It is all too easy
to assume that the character of a piece
of music reflects the composer’s life
at the time. The starkness tending to
anger of the Sonata D845, at least in
its opening movement, might suggest
a period of difficulty, even of frustration,
in Schubert’s life in 1825. In fact,
his reputation was growing steadily;
press notices for his songs were favourable,
Schubertiads featuring his great singer-friend
Vogl were popular and important works
like the C major Mass D452 were published
in that year. The summer saw a four-month
holiday with Vogl in Upper Austria,
one of the happiest periods of Schubert’s
life.
And yet we have the
A minor Piano Sonata, a work far removed
from the conception of Schubert as lyrical
song writer. The first movement is a
stormy narrative full of pianistic incident;
pauses, repeated notes and octaves,
but not the sort of flowing, broken-chord
accompaniment so otherwise typical of
Schubert. The result is a tone-poem
where the Fritz piano of 1825 is in
its element, its ‘special effects’,
particularly the doubly-felted moderator
pedal, being put to colourful use. But
I should say right now that this CD
isn’t just about period performance
and historical accuracy. Andreas Staier
is a great Schubert pianist whatever
the piano; he uses the capabilities
of the instrument at his disposal, but
he uses them in a way that completely
serves Schubert’s dramatic conception.
This is committed playing that rivals
any of the finest modern instrument
recordings (Uchida or Brendel, for example).
The other movements
fare just as well. Staier is responsive
to the capriciously varied figurations
of the apparently untroubled Andante
second movement, contrasting the delicate
waltz lilt of the second variation with
the strong octaves of the fourth. His
touch in the darkly skittish Scherzo
with its unsettling five-bar phrases
and rude sfzorzandi is exemplary
in its light and bouncing springiness
as is his use of the piano’s contrasting
registers and effects to clarify the
music. The folksy trio irresistibly
suggests Schubert, a drink in his hand,
in the snug of a country pub deep in
the Bohemian countryside. The soft impact
of the Fritz’s hammers is ideal here.
The finale features
a struggle between a flowing theme and
a stronger one in octaves. Halfway through,
the octaves stamp in triumph but the
victory is short-lived and the slightly
melancholy first theme runs on as though
unstoppable. Staier characterises strongly
as he does throughout the whole sonata.
‘Piano Pieces’ is a
modest name for some powerful music,
although, rather than Schubert, it seems
to have been Brahms who (anonymously)
called them that in his edition of 1868.
They are products of Schubert’s last
year and take a worthy place beside
the mighty sonatas D858-860. As in his
performances of those sonatas he recorded
in 1997, Staier gets to the heart of
Schubert’s mixture of tenderness and
anger. Even if you have these works
in your collection ten times over, add
this CD for fresh insights and true
Schubertian understanding.
Roger Blackburn
Andreas Staier (piano) 