Comparison Recordings:
Johanna Martzy, Jean Antonietti, EMI
LP
Michelle Auclaire, Genevieve Joy, Erato
LP
These are "Beethovenian"
performances, strong and angular, sometimes
verging on the ponderous, at times fragile
to the point of vaporous despair. Personally
I prefer my Schubert with grace and
lightness, slightly understated, but
music as great as this can allow for
— no, demands — a variety of approaches
to reveal its many levels of beauty.
Some will find this performance outrageous,
intolerable; others will hail it as
nobly powerful, the greatest ever done.
Did I say Beethovenian?
I think I mean Mussorgskian. Do you
see Schubert as cataloguing the 57 varieties
of Slavic depression in the depths of
a Moscow famine winter? Afanassiev apparently
does, and he plays these sonatinas as
written — "Sonatas for piano with
violin accompaniment." The poor
violinist flutters around like a hungry
wailing bird, now following in snowy
footsteps, despairing at getting anyone’s
attention.
How adventuresome are
you?
Paul Shoemaker
David Grimal, violin; Valery Afanassiev, piano