Best Schubert's Sonatas Interpreter

[degenhart]

In my opinion the interpretations of the Schubert Sonatas by Radu Lupu are unique. Unfortunately his complete Pianosonatas are not available on cd, but the 9 Sonatas in the box "Radu Lupu Edition " are unforgettable. Hans.

[brahmsian]

Richter

then Lupu

[kreso]

From this list is Kempff but the greatist of all of course is Richter!!

[arensky]

Richter. Add him to the list and I will vote!

[sissco]

Edit: Oh sorry, I thought impromptus

[jakev2.0]

Kuerti, Richter, Schnabel

[pianistimo]

bart berman?  i know very little about him - but what i heard of his playing, i liked.

[ramseytheii]

By the way, you should hear the young Israeli-German pianist Amir Katz, who has played the copmlete Schubert sonatas several times in concerts, and has recorded a couple recently for Sony, including a terrific performance of the c minor.  The scherzo in his recording sounds like a Totentanz, it is really terrifying.  Highly recommended!

Incidentally he also won the Schubert prize in Dortmund.

Walter Ramsey

[pianistimo]

does he have recordings on amazon?  i will go see.

[ramseytheii]

does he have recordings on amazon?

Hmm.. you should go and check it out!

i will go see.

Oh.

Walter Ramsey

[iumonito]

I dislike the Richter ones, for the same reason I dislike Gould's Bach: I feel he does violence to the music, fascinating as it may at first appear.

Kempff, on the other hand, simply serves the music.  When I grow up, I wanna be like Kempff.

Thumbs up on Amir Katz and on Aviram Reichter.

https://www.aviramreichert.com/index1.1.htm

[jakev2.0]

Richter's Schubert B flat is one of the most sensitive recordings I've ever heard (from an artist who is not always sensitive). How can you discount Richter's Schubert for the reasons as you discount Gould's Bach? The two are polar opposites in their approach to interpretation. Still, they are two of the most important musical communicators of the 20th century.
 

[practicingnow]

Richter's Schubert is like so many of Richter's other recordings - brutal and misguided.

[jakev2.0]

D960?

[cloches_de_geneve]

I voted for Kempff, but think that Schnabel, Pollini, Uchida and Zacharias, (the last recorded the complete sonatas on EMI recently) should also be on the list. More optional: Arrau, Leonskaja.

[cloches_de_geneve]

There was some debate about Richter here. My personal view is that, in general, he is a bit too titanic to meet the delicacy requirements of Schubert's piano music. However, there are notable exceptions, such as his fabulous, breathtaking recording of the D major sonata (D850) on Melodya.

[mephisto]

Andsnes is great too.

[degenhart]

To all Schubert-lovers.    First of all : thanks for all your reactions after only 1 day !
Inspired by the answer of Walter Ramsey I am going to search for the interpretations of Amir Katz and I have added his name to my list. I also added Schnabel and Pollini ( thanks to Cloches-de-Gene.. ). About Richter ( also added to my list ) : I know he has recorded on EMI (1982) 3 Sonatas. But are there more recordings available ?
Finally : Does "Pianistimo" means Lazar Berman ?
My best regards, Hans Degenhart.

[brewtality]

To all Schubert-lovers.    First of all : thanks for all your reactions after only 1 day !
Inspired by the answer of Walter Ramsey I am going to search for the interpretations of Amir Katz and I have added his name to my list. I also added Schnabel and Pollini ( thanks to Cloches-de-Gene.. ). About Richter ( also added to my list ) : I know he has recorded on EMI (1982) 3 Sonatas. But are there more recordings available ?
Finally : Does "Pianistimo" means Lazar Berman ?
My best regards, Hans Degenhart.

I'm by no means a Richter expert, but I believe he has recorded quite a bit (at least 3 or 4 D960s), and various other sonatas (at least 4 others that I can think of atm). Probably in many different versions, since most of his recordings are concert performances.

Richter is a great schubert interpreter, I really like his interpretations because he is always able to maintain my interest. With his Prague D960, I don't quite agree with his lugubrious conception of the first movement. I think he understates the playful, happy side to the music. The only problem I have with him is as usual his tone is harsh in forte playing, and he uses a bit more dynamic contrast (going from pp to FF all of a sudden) than I am comfortable with.

However, from what I've heard, his maintenance of the big line is incomparable.

I haven't heard Lupu, Sofronitsky, Schnabel etc. Fiorentino is probably my favourite, but he recorded only 3 sonatas (afaik).

Curzon is good from what I've hear of him. But he is very much on the softer side of MF, though within this limited range he has many shadings.

Rubinstein is also good. Horowitz too fussy (in D960 on DG- which was actually a rejected take)

[kreso]

About Richter ( also added to my list ) : I know he has recorded on EMI (1982) 3 Sonatas. But are there more recordings available ?

Here is the list of Richter's recordings of Schubert's music:

https://www.trovar.com/str/discs/schubert.html

[iumonito]

Richter's Schubert B flat is one of the most sensitive recordings I've ever heard (from an artist who is not always sensitive). How can you discount Richter's Schubert for the reasons as you discount Gould's Bach? The two are polar opposites in their approach to interpretation. Still, they are two of the most important musical communicators of the 20th century.
 

Of course they both were great artists, and their approach certainly is the opposite.  Yet I disagree with Richter's reading of this music.  I hear it, and it summons no Vienna for me.  The depressed stuff is just fine (e.g., slow mov of D. 960), but the lighter stuff I feel no bounce (e.g., the little waltzy sections in Wanderer), and the large stuff does not move (e.g., first mov. of D. 960).

I feel that, like Gould, there is over-interpretation.  I never met Richter, but I suspect in his case it was not vanity, but mere self-rightousness, what drove his original, fantastic, and yet not very Schubertian performances.

Who knows?  Most likely it is just me who doesn't get it, but the fact remains: I don't like it, Sam-I-Am. 

[pianistimo]

bart berman is supposed to be a leading expert on schubert.  he's not the same as lazar berman.

[m]

However, there are notable exceptions, such as his fabulous, breathtaking recording of the D major sonata (D850) on Melodya.

I'd add here C minor Sonata (also on Melodya).

Yet I disagree with Richter's reading of this music.  I hear it, and it summons no Vienna for me.  The depressed stuff is just fine (e.g., slow mov of D. 960), but the lighter stuff I feel no bounce (e.g., the little waltzy sections in Wanderer), and the large stuff does not move (e.g., first mov. of D. 960).

I could agree with Vienna and "bounce" stuff, but "depressed stuff is just fine"? Such an underestimation!!!

As for "large stuff does not move" , Richter is actually the only one who maintains the tempo prescribed by Schubert himself, i. e. MOLTO Moderato. And music still flaws! Who else would be able to do it?!!!

I heard him live with G Major, op. 78. There he also did exactly what Schubert wrote, i. e. MOLTO Moderato. It was magnificient.

[iumonito]

I'd add here C minor Sonata (also on Melodya).

I could agree with Vienna and "bounce" stuff, but "depressed stuff is just fine"? Such an underestimation!!!

As for "large stuff does not move" , Richter is actually the only one who maintains the tempo prescribed by Schubert himself, i. e. MOLTO Moderato. And music still flaws! Who else would be able to do it?!!!

I heard him live with G Major, op. 78. There he also did exactly what Schubert wrote, i. e. MOLTO Moderato. It was magnificient.

  Hi Marik,

Who else?  Bolet, for starters.  Perahia.  Pressler.  I suspect if Pogorelich were to record this stuff it would border on hypnotic.  But all that's beside the point.

Not that I am in a hurry, but I do think Molto Moderato is not adagio, but rather closer to andante.  No doubt, Richter is a great artist, but this his is a steady struggle through Siberia, rather than a bucolic stroll through the Austrian countryside.  A matter of taste, of course.

I never met Schubert either, so I don't really know how he set his metronome.   

[mikey6]

holy cripes! no Clifford Curzon?  I first listened to him only recently and I gots to say I liked what I heard.  Otherwise Lupu.

[mephisto]

I heard him live with G Major, op. 78. There he also did exactly what Schubert wrote, i. e. MOLTO Moderato. It was magnificient.

Molto Moderato doesn't mean adante. And that is what Richter plays. I love Richter and his recording of this sonata very much when that is said.

[iumonito]

Molto Moderato doesn't mean adante. And that is what Richter plays. I love Richter and his recording of this sonata very much when that is said.

Nor did I say it did.  I said closer to andante than to adagio.  You may disagree.

Grave - very slowly and almost solemn - unsmiling, grave, earnest, serious
Largo - slowly and broadly - ready, wide, broad
Lento - "slow" but usually only moderately so
Adagio - slowly
Andante - [andare, ~ a corsa] - at a walking pace, go, ride - riding
Moderato - at a moderate tempo, neither fast nor slow - temperate
Allegretto - "a little allegro", understood to be not quite as fast as allegro
Allegro - lively, frisky - (quickly)
Vivace - very fast, lively and brisk
Presto - fast, quickly, swiftly
Prestissimo - very, very fast.

[mikey6]

bart berman is supposed to be a leading expert on schubert.  he's not the same as lazar berman.

another Berman? Seems to be a popular name for pianists! or do you mean Mr Boris? although I think him more the Prokofiev and Scriabin expert (which I found out AFTER I played Scriabin or him  )

[cloches_de_geneve]

I heard him live with G Major, op. 78. There he also did exactly what Schubert wrote, i. e. MOLTO Moderato.

Richter's recording of the the G major, op. 78, in which the first movement alone runs 26 minutes, is a historical document of great value. It is an impressive, successful experiment to which a genius like Richter was completely entitled.

This said, his tempo is simply not what Schubert intended.  "Molto moderato" is, by any current definition, between andante/andantino and allegretto; according to what Brendel writes in one of his books about the G major op. 78, the expression should be taken to denote a tempered Allegro. To play it Adagio, as Richter does, amounts to an experiment that is as entrancing as it is unfaithful to Schubert's tempo indication. 

[cloches_de_geneve]

[mr. art]

Radu Lupu.

[elevateme]

perahia

[anschlag]

Kempff for my money - beautiful touch and tone.

[pianistimo]

agreed with many choices here - and yet, bart berman has some good recordings.  have to find the site again.  (not boris)  i know there are a lot of bermans.

www.notesonfranzschubert.com/schubert.htm  click on 'discography'

[m]

Richter's recording of the the G major, op. 78, in which the first movement alone runs 26 minutes, is a historical document of great value. It is an impressive, successful experiment to which a genius like Richter was completely entitled.

This said, his tempo is simply not what Schubert intended.  "Molto moderato" is, by any current definition, between andante/andantino and allegretto; according to what Brendel writes in one of his books about the G major op. 78, the expression should be taken to denote a tempered Allegro. To play it Adagio, as Richter does, amounts to an experiment that is as entrancing as it is unfaithful to Schubert's tempo indication. 

First, I disagree that Richter's Op. 78 is an experiment. It is the Perpetration.

Second, I disagree with Mr. Brendel about tempered Allegro in Op. 78. Tempered Allegro would mean Moderato. But here we have MOLTO Moderato. Literally, it would mean VERY TEMPERED LIVELY tempo??? Common, it doesn't make any sense, at least in Mr. Brendel definition.

Third, many would disagree, but I tend to thing about tempo marking more not even as an actual speed, but rahter as a character of music. There would be no certain rule here, but VERY TEMPERED tempo for me would mean something rather quite restrained and reserved, in both music utterance and its movement. Isn't it what Richter precisely does in those Sonatas?

Besides, the tempo should always be thought as a matter of rhythimc pulse and music flow in retrospective to other movements, i.e. if the second movement is Adagio, the flow of the first movement should be thought from this stand point.

And last, not the least, don't forget, the tempo, esp. in live performance is the matter of the instrument and acoustics of the hall. A nice, sustained sound from the piano in a lovely acoustics would always dispose the artist for slower tempi, esp. when somebody like S. Richter has something to say.

Unfortunately, the recording techiques not always (and most of the time never) can capture this incredible relationship between performer--music--instrument--hall, when the artist's energy would even remotely translate into something what is coming from a pair of stupid loudspeakers.

There is kind of artists one could REALLY appreciate only if heard live once.

[cloches_de_geneve]

I understand and agree with what you say about the recording issue. Even so, I guess an additional factor to consider is the overall equilibrium between movements. In Richter's interpretation the first mvt. alone lasts much longer than the other three mvts. taken together! In contrast, Kempff who does not repeat the introduction, plays the first mvt. in 11 minutes but very very calmy, fully in accord with the MOLTO MODERATO prescription. You never get a sense of rushing, at the contrary. The other movements last 7, 4, and 9 minutes respectively, giving an overall sense of balance and harmony.

I admire Richter immensly, but in this special case I believe Kempff's approach to be cleverer.

[cmg]

Great suggestions here, but don't overlook Elizabeth Leonskaja, whom Richter had termed the greatest pianist in the world.  Glorious sound, phrasing and a classical poise that strikes me as perfect for Schubert.

[cloches_de_geneve]

Great suggestions here, but don't overlook Elizabeth Leonskaja, whom Richter had termed the greatest pianist in the world.  Glorious sound, phrasing and a classical poise that strikes me as perfect for Schubert.

I agree that she is exceptional and that she has an affinity with Schubert. But how many Schubert-Sonatas did she actually record? In order to be on the rating list above I would say that any pianist should have at least 5 or 6 Sonatas on CD, otherwise a comparison with Kempff, Brendel, Schiff or Richter, who have a dozen or more on record, is a bit difficult.

[cloches_de_geneve]

Does anyboby know whether there is a Richter recording of the second last sonata, the magnificent A-major D959? I have not been able to locate one. Yet, I suppose that he probably must have played all the last last three (958,959,960). 

[pianistimo]

i don't know.  what about the british pianist paul lewis?  i found him whilst looking up richter's recordings of the last three sonatas (which i haven't found yet).  i see brendel.

[kempff1234]

Kempff, Kempff and Kempff