to Minor, and brings in a sense of turbulence, the staccato trills are stammered in the right hand [1:16-2:12], there's forte and brighter passages, but the return of the main theme is ingenious [3:33-4:48], stated simply just like at the beginning, but somehow it's taken on a new meaning the second time, and then comes another Minor episode in A Flat Minor [4:48-6:14], this one is tremendously fantastic, it has an irresistible rocking rhythm to it, the right hand lies higher up in the treble, and there's a certain mimicking of bells, they're absolutely gorgeous, and then comes a darker section [6:14+], but it soon returns to the opening of this section, the highlight of the whole piece is this ingredient, finally of course the piece returns to the very opening, and yet again the opening melody startles, and it's a great way to finish the piece, Brendel is a master at bringing out the very best in Schubert.
Here's the Second Klavierstucke being played on YouTube, however some of the repeats are missing, that's why a good couple of minutes are shaved off.
A - 0:00-1:16 [1:16]
B - 1:16-3:33 [2:17]
C - 3:33-4:48 [1:15]
D - 4:48-9:08 [4:20]
E - 9:08-10:36 [1:24]
