7/23/2023 0 Comments Franz schubert impromptusIn place of letters, Schubert writes with feelings-not impressions, but fully formed emotional landscapes. In the first impromptu especially, one hears a mind thinking aloud in words that can only be captured in their absence. From the light-footed highs to the surface-level lows and the heavenly mids between them, Schiff achieves a striking balance and dynamic spread on the Franz Brodmann fortepiano, built in Vienna circa 1820, which makes its recording debut here. “And even if we play them in a large hall today,” Schiff insists, “we have to transform that space into an intimate space.” Schiff does that, and more, in his renderings of these mosaics. The latter were never meant to be concert pieces. In his own day, Schubert was filed prematurely under “recondite,” and so after the publication of his first two early sonatas he dove headlong into his crowning Winterreise, producing also in that period the Moments musicaux (see ECM New Series 2425/26) and the first Impromptus D 899. “Schubert’s music,” notes the Hungarian-born pianist, “is the most human that I know,” and only a musician of such humanity could hold true to that doctrine. In András Schiff, Schubert finds an amplifier both in and out of time. But because artists of any type are often their worst bêtes noires, the humble interpreter would better judge his place in history, for while this music exuded from the body of its composer, it infuses every sinew and synapse of its performer. In these words, Franz Schubert (1797-1828) at once shadowed himself against his light of inspiration and added to its fiery glow. ![]() “Secretly, I hope to be able to make something of myself, but who can do anything after Beethoven?” ![]() Tuning and technical assistance: Georg F.
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