Search - Michael Dalberto, Franz Schubert, tbd :: Schubert: Piano Sonatas (Complete)

For Schubert Piano Music Completists--A Treasure Chest Overf

Dace Gisclard | Houston, TX | 07/28/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"About four years ago, BRILLIANT announced its re-release of Michel Dalberto's distinguished Schubert series (recorded for DENON in 1989 to 1995). However, it wasn't offered on AMAZON (it took nearly a year for my local CD store to get a copy for me), but at last, this well-rounded omnibus is showing up here.



This brimful box contains ALL the sonatas and unfinished sonata movements, the Impromptus, Moments Musicaux, posthumous Klavierstucke, and Wanderer Fantasy, plus a selection of dances and shorter pieces--not ALL the piano music, but a large hatful! Discussing every performance is impractical, but suffice it to say that Dalberto is an acutely insightful Schubertian who alternates wit with pensiveness, virility with lyricism--worthy of mention in the same breath with Kempff, Brendel, and Lupu. He penetrates the depths of this music, projecting an awareness of the presence of cosmic secrets just out of reach beyond the veil imposed by mortal faculties--an indispensable trait of great Schubert playing. His accents and rhythm are strong (yet not brutal or unyielding), his rubato is spontaneous but not fussy, his tone, expressively nuanced, and his observation of detail, scrupulous. He does not present Schubert as a facile producer of "pretty tunes", but as a many-sided poet capable of both infectious joy and brooding melancholy. In the complete sonata movements, at least, Dalberto takes all the repeats, but not always in the incomplete ones (more about this later).



Some might prefer a brisker pace in some of the earlier sonatas (D664 or D568). Dalberto is not alone in emphasizing the gravitas in these works (i.e., Pollini), although this is NOT to say he consistently favors slow tempi. He projects Schubert's affability, but the disquiet and alienation in the later works are fully realized, and he sustains their immense structures convincingly. Agogic and dynamic stresses take their proper places not as individual details, but as articulating factors of musical sentences. Thus does a true Schubertian aid the listener in perceiving the underlying coherence of this composer's excursive paragraphs. In the first movement of the Sonata in G, Dalberto captures a feeling of other-worldliness, holding time in breathless suspension. No single gesture stands out as an event to be relished merely for its own sake. Rather, each is carefully weighted in rhythm and dynamics, with the object of sustaining Schubert's vast spans of musical space--not that Dalberto rushes through, heedlessly ignoring details. Rather, each is given its due, but only as a member of the "long line". It is not for nothing that parallels have been drawn between Schubert and Bruckner, and even Sibelius.



A FEW STATISTICS AND CAVEATS:

1.) Some may find the early DDD sound a bit bright. Reducing the treble solves this nicely.



2.) Modern scholarship groups certain "homeless" movements to make more or less "complete" sonatas. Dalberto plays them ALL, except for two early versions found in Henle (Schiff includes only a few). Dalberto also doesn't play the D-flat Sonata D567, but this is really just an earlier version of D568.



3.) I take exception to Dalberto's policy regarding incomplete movements. (These are: D279/346--IV; D571/604/570--I and IV; D613/612--I and III; D625/505--I and IV; D840--III and IV.) With one exception, it seems his guiding principle is to avoid playing a single note not composed by Schubert. It's not THAT but HOW he does this that is a bone of contention I'll pick later. At this point, perhaps a word about Paul Badura-Skoda's performing editions (Henle edition, Vol.III, 1976) might be helpful: In the 1970's, RCA issued his LP's of the sonatas, which included his own idiomatically Schubertian "conjectural completions" of all nine fragmentary movements. The AMAZON reviews of his re-recordings for ARCANA are not definite on this point, but the ARCANA recordings may also include these "completions" (I tried to insert a product link here to the complete set, but AMAZON wouldn't allow it--try searching for "Badura-Skoda Schubert Arcana"). Although the complete set is discontinued, copies of the individual volumes can still be found on AMAZON: (Schubert: Les Sonates pour le Pianoforte, 1; Schubert: Les Sonates pour le Pianoforte, 2; Schubert: Les Sonates pour le Pianoforte, 3).



But back to Dalberto--sometimes, he stops dead where Schubert did. Whether one regards this as "fidelity" or "purism", it is a respected tradition. My most strenuous objections are to cases where Dalberto throws out the baby with the bath water, discarding several measures of authentic Schubert. This strikes me less like "fidelity" and more like "censorship." In the Allegretto D346 (possibly an incomplete finale for D279) Dalberto halts at measure 115. Presumably, this is because it is the last tonic cadence before the "completion" begins, but he thereby jettisons 16 measures of genuine Schubert!



Dalberto's oddest excision is in the Menuetto of D840, the "Reliquie." Following Schubert's sketch, Badura-Skoda's elegant transition to the Trio starts in the key of A, then passes, in a Neapolitan relationship, to A-flat, paving the way in a clever and very Schubertian way to G-sharp minor (the enharmonic parallel minor of A-flat) for the Trio. Dalberto, however, is content to cut the Gordian knot, and jumps from an E-major chord to G-sharp minor for the Trio! Whether or not one regards this as stylistically appropriate, the sketch makes it plain that Schubert intended to continue in A. To me, the effect is unstylistic and disjunct, made worse by the fact that the Trio begins in unharmonized bare octaves. Further, the six measures of Schubert's authentic right-hand part are lost. Dalberto ends the movement on the same E major chord from which he jumped earlier. Puzzlingly, he DOES play Badura-Skoda's edition of the finale of D625/505 complete. Presumably, this is because despite a 70-measure lacuna in the left hand part of the recapitulation (which can be deduced easily from the corresponding passage in the exposition), the bar-to-bar structure is complete.



4.) As pleased as I am with Dalberto's set, he'd surely be the first to admit that no one artist can have the last word on so much music! There are certain other recordings I would not want to be without:



a.) Paolo Bordoni's disarmingly lovely complete waltzes (Schubert: Complete Waltzes - Paolo Bordoni) are an inexpensive "must-have". Dalberto does not play D770 and D365 complete, and I find his rubato in these dances a little eccentric. He duplicates only a third of Bordoni's CD's, so Bordoni's set is worth snapping up for his beguiling way with these small precious jewels.



b.) In the Impromptu in G-flat, I find Dalberto too quick, inflexible, and dryly pedaled--one of his vanishingly few miscalculations. An inexpensive alternative is Radu Lupu's CD of the Impromptus (Schubert: Impromptus D 899 & D 935 / Radu Lupu). His playing is enchanting, especially in the G-flat major piece, and the sound is natural and sweet.



Despite my caveats, hearty thanks to BRILLIANT for reissuing this superb series. However one may feel about this or that editorial point, it would be a shame to bypass so much top-notch Schubert playing. At present, there's no better way to collect so many first-rate performances of Schubert's piano music for so little cash. This is an excellent buy, which could form the cornerstone of a collection of Schubert piano music--highly recommended."

Excellent Set....A "Must Have" for your collection at this p

Gregory E. Foster | Portland, ME, USA | 04/14/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This set, a reissue of the Denon recordings done years ago by Dalberto, has a strange history of "appearing" and then "disappearing" here on Amazon. I see it has now disappeared again, sadly.



I own the sonatas on three complete sets...the DG Kempff, the Decca Schiff, and this set by Dalberto. All have their strengths. None of them are less than most highly recommended...I mean, look at who the three interpreters are!



Kempff's efforts are lovely, deeply reflective, thoughtful, highly rewarding renditions, captured in classic DG pre-digital sound.



Schiff's are digitally captured and reveal all the nuances, etc., of this great Schubertian's traversal of this truly awesome cycle. Decca's sound is exceptional. Sadly, out of print and extremely pricey to obtain these days.



Dalberto's traversal of these great works is never less than completely satisfying both in his interpretation(s) and also in Denon's original sound, here presented in this wonderfully inexpensive set.



Truthfully, I love all three sets, and I would not part with any them, but, if one could only have one set, then this set should be that set. Great Recordings, Thankfully Reissued, at an Astoundingly Remarkable Price.



Seek this set out, here and/or elsewhere, it is a never-ending source of great pleasure, a delight to listen to, well worth the time to locate a copy...your ears will forever thank you!



~operabruin"