Barry Douglas SCHUBERT Works for Solo Piano - Volume 1

How do you interpret Molto moderato as a tempo in the first movement of D960? Awkward question, which probably explains why basic speeds vary, 85 beats per minute from András Schiff down to 63 from Sviatoslav Richter. Barry Douglas settles for 79, volatile in outlook too. He repeats the exposition, too, but a touch more impetuously the second time round. It’s another view, as it ought to be. Douglas yields to content as he feels it, the C sharp minor beginning of the development ruminative, the build up to D minor vehement. An emotive slow movement – C sharp minor once more – isn’t treated as a mawkish swansong. Andante sostenuto is taken at face value, the A major middle section no lingering farewell, the finale carefully managed so as not to sound an anticlimax as it sometimes does.

Awkward too is Allegro con fuoco ma non troppo for the first movement of D760: ‘not too fiery’ or ‘not too lively’? Douglas straddles both, neither the clarion onslaught of Richter nor the gentler approach of Schiff. Occasionally forte and fortissimo could be better differentiated; but tempo changes to reflect contrasts between heroics and yielding grace, for example in the second subject, are finely graded. A strong left hand grounds the harmony of the Adagio’s deep opening melody, passion rising as rhythms change and notes get smaller, the final Allegro controlled yet celebratory. Douglas stands alongside the most distinguished in both works, the smaller pieces accorded similar care. An excellent disc. (Nalen Anthoni / Gramophone)