Search - Franz Schubert, Valery Afanassiev :: Schubert: Late Piano Sonatas

Franz Schubert, Valery Afanassiev
Schubert: Late Piano Sonatas
Genre: Classical

Track Listings (6) - Disc #1
1. Piano Sonata No. 19 in C minor, D. 958: Allegro
2. Piano Sonata No. 19 in C minor, D. 958: Adagio
3. Piano Sonata No. 19 in C minor, D. 958: Menuetto & Trio, Allegro
4. Piano Sonata No. 19 in C minor, D. 958: Allegro
5. Piano Sonata No. 20 in A major, D. 959: Allegro
6. Piano Sonata No. 20 in A major, D. 959: Andantino
Track Listings (6) - Disc #2
1. Piano Sonata No. 20 in A major, D. 959: Scherzo & Trio, Allegro vivace... Un poco piu lento
2. Piano Sonata No. 20 in A major, D. 959: Rondo, Allegretto
3. Piano Sonata No. 21 in B flat major, D. 960: Molto moderato
4. Piano Sonata No. 21 in B flat major, D. 960: Andante sostenuto
5. Piano Sonata No. 21 in B flat major, D. 960: Scherzo & Trio, Allegro vivace con delicatezza
6. Piano Sonata No. 21 in B flat major, D. 960: Allegro ma non troppo

CD Details

All Artists: Franz Schubert, Valery Afanassiev
Title: Schubert: Late Piano Sonatas
Members Wishing: 0
Total Copies: 0
Label: Denon Records
Release Date: 11/17/1998
Genre: Classical
Styles: Forms & Genres, Sonatas, Historical Periods, Romantic (c.1820-1910), Symphonies
Number of Discs: 2
SwapaCD Credits: 2
UPC: 795041805126

Synopsis

Amazon.com

If you know your late Schubert piano sonatas, you can tell right away that there is something unusual about this set just by looking at the timings on the back of the box. No. 20 is split between the two discs, which is necessary because the set runs to almost 150 minutes. Reading Afanassiev's bizarre program notes, which frequently refer to his own literary works, further prepares you for these outrageous performances, in which nearly every movement is played more slowly than you've ever heard before. Afanassiev obviously has his own viewpoint on Schubert's music, which seems to be that it is neurotically introspective and that the lyrical qualities don't count for much. Few listeners will agree. --Leslie Gerber

CD Reviews

Eccentric but compelling interpretation of Schubert's last w

Mark Shanks | Portland, OR | 08/18/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"My first encounter with Afanassiev's vision of Schubert was in the ECM recording of a live performance of the D960 at Lockenhaus. These versions hail from 12 years later, in 1997, and he's taken even that dilated interpretation to a new extreme. The first movement of the D960, marked "molto moderato", sets a new record at an astonishing 28:25. Compare this to Kempf, at 21:12, or Pollini at 19:03. Even Richter's legendary live performance, the previous "self-absorbed" title holder, is "only" 25:07.

As with Bernstein's DG recording of the Sibelius #2, such navel-gazing may not be to everyone's taste, and the attention-span challenged will be advised to steer clear entirely. But Afanassiev sees Schubert as "a more assiduous explorer of the Inferno", and these last works are Schubert's (essentially) transfiguration away from our flesh-and-blood plane to greater spiritual heights (and depths). I've seen these referred to as "lyricism at the freezing point". I'm not convinced that "lyricism" is the point in these sonatas, and Afanassiev compare's Schubert's state of mind while composing them to Mozart's as he wrote the Requiem. "Great artists do not die if they really want to live and work", he writes in the notes.

It would be impossible to make these recordings a "first" recommendation. However, if you want to really *explore* this music, to descend into the lower circles of the abyss, I think you will be amazed at what lies behind the "lyrical" facade."