Roll up, roll up! This box reminds
me of one of those market stall salesmen:
‘Look at this, six CDs, a complete
set of Schubert sonatas,
well reviewed by some of the most respected
names in the business. What do you think
it’s worth, £30? I’m not even
going to sell it to you for £25
ladies and gentlemen, how about £20
? Six CDs – for just £20…’
Before you know it, they are going like
hot cakes over the counter, and quite
rightly so.
Either that, or there’s something wrong.
Well, there is nothing amiss with the
recordings. Clear and resonant, the
piano is a nice sounding instrument,
full of character, singing treble and
weighty bass. The booklet notes are
straightforwardly informative, and the
whole production has a general air of
good quality. All of the CDs here have
been released previously, and have been
generally well received in reviews.
The only real difference I can see with
this set is that the CDs have been numbered
1-6 on the booklets. Looking at some
other ‘complete’ editions I do however
find that Capriccio have been a bit
naughty. Where, for example, is the
Piano Sonata in E major, D.459, or the
Piano Sonata in F sharp minor, D.570/571,
or the Piano Sonata in C major, D.613,
and even the Sonata Movement, D.665.
Not complete then, but that’s not what
the salesman said: he was selling ‘a
complete set’ not a set of ‘the complete
sonatas.’ On the box it says ‘Piano
Sonatas, Complete recording’ so Capriccio
is covered as well – it’s Endres’ complete
recordings, not necessarily the complete
sonatas (see review
of Brilliant boxset of sonatas - also
Bargain of the Month). You really have
to listen carefully!
Leaving aside the price and programming
issues, there is a great deal of stiff
competition with Schubert sonatas. With
Kempff, Brendel, Schiff and Uchida just
for a start, Michael Endres is swimming
in deep waters. Safe, faultless technique
has been a minimum requirement for a
long time now, and you can rest assured
that Michael Endres has technical assurance
in abundance. We can argue long and
hard about what strange chemistry blends
composer and musician into some kind
of unity, able to speak to an audience
and carry them through the undulating
moods and unfolding narrative of a piece;
leaving them enriched and uplifted by
the end of it. Does Endres have this
elusive quality?
Let me say from the outset that I’ve
been enjoying this set a great deal.
Endres’ approach is uncomplicated but
certainly by no means shallow. D.625
has all the delicate lyricism and dramatic
contrasts you could want, D.784 begins
secretively and opens out with orchestral
fervour, the beautiful Andante wanting
a little more time and space for its
full impact, but still nicely performed.
Then there’s the ‘ugly duckling’ of
D.840, the ‘Reliquie’ Sonata whose two
movements seem to divide players in
the strangest ways. Brendel in his recent
live release manages to create moods
both mysterious and lyrical, building
to climaxes that seem to want to make
the piano burst. Uchida, my principal
reference, is over two minutes longer
than Endres in this Moderato,
but is not being fussily precious –
keeping a solid momentum while at the
same time seeming to carve Schubert’s
musical path through granite-hard or
silkily smooth pianistic rites of passage.
Endres is unsentimental, faithful to
the score, and sensitive to the song-like
passages that provide the contrast to
all that repetitive bridgework.
I think this aspect of Endres’ approach
to Schubert is one of the ones I most
appreciate in this set. Many years ago
I was a passenger with some other students
in Louis Andriessen’s car on the way
to Amsterdam - we were always on the
way to Amsterdam – all roads seemed
to lead there at that time. Some ‘classical’
chamber music was being performed on
the radio, and, while none of us - not
even Louis - knew exactly what piece
or composer it was, we worked out -
and were later proved correct - that
it was almost certainly Schubert. We
did this not by any expert analysis
of musical fingerprints, but by the
reverential way the musicians approached
their performance.
Michael Endres has none of this extra,
unnecessary layer of artificial gloss
over his playing. I’m being horribly
selective here, but even where his timing
is longer than Uchida in the second
Andante movement of D.894 his
approach never abandons the logical
linking of lyrical lines, allowing Schubert’s
musical narrative to unfold in all simplicity,
while highlighting expressive moments
with subtle and appropriate rubati.
Uchida opens with similar frankness,
if allowing more dynamic range in her
more overtly ‘artistic’ approach. She
wins time by pushing ahead more in the
dramatic forte passages, and
turning back to Endres at these moments
he does seem a little pedantic, determined
at all cost to keep the tempo constant.
Jumping ahead (as most listeners will)
to the final Sonatas I find Endres only
just missing that last measure of weight
which make the difference between a
‘great’ performance and a ‘truly great’
one. D.958 is attractively played, but
in summing up I find myself gasping
for just a little more air between the
musical paragraphs – all except for
the last Allegro, which is a
carnival of delight. Not always, but
often enough, you find your expectation
of the perfect moment for a new entry
being anticipated by just a fraction.
This will only be enough to cause disquiet
if you are more in agreement with the
likes of Brendel and Uchida, and here
we are in the area of taste and subjective
opinion – with my hand on my heart I
can’t say he is ‘worse than’, just ‘different
to.’ With the last two sonatas the comparisons
become a little easier to define. His
opening of D.959 has the energy and
sense of purpose that drive all of these
recordings, but compare with Uchida
and you will be confronted with the
difference between, say, the concert
hall in the Barbican Centre or the Concertgebouw
in Amsterdam - to which all roads lead.
In its own terms, the one is excellent
enough, with many positive features.
It’s only when you make direct comparisons
that the reasons for choosing the latter
become apparent. With Endres we get
Schubert presented in a nicely pure
and unadorned fashion, acceptable in
every respect. He is in every way consistent
as well. Taking the second Andantino
movement of D.959 his approach is
sensitively lyrical, with the accompaniment
given the lightest of touch – a lovely
performance. Listening to Uchida by
comparison and you might find her having
gone too far in the other direction,
loading the music with a slower tempo
and implied emotional associations which
some might argue simply aren’t there.
Uchida is in turn being consistent to
her view of Schubert’s late masterpieces,
and the central – emotionally charged
section of this movement emerges like
a volcano pushing its way through the
ocean to create a new land. Endres’
moment of turmoil is more like the storm
scene in a ‘Pastoral’ piece of some
kind, something that Schubert might
have been more likely to recognise as
his own creation. It carries less overt
profundity, but any judgement here again
has to be subjective, and I find it
hard to choose outright.
The Rondo: Allegretto theme provides
the answer in the end. Endres is to
my ears just a little too brisk, cramping
the expansive nature of that wonderful
tune. Uchida paces it beautifully, and
becomes my desert island choice at this
stage.
The Sonata in B flat D.960 has for me
become a sort of Holy Grail in the piano
repertoire, and with any number of versions
rattling around in my head Endres was
always going to have a hard time. In
fact I quite like his playing here.
He has a way of bringing out the inner
voices that won me over quite quickly,
despite remaining unconvinced by his
rather muddy low trill in the exposition.
Uchida’s piano sound is disappointingly
woolly despite being a fine performance,
and while my favourite Afanassiev on
ECM is wonderfully atmospheric, I’m
grown-up enough to recognise that its
unique qualities are sometimes way off
centre. No, Endres has some powerful
moments of contrast and drama throughout
the whole of that incredible first movement,
and I doff my pearly cap with respect.
His Andante isn’t quite sostenuto
enough for me, but his quicksilver
touch suits the Scherzo well,
and the opening of the final Allegro
ma non troppo has that ironic sense
of joy and wit which confounds the gloom
of the first two movements just the
way it should.
I have enjoyed this box and, despite
my hesitation in placing it in the very
top drawer as regards Schubert recordings,
would recommend anyone with a spare
few quid to get their copy while they
can. These are performances that eschew
artificiality, histrionics, eccentricity
or misplaced reverence. As recordings
they are possibly a little on the dry
side, but have a clean, accurate piano
sound which serves the music well. With
every CD at well over 70 minutes I shall
hear no moaning in terms of value, but
if only it had been a 7 CD set with
all of the sonatas: I could even
have re-opened my market stall.
Dominy Clements
Michael
Endres (piano)
for
details
