Schnabel’s wartime
American Beethoven recordings in this
RCA twofer have always been less often
reissued than his more famous pre-War
sets. That they have generally been
less well appreciated is, I think, also
true. But they are handily compiled
here and make strong claims on the Schnabel
admirer, even one who has that earlier
complete sonata cycle or the Sargent-led
Concerto recordings. In Op.109 we can
hear again the remarkable sense of space
and span in his playing and, for all
that he was chided as professorial,
the naturally unforced eloquence of
the last movement. As with Op.111 –
where the first movement is more measured
and the passagework tends to be more
considered – these remakes are less
volatile and full of momentum than the
earlier discs. The Arietta theme of
Op.111 is a case in point but throughout
both these sonata performances one feels
slightly less of a sense of pressing
Schnabelian-Beethovenian rhetoric than
his earlier self. Though I should add
that they still occupy an important
place in the discography, still profoundly
indicative of Schnabel’s eminence in
the repertoire.
The Concertos, in a
sense, share the same trajectory as
the sonatas. Stock was a fine, much-underrated
conductor (as a Biddulph release graphically
illustrates) and no time beater, as
he was often caricatured. Nevertheless
some of the transitional moments in
the Fourth sound a mite forced and some
of the orchestral sonorities are a bit
fatly saturated (in the first movement)
or not clearly defined (in the finale).
Schnabel sustains musical concentration
throughout and is energised and strong
boned in the finale (and hear him keep
the pedal down at the end). I like the
Emperor even more – from the pompous
horns, all puffed up and preening, through
the rapt direction of the slow movement
(even when you feel it could be quicker
you realise the rightness of Schnabel’s
tempo in absolute terms) and then to
the finale – full of caprice and fun.
But I’m afraid I didn’t
get on with the transfers. In the concertos
surface noise comes and goes – it’s
always better to have a uniform level
of 78 crackle than to have it intrude
and recede – and there are pre-echoes
in the sonatas (badly in the opening
movement of Op.111) and scrunches on
fortes. I could add that the sonatas
sound as if they need a treble boost
as well. So an important set then –
compromised by indifferent transfers.
Jonathan Woolf
Artur Schnabel (piano) 