Another disc that gets it's first spin, i really like Lewis, maybe because he's a Brendel disciple!, i'm usually not the greatest fan of his middle period Sonatas [though i do have a soft spot for Sonata 16], but this sounded so fantastic today, it could easily pass for late Schubert, especially the first movement, i'm still discovering Schubert, and he's still got some tricks up his sleeve that i haven't noticed yet, and Paul Lewis is a great advocate, what a great little 24 minute masterpiece this is.
Paul Lewis is English, he's now 40, he made this recording in 2001, the front cover photo [by Jack Liebeck], is a black & white shot, a good pose, it goes well with the light blue theme, and it's visually well laid out, a lovely disc to own.
The Sonata is cast in three movements, and it was the first movement that blew me away, and it's this first movement that takes over half the works length, it's in the key of A Minor, and there's an underlying sense of tension and conflict there, but there's also some of the most heartwrenching episodes of pure 'unleashment', i like the darkness of it all, Lewis captures the outbursts of anger with some nice fortes, right from the start Schubert creates a murky world, restrained playing by Lewis, the piece seems to get bogged down in the lower depths of the keyboard, but when the opening theme is restated [0:52+], it suddenly explodes into a very exciting forte, there's still that darkness, but now there's real animation too, and then as almost an antidote, Schubert gives us a tender variation [2:04+], and this is where my heart begins to be gripped, the opposites sway the heart, and Schubert can add single 'out of the way' notes which just have me in raptures [3:04], how can just a single note change the whole mood?, Schubert is a master of repetition, and themes and ideas are reused again for the most exquisite effect, of course Schubert has to have what appears to be one of his central episodes [7:03+], but instead it turns into a cascading carillon of bass notes [7:22-7:46], while the treble hammers out chords, now that really gets the hairs on your neck standing up, and Schubert treats us to a jumpy variation of the second theme [8:15-8:54] lots of high treble here, now that's a really satisfying variety to what's gone on before, and Schubert continues to stun me with ideas, there's this very tender variation of a previous theme [10:54-12:04], almost a gentle sort of fanfare, even though there's some fortes towards the end, the very ending is not of the highest calibre Schubert, almost as if he was unsure how to close off the movement satisfyingly, it leaves a finality to it quite open, but the verdict is, that this is one of the greatest movements that Schubert wrote.
Here's Alfred Brendel playing the first movement on YouTube.
Paul Lewis is English, he's now 40, he made this recording in 2001, the front cover photo [by Jack Liebeck], is a black & white shot, a good pose, it goes well with the light blue theme, and it's visually well laid out, a lovely disc to own.
The Sonata is cast in three movements, and it was the first movement that blew me away, and it's this first movement that takes over half the works length, it's in the key of A Minor, and there's an underlying sense of tension and conflict there, but there's also some of the most heartwrenching episodes of pure 'unleashment', i like the darkness of it all, Lewis captures the outbursts of anger with some nice fortes, right from the start Schubert creates a murky world, restrained playing by Lewis, the piece seems to get bogged down in the lower depths of the keyboard, but when the opening theme is restated [0:52+], it suddenly explodes into a very exciting forte, there's still that darkness, but now there's real animation too, and then as almost an antidote, Schubert gives us a tender variation [2:04+], and this is where my heart begins to be gripped, the opposites sway the heart, and Schubert can add single 'out of the way' notes which just have me in raptures [3:04], how can just a single note change the whole mood?, Schubert is a master of repetition, and themes and ideas are reused again for the most exquisite effect, of course Schubert has to have what appears to be one of his central episodes [7:03+], but instead it turns into a cascading carillon of bass notes [7:22-7:46], while the treble hammers out chords, now that really gets the hairs on your neck standing up, and Schubert treats us to a jumpy variation of the second theme [8:15-8:54] lots of high treble here, now that's a really satisfying variety to what's gone on before, and Schubert continues to stun me with ideas, there's this very tender variation of a previous theme [10:54-12:04], almost a gentle sort of fanfare, even though there's some fortes towards the end, the very ending is not of the highest calibre Schubert, almost as if he was unsure how to close off the movement satisfyingly, it leaves a finality to it quite open, but the verdict is, that this is one of the greatest movements that Schubert wrote.
Here's Alfred Brendel playing the first movement on YouTube.
