Franz Schubert – Piano Sonata D568; 6 Moments musicaux – Mitsuko Uchida (2001)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96kHz | Time – 01:07:32 minutes | 1,25 GB | Genre: Classical
Official Digital Download – Source: Qobuz | @ Decca
Recorded: Grosser Saal, Musikverein, Vienna, August 2001
This is the penultimate issue in Mitsuko Uchida’s eight-album series, and thanks to her magical recreation of the E flat Sonata I’m already inclined to regard it as one of the best. Let me not make an exaggerated claim for the piece: it comes near the beginning of Schubert’s 12 completed piano sonatas, and the later ones are of course played more often because they’re greater. But this one is an enchantment, and weighing in at 31 minutes, as it does here, it sits proudly as the first of his grand four-movement sonatas, fully achieved and characteristic, purposeful and confident in the space it makes for itself.
It is subtler in its expression, too, than some commentators would have us believe, with the sunny disposition of its outer movements being constantly inflected and made more attractive by passing inflections and local areas of darker harmonic colour. The journey through it is delightful, with lots of incident. The Menuetto third movement was an addition after Schubert reworked his three-movement original which was in D flat major, a tone lower.
How characteristic of Uchida to make you want to celebrate the music, first of all. She inhabits it completely, and her preferred Steinway for Schubert, and this recording of it – at the Musikverein in Vienna, in the main auditorium – are at one with her endeavour, perfectly judged in what they bring to it, part of the focus. In the Sonata I would not have anything different. In the Moments musicaux, however, it is possible to question the weight with which almost every phrase and paragraph are invested – perhaps some of the rhythmic freedom too – while being carried through by the power of Uchida’s vision and her technical control. Carried through, yes, but borne along? This is magnificent playing and I submit willingly and with wonderment to a presentation of these pieces with a richly detailed ‘interior’ quality and a proto-Mahlerian panoply of sound.
But to enjoy her to the full you do have to accept Uchida’s slow tempi and to a projection of the expression which is painstaking to the point (some might feel) of laboriousness, especially with all the repeats. Nearly a quarter-of-an-hour has gone by before we get to No 3, the ‘Air russe’, and No 6, the last of the cycle, lasts not far short of 11 minutes. C’est bon, mais c’est long. It is spellbinding, but I do find myself missing, by the end, the kind of lyrical impulse that is delivered on the breath and touches you swiftly and directly. No singer could push Schubert as far as Uchida does – but so what? A stunning record nonetheless, and perhaps one to feel quite possessive about. –Gramophone Magazine
Tracklist:
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Piano Sonata No.7 in E flat, D. 568
1 1. Allegro moderato 9:35
2 2. Andante molto 7:21
3 3. Menuetto (Allegretto) 5:01
4 4. Allegro moderato 9:13
6 Moments musicaux, Op.94 D.780
5 No.1 in C (Moderato) 7:16
6 No.2 in A flat (Andantino) 7:18
7 No.3 in F minor (Allegro moderato) 1:48
8 No.4 in C sharp minor (Moderato) 6:45
9 No.5 in F minor (Allegro vivace) 2:29
10 No.6 in A flat (Allegretto) 10:47
Personnel:
Mitsuko Uchida, piano
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