Search - Franz [Vienna] Schubert, Gerhard Oppitz :: Franz Schubert: Klaviersonate G-Dur D 894; Drei Klavierstücke D 946

Volume One of A Potentially Interesting Schubert Piano Works

John Kwok | New York, NY USA | 08/31/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Gerhard Oppitz is a name most music lovers may not recognize, since his musical career has been eclipsed by other, better known, musicians of his generation, most notably Andras Schiff and Pierre-Laurent Aimard, among others. Moreover, for whatever reason, Oppitz has not toured consistently through North America as much as his better-known contemporaries, or another lesser-known artist like Christian Zacharias. But this German pianist remains among our very best artists at the keyboard, judging from this recording, the first volume in a series that will comprise all of Schubert's works for the piano. Here Oppitz echoes his great teacher, Wilhelm Kempff, in a recording that is replete with ample emotional color and technical skill at the keyboard. The recording opens with a most moving, truly memorable, rendition of the Piano Sonata in G Major D 894 that is among the best committed to disk that I have heard so far. This is a somber work composed near the end of the composer's life. Oppitz truly excels at the keyboard in conveying its enthusiastic - if quite melancholy - qualities. Three Piano Pieces D 946 may seem a curious choice in concluding this recording, but they share with the other, earlier piece, much of the same technical complexity that Schubert was aiming for in these later works. Hanssler is to be commended for its determination to commit to disk as much of Oppitz's riveting performances as possible; I eagerly await hearing future volumes in this series."