SCHUBERT: Piano Sonata in A Major, D. 959; Six German Dances, D. 820; 4 Laendler, D. 814; German Dance in F, D. 841; Waltz in G, D. 844 – Christian Zacharias, piano – MD&G

by | Mar 15, 2007 | SACD & Other Hi-Res Reviews | 0 comments

SCHUBERT: Piano Sonata in A Major, D. 959; Six German Dances, D. 820; 4 Laendler, D. 814; German Dance in F, D. 841; Waltz in G, D. 844 – Christian Zacharias, piano – MD&G Multichannel SACD MDG 940 1440-6, 56:13 ****:

Listening to Christian Zacharias’ new recording (13-14 November 2006) of Schubert’s A Major Sonata, D. 959, Op. Posth., I am reminded of Goethe’s autobiography, Truth and Poetry. Commentators have traced the motivic impulse in the first movement to Der Atlas (from the Swan-Song cycle, D. 957), a song of both virile strength and resignation. Dark runs and chromatic harmony intrude on whatever idyll the music projects; this intimation of mortality returns even more contrapuntally in the F-sharp Minor Andantino. Sensitive to harmonic shifts and modulations, Zacharias adapts his tempos and dynamic touch constantly, a real kaleidoscope of melancholy. As engineered by Friedrich Wilhelm Roedding, the piano in surround sound emerges in pellucid colors, and often, an intimate dialogue ensues among the keyboard registers.

For me, the heart of the sonata is the Andantino, and few have performed its mysteries–with their homage to Bach–with more mystical devotion than Rudolf Serkin. Zacharias makes some beautiful music here, though; his arpeggios and elastic recitative are not to be denied. The stretti pound on one’s door with an anguished insistence. With the da capo come added figures of the former tempest, recollections of dark things past. Glitter and stardust in the Scherzo: does the resonant, punishing C-sharp Minor run make it a Fool’s Paradise? Zacharias takes the finale, Rondo: Allegretto, at a brisk pace, its combination of sonata and rondo forms, a la Haydn, exquisitely presented. The piano’s upper registers pierce the soul without becoming shrill.

For his Schubertiads, the composer write some 500 waltzes, German Dances, and Laendler, the terms often interchangeable. Pre-Chopin, these perennially charming miniatures play like improvisations for either one or two performers, four hands. Some years ago, Boldoni on an EMI issue offered a hefty series of these gems. The main characteristic of these dances is their eminent vocal quality, one song rolling forth after another. Some, like the third of the D. 820 set, approach Chopin’s mazurka style. No. 4 of the set proves weighty, a bit of Schumann’s Florestan. The 1814 set opens with a piece in cross-rhythms, dreamily elegiac. No. 2 is more percussive, more militant. Nos. 3 and 4 could have belonged in Schumann’s Nachtstucke collection, Op. 23. The last two pieces are album leaves – rather precious, delicate moments of Schubertian tracery, delicately played.

— Gary Lemco

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