This is an intelligent and surprisingly rare coupling of sonatas.
Beethoven’s final piano sonata and Schubert’s last,
written within seven years each other, make a moving program,
sharing as they do a sense of containing an entire lifetime
of emotion, compassion, longing, pain, and consolation. You
might worry about the prospect of, between Beethoven’s
ending and Schubert’s beginning, 50 minutes of consecutive
slow(ish) movements: arietta, molto moderato, andante. But there
is enough drama, and enough variety, to make this not just bearable
but gratifying.
These two great sonatas - monuments of the literature, the Schubert
described in the booklet as disproof of the notion (which, one
imagines, was never seriously entertained) that Beethoven brought
an end to the sonata genre - are presented to us by Piotr Salajczyk,
turning 30 years old this year, in an audacious international
recording debut. His competence is ever present, and his heart
is in the right place, but in the Schubert one wishes for the
emotional insight and poetic touch of more mature artists.
His Beethoven begins well, clear and immaculately played, with
enough Sturm und Drang to convince. Momentum seems to
lapse ever so slightly a couple times near the end of the first
movement. The arietta, very broadly conceived at 18:16, is very
well done, with the fast ‘swing’ variation telling
joyfully and the ensuing quietest moments near-perfect though
after 12:00 Salajczyk is a little rough in his playing of the
high trills. This of course yields to the really great accounts
(you’ll have your favorites; mine include Pollini, Richter,
and Penelope Crawford), but it is nevertheless very good.
The Schubert receives a broad performance with just the epic
sweep I desire; Salajczyk finds ideal tempos for the first two
movements, allowing the andante to take very satisfying shape
over ten minutes. But there are places where one senses the
difference between good pianism and great: the opening, for
instance, is played very ‘straight,’ without the
softness or delicacy of some of the greats. The scherzo’s
trio, with a slight lack of rhythmic spunk, is another problem
spot. But all of this is still perfectly good - just not remarkable.
The engineering is close and doesn’t inhibit enjoyment,
although I wonder at times if it or the piano is responsible
for the slightly glassy, light sheen on the instrument’s
sound. The booklet satisfyingly ties the two sonatas together,
and the back cover says the recording was sponsored by MaleMen
Magazine. Again: quite worthy, and a coupling that ought to
appear more, but a disc destined to be liked without being loved.
Brian Reinhart
Piotr Salajczyk (piano) 