Arcadi Volodos SCHUBERT Piano Sonata D 959 - Minuets D 334, D 335, D 600

Whenever Arcadi Volodos elects to make a recording, it is a knowing and well-considered decision: the Russian pianist is not one of those artists who are forever flooding the market with new releases. The number of his recordings in manageable. In 2017, after a lengthy break, Sony Classical released a Brahms CD. Four years earlier he had recorded a highly praised CD of Impressionistic jewels by the Catalan composer Frederic Mompou (1893–1987). This explains why on this occasion, too, Arcadi Volodos has taken his time. 

“It makes no sense for me to rattle off a work that has already been recorded a hundred times before. A studio recording should also be a legacy.” For years he has been carrying Schubert’s A major Sonata around with him. “I’ve lived with this work,” he says. “I leave many pieces to lie fallow for years, then play them again and wonder if I ac- tually want to record them.” A work committed to disc is a snapshot in time. “Who knows how I’ll still be playing it in ten years’ time.”