SCHUBERT Piano Sonatas: in D, D 645; in a, D 784 Mitsuko Uchida (piano) PHILIPS 4844804. (62:03)
SCHUBERT Piano Sonatas: In Bb, D 960: in e, D 566: in a, D 845; in Eb, D 568. Allegretto in c, D
900--Todd Crow, piano-- MUSICIANS SHOWCASE MS1033A/B (2 CDs: 130:56)
Who was Franz Schubert? The question is raised again with the recent release of another biography of thc composer by Christopher H. Gibb, whose premise this time is that while we can know much about the man's times and friends through chronologies, historical records, and anecdotes, we still don't know much about him or the sound world he lived in. Maybe that's why his works are so difficult to articulate: Who was he? A Romantic? A Classicist?… an enigma, if anything. So what is good Schubert performance? Asked to review two new releases of Schubert's piano sonatas, I assembled recordings of five different pianists playing about a dozen Schubert piano sonatas in five distinctly different styles. To judge any of them seems an exercise in arrogance, since we know so little about how Schubert himself played. We do know that he composed mostly for himself (stylistic trends he damned), so his playing must have had a certain purity to have borne such otherworldly fruit. Mitsuko Uchida's new disc is yet another of her ongoing Schubert series with Philip’s and Todd Crow's two-CD set is his second Schubert release, this time on the Musicians Showcase label. The first, on Bridge Records, we're told in thc liner notes by Misha Donat (who wrote Uchida's too), was voted Critic's Choice for 1990. Donat makes frequent reference, in his notes for Uchida's disc to Beethoven as a baseline against which to measure Schubert’s own prowess, and yet Uchida and Schubert seem to conspire toward other ideas. In general her approach is forthright (a tip of the hat to Beethoven) but never imperious; refined, graceful, but never precious. as she can sometimes be. In the A-Minor Sonata, she is dramatic, keeping us ever aware of the turbulent, frustrated young man simmering beneath the surface, but never intense. This was the first of the last eight sonatas Schubert wrote at a time when he was facing the effects of oncoming disease and his continual poverty. The first movement is solemn, weary even, and spare in notes, but soon erupts with martial fervency and a total disregard for what might be playable. Uchida's reading captures this peculiarly Schubertian despair and energy superbly, colors unfolding spontaneously one upon another with flexibility and an unerring sense of pace within form. Schubert's writing demands an acute sensitivity to gradations in dynamics, and the difficulty in both the A-Minor and D-Major Sonatas is to handle the sudden changes in dynamics and mood--pp to ff--without sounding abrupt, Uchida proves herself remarkably subtle in articulating these constantly shifting moods. In her hands the first movement’s somber musings, which momentarily burst into hard chords, rise up and unfurl naturally into ff. By contrast, Ashkonazy's playing of the same work (London, 1995), while equally bold, seems lacking in sensitivity to Schubert's peculiar idiomatic gearshifts. Both play with the requisite romantic verve when indicated, but it's Uchida who tempers that propulsive drive with a lurking, bittersweet Viennese lyricism. The huge, four-movement D-Major sonata, the result of a three-week stay in the country, burgeons with volatile ingredients. Here we find dance, song, and the rustic merry-making of country life, but even in the most charged passages, Uchida never gives in to sheer gusto. Pensive moods abound too, and all are beautifully inflected. Rich in contrasts and unexpected turns, the drama peaks with an impossibly long and difficult coda, which the pianist literally rides as though borne upon a swift current, with ease and an effortless, lean muscularity.
Todd Crow’s playing is much more classical in conception, Mozartian in execution. The material of the first movement of the Bb Sonata unfolds for the most part at a pianissimo level, as though it were being heard on a breeze from far away. The feeling is almost hymnlike, and Crow’s playing is exquisite in its silken tranquility. His reading on all four sonatas is thinner than Uchida’s—or Curzon’s or Brendel’s, all acclaimed Schubertians. But what he lacks in power he gains in utter grace. I listened to Clifford Curzon’s 1972 reading (London) of the Bb Sonata, and found no real means of comparison, so different are their approaches. Curzon “walks around in it,” as one reviewer wrote of the pianist’s rather Brahmsian, architectural approach. To my mind Curzon is without rival in this work—the seemingly endless variety of sounds he is able to rend from the piano is simply full to overflowing the vast shape he builds from a mere printed page. His Steinway seems to have a heavier bass (or the bass is boosted by engineering?), and thus the playing is all the more remarkable for its light, if bright sound in even the most pianissimo of passages. And yet—Crow’s delicate touch, his great sensitivity to the terracing of the dynamic changes, make the reading pellucid, even visionary; there is sinew here in spades, but it is the tensile strength of a ballet dancer, and utterly delightful to the ear. The finale is lilting, smooth, the melodies ebbing and surging with seamless modulations, and yet he’s not shy in letting full power rip in the final bars.
In the A-Minor Sonata Crow spins out a silken ribbon of dotted high stepping rhythms in the first movement, and musicbox precision in the second movement’s variations; dynamics are beautifully nuanced but never precious. Brendel’s 1987 recording for Phillips, by contrast, is heavy and Teutonic weighted and often overly pointed. He finds more textures in the writing but colors them too blatantly. An added attraction in this release is the inclusion of the Allegretto in C-Minor, D 900, which is not to be confused with the more often recorded C-Minor Allegretto, D 915. While Donat makes much of its similarity to Schubert’s later chamber works, its chief value here lies in its five minutes of sheer loveliness, its delectable Schubertian wistfulness, and longing. Crow’s take in all five works quite simply—sings—as Schubert, a vocal writer without peer, surely intended.
Sound quality excellent in both recordings, though Uchida’s venue, the Vienna Musikverein, allows for more resonance. Both highly recommendable releases: Uchida’s if you like your Schubert full-bodied and curvaceous, and Crow’s if you like him light, fluent, syphlike, and elegant.
Lynnda Greene; FANFARE November/December 2000
