SCHUBERT The Piano Masterworks Volume 1.
Franz SCHUBERT
CD1
Allegretto in C minor D915
Four Impromptus D935
Sonata in B flat D960
CD2
Sonata in A, D664
Fantasie in C D760
Sonata in G D894
Anthony Goldstone (piano).
DIVINE ART 2-1202 2
CDs. [77.28 and 73.36 respectively]
(DDD)
Divine Art
Record Company
Excellent sound and beautiful, well-shaped performances of admirable elegance
and supreme style. If you like Schubert you can but love these discs.
The Allegretto is a pretty tune but it is nothing else. It is played with
loving devotion, expertly judged nuances but, as Arthur Rubinstein said "The
only thing in its favour is its brevity."
The Impromptus are also superbly played but the music is full of repetition,
tedious clichés, predictable harmonies and there is no real or substantial
contrast or drama, no tension, no satisfactory form or logic just the same
main theme chuntered out time and time again. For me, this makes the music
over-blown and tedious. Well might my critics say that the melodies are glorious.
Yes, I will agree but there is little else and this is one of the many reasons
why I do not like Schubert. He could say all his thematic material in a third
of the time he expends on these impromptus and that complaint can be made
of much of his work. It has been said by many musicians that Schubert's music
is inconsequential but excellent background music; not good enough to pay
attention to. Be that as it may. Once you have heard the tune ten times in
each piece you get fed up with it. Neither do I like Schubert's vamping style
and Alfred Cortot said the same so I am in good company.
This music is like Jane Austen novels. They may have a charm but nothing
of any real consequence happens whereas, by contrast, in Charles Dickens,
and in the great Beethoven, things do happen.
The Second Impromptu highlights my case. The tune, although very slightly
varied, is played eight times in the first minute, twelve times in two minutes
and sixteen times in the first three minutes. This over-saturation is very
boring and makes me quake at the designation that Schubert wrote masterworks
which, I presume, is another way of saying 'masterpieces'. This reminds me
of the end of Britten's War Requiem where two men sing to each other, Let
us sleep now non-stop for the last four minutes. Pop musicians, if we can
call them that, do it all the time. The pop group Blur, who certainly need
lessons in diction, have a song with the repeated phrase 'In the country'
sung thirty six times in about three minutes to the same melodic line. Absolutely
awful!
Hello ..., five minutes into this Second Impromptu and what have we got?
That same tune and.. guess what? ... it is repeated time and time again.
The Third Impromptu has a main theme, again slightly varied, which comes
eight times in succession in a minute. Now, is that excessive or not? The
theme is flogged to death but won't lie down. The music is lightweight but
this could be said of much of Schubert's music
The Fourth Impromptu may be the best of the bunch. It has a scherzo flavour
but all the many faults that I have already mentioned are still there.
The Sonata in B flat is the same vein. The opening movement is far too long
to sustain the scant material at 18 minutes and the constant repetitions
are really tedious. If you can put up with all these endless repetitions
then you will enjoy this superior performance. The main theme is a good one
and Goldstone has the ideal interpretation. The variety he brings to the
theme does a great deal to ease ennui but what is so tellingly obvious is
his love for this music. You won't find a better champion. His fingerwork
and integration makes the piece bearable. Again, the sound quality is excellent.
Richter used to play Schubert in concerts very slowly and with all the lights
out! He was a really eccentric player. I remember his making a first movement
of a Schubert sonata 29 minutes long. Ugh! In the D major sonata, not on
these discs, he made the passage of nothing but broken chords over seven
minutes long! Really dreadful!
The second movement of the B flat sonata bored me to frustration and always
has. The scherzo and trio benefit from brevity, if I can use Rubinstein's
phrase and the finale is lightweight although Goldstone does his utmost to
maintain interest.
The D major Sonata has a very good theme but guess what Schubert does to
it? Yes, you've got it in one. It is done to death like a meal that has been
in the oven too long. The melody keeps recurring as do Schubert's other devices
but where is the drama, the tension, the contrast, the counterpoint, the
clever modulations that one finds in Beethoven, the melodic variation, imitation
and how many times does that tune appear in ten minutes? I have lost count.
The Andante left me cold and with the desire that it would hurry up and end.
It reminded me of that wonderful story when Sir Alexander Gibson took his
young son to see him conduct Elgar's Second Symphony. After the concert,
Sandy asked his son if he thought the Elgar was too long.
The reply was, "Ach, nae, Daddy. It were nae too long. It just seemed too
long!"
To return to the Schubert. The finale has a slight scherzo feel but is so
typically Schubertian lightweight material. The quasi-waltz style was
infuriatingly banal. One expects sonatas to have depth and purpose.
The Wanderer Fantasy is well-named and epitomises Schubert. It wanders and
keeps coming back to the same signpost, the main theme. It has a good theme,
a splendid signpost as it were, but we walk a few yards and come back to
the same signpost to seek direction. It really is very tedious!
The G major Sonata should not receive any comment from me. I have used restraint
and tried to be positive. But this piece is simply a waste of space and time.
I would rather watch paint dry on a lovely summer's day. Listening to this
sonata filled me with ire. It is an unmitigating bore. However, I do know
people who love it and I respect them for it.
But... .Mr Goldstone is really superb.
Perhaps these discs should not have been sent to me for review. Nonetheless
I have to be honest.
In Murray Schafer's book 'British Composers in Interview' one composer reminds
us that Schubert wrote a theme several times in succession, left empty bars,
wrote the theme again, left empty bars and so on, filling them in later.
Rather like laying the footings of a new house and then building and fitting
the roof before the walls etc. Daft!
David Wright
