Franz SCHUBERT (1797-1828)
Piano Sonatas - Volume 3
Sonata in E-flat major D568 (1817) [33:17]
Sonata in C minor D958 (1828) [33:41]
Vladimir Feltsman (piano)
rec. 25 March 2015, Wyastone Leys, Monmouth, UK
NIMBUS ALLIANCE NI6333 [66:58]
This is the third in a series of six volumes of Schubert’s
piano sonatas which will be completed by the release of the remaining three
during 2017 (reviews of Volume
1 ~ Volume
2). I have already very positively reviewed the first two volumes and
can extend the same welcome to this latest issue; Vladimir Feltsman is surely
one of the most gifted and versatile of pianists active today and his output
for Nimbus has been first rate.
Feltsman has a very firm, precise and sonorous touch which bespeaks great
clarity of purpose and tends to reinforce the idea that Schubert inhabits
a more rigorously “classical” milieu, yet his passionate,
impetuous phrasing and constant nuancing of dynamics conversely suggest a
more “Romantic” sensibility. Thus his playing of Schubert is simultaneously
both lucid and mysterious, as befits such complex, searching music. The notes
he provides himself reveal an almost mystical response to and relationship
with it.
The first sonata was composed by Schubert when he was only twenty years old
but revised in 1826 then published posthumously. It contains an unusually
sombre Andante molto and Menuetto which Feltsman interprets very soulfully,
thereby emphasising the playful insouciance of the ensuing Allegro moderato
with its “chuckling” theme in waltz time.
D958 is evidently greater, more profound music, a restless work to which the
mercurial Feltsman adapts his style accordingly. The heroic influence of Beethoven
is very apparent, both intrinsically in the score itself and in Feltsman’s
deliberate accentuation of that quality; this is weighty, dramatic playing
of great intensity.
There is no shortage of competitive recordings from a host of great pianists
but the excellence of the playing and sound quality ensures that no-one who
invests in this latest volume will feel short-changed.
Ralph Moore
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