We reach here the fourth
volume of Joyce Hatto’s Schubert Sonata
traversal. Characterised by clarity
and sympathy hers is a cycle that doesn’t
subject these works to posthumous biography.
Instead a still powerful technique is
harnessed to the complex demands of
these multi-variegated works in which
clarity and directness are the central
features. In the case of the A major
D664 she digs deep into the heroism
of the chordal flourish in the development
section of the opening movement and
whilst she’s not as flowing as someone
like Wilhelm Kempff she enjoys the expressive
songfulness with real lightness. One
of the main points of difference between
pianists such as Kempff and Hatto is
their approach to slow movements. It
is almost invariably the case that he
explores the romantic tracery of the
Andantes whilst she, more aloof perhaps,
maybe intent on exposing the space and
stillness at the heart of the music,
inclines to a more reserved nobility
of utterance. Such is explicitly the
case in the Andante of D664. I greatly
enjoyed her strut in the finale – where
the relatively sedate tempo is accompanied
by fine chording and no forcing of tempo.
Kempff’s control of dynamics is if anything
even finer here and his bass pointing
is enviable indeed.
The B flat was planned
about six months before Schubert’s death
– that’s to say around the time of the
Klavierstücke. Joyce Hatto takes
a less uncertain tone than Kempff in
the long opening movement, taking a
fractionally tighter tempo. The temptation
to adduce a greater weight of significance
to a work such as this is firmly resisted
by Hatto. Her measured sensibility admits
of troubling cross currents – left hand
trills, incipient gravity of tone –
but they are tempered by lyricism and
rippling figuration. Her Andante sostenuto
is tremendously impressive; the depth
and variety of her tone, its calibration
without calculation, is decisively to
the music’s advantage. She imbues it
nevertheless with a spirit of transcendence
that is rightly there and admirable.
Similarly in the Scherzo where Kempff
takes an Allegretto-like stroll, Hatto
stresses the con delicatezza
indication – speed, clarity and a winning
profile. The finale is again fine; maybe
her outbursts lack Kempff’s powerhouse
drama but her playing is still very
well scaled and well judged; the swagger
is in place after all.
This is a particularly
fine example of Hatto’s Schubert playing.
On balance it’s the disc that most impressed
me of the four so far issued in this
series. In its clarity, humanity is
never expunged; in its wisdom, the dark
is never occluded but is subordinate
to the light. As an example of hope
and humanity in music making it marks
a fitting end to this series.
Jonathan Woolf
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Full list of Concert Artist recordings
Joyce Hatto (piano) 