Paul Lewis spent much of the two-year period from 2011 to 2013
performing and recording the late piano music of Franz Schubert,
focusing on pieces written during the last six years of Schubert's life,
from 1822 to 1828. After previous instalments in the series which
included various sonatas and other pieces such as the 'Wanderer' Fantasy
and the Impromptus, we now have a new volume of four sonatas, including
the final three which were written in the last months of Schubert's
life.
The significance of the chosen time period is that it was in 1822
that Schubert contracted syphilis, and for Lewis this marked a complete
change in the composer's musical voice. You can hear this, I think, in
the A minor Sonata D784, composed in February 1823, and therefore the
first of the sonatas to be written after his diagnosis. Although usually
when one thinks of the late Schubert piano sonatas, it's often just the
final three that come to mind, I'm glad that Lewis has also included
this sonata, as it's a wonderful piece, full of tragic, poignant
nobility.
He really brings out the heaving turmoil that is present
from the very first bar, and his playing acquires an appropriately
heavy tread in the initial statement of the first movement's principal
theme. A good proportion of this movement is in bare, unharmonised
octaves, and Lewis plays up this bleakness to great effect. It's a
powerfully affecting performance.
Alfred Brendel, Lewis's mentor
and a renowned Schubert interpreter in his own right, described the
Sonata in C minor D958 as “the most neurotic sonata Schubert wrote”, and
that is an aspect that Lewis seems not afraid to confront, notably in
the last movement, a kind of nightmarish tarantella. Furthermore, his
way with rubato in the first movement is quite magical, and his
always-thoughtful dynamics and phrasing highlight the unexpected
harmonic twists and turns that Schubert throws at the listener.
The range of colours that Lewis draws from one bar to the next is superb; soft, tender lyricism seamlessly giving way to crisp,
immaculately clean passagework. In the Adagio second movement,
Lewis judges the transitions back and forth between the sublime opening
melody and the somewhat stormier sections perfectly.
While there's
no doubt about the virtuosity and authority of Lewis's playing, there's
certainly nothing superficially flashy about his performance either. I
remember reading an interview with him in which he mentioned that when
he attends concerts, he sometimes feels the focus is more on the
performer rather than the music they are playing, noting that this is
something he is constantly at pains to avoid. I definitely feel he has
achieved that here: throughout these sonatas I sensed a deeply
considered performance where the primary concern was merely letting this
extraordinary music speak for itself.
The set is completed with a
second disc containing Lewis's previous recordings (from 2002) of the
final two sonatas, D959 and D960. Although one might argue that it would
have been nice to have had new recordings of these as well, I can
understand why Lewis didn't feel the need to do so, as these are fine
performances, particularly of D960, where he beautifully captures the
serenity of the first movement. In any case, the album has been priced
as if it were just a single disc, so especially if you don't already own
the final two sonatas, this is an absolute bargain, with masterful
recordings of all four works. Thoroughly recommended!
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