Schubert Sonata in C minor D. 958

[furtwaengler]

Earlier today I thought of coming on here to start a thread about balance in life, as a means of channeling my own frustration at my own lack of balance in a busy, busy time. This was frustration was blowing around as I really had no spot to sit down and work out the fact I had consciously planned to play a program consisting of Schubert's 958 and Schumann's Toccata op. 7 in a concert at the St. Paul when I can play neither Schubert's 958 nor Schumann's Toccata. The St. Paul (as they were calling it) is a pretty big retirement community out this way. This is was my third event with an organization which sends local musicians around to different retirement homes and nursing homes. The first was in January at the Blakeford, where I played the Liszt Sonata and Beethoven/Liszt Symphony no. 9 mov 4 on a really bad instrument, with a small crowd watching. The second was a luncheon on a better instrument, but nothing worthy of recording. I was told about the St. Paul that the director was very strict about time and it had to be contained within 45 minutes. When I actually arrived the director told me to keep it at 30 minutes! Obviously I knew the Schubert would exceed that limit - I have a weakness for big pieces, and this sometimes makes planning difficult. It was also obvious that I'd have to wait for another time to attempt the Schumann Toccata for an audience, and this really disappointed me because of this terrible curiosity of seeing what would have happened giving the element of a live audience to a piece that is a panic to play - well I was able to work this experiment on the Schubert, the last movement of which is indeed a terrible panic to play, and in certain respects more so even then Schumann's Toccata, because it's not merely a battle of notes, but dramatically a struggle with life and eminent death. I think of Hezekiah's words in Isaiah 38:10-20

"“In the middle of my life
I am to enter the gates of Sheol;
I am to be deprived of the rest of my years.”
11 I said, “I will not see the LORD,
The LORD in the land of the living;
I will look on man no more among the inhabitants of the world.
12 “Like a shepherd’s tent my dwelling is pulled up and removed from me;
As a weaver I rolled up my life.
He cuts me off from the loom;
From day until night You make an end of me.
13 “I composed my soul until morning.
Like a lion—so He breaks all my bones,
From day until night You make an end of me.
14 “Like a swallow, like a crane, so I twitter;
I moan like a dove;
My eyes look wistfully to the heights;
O Lord, I am oppressed, be my security.

 15 “What shall I say?
For He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done it;
I will wander about all my years because of the bitterness of my soul.
16 “O Lord, by these things men live,
And in all these is the life of my spirit;
O restore me to health and let me live!
17 “Lo, for my own welfare I had great bitterness;
It is You who has kept my soul from the pit of nothingness,
For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.
18 “For Sheol cannot thank You,
Death cannot praise You;
Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness.
19 “It is the living who give thanks to You, as I do today;
A father tells his sons about Your faithfulness.

And it seems Schubert's struggle was deeper still because of the unknown, the lack of the affirmation and hope Hezekiah possessed in his concluding remark:

20 “The LORD will surely save me;
So we will play my songs on stringed instruments
All the days of our life at the house of the LORD.”

I think of this regard to the state of my current ability to bring off the technique of the last movement of D. 958, which from the musical perspective cannot be a good thing, because I cannot play it, but from the dramatic perspective greatly increases the the effect of Schubert's own struggle, just from the fact that every note is a struggle. Well...I hope to learn it for really, but in a concession of sorts I feel this is worth sharing for what it is. And indeed the whole event is and all recitals, and all music in some sense is about sharing.

You may feel free to share your own thoughts if you wish!

Dave

(BTW, I ought to mention that I normally try to keep everything together as far as what takes place between movements, judging the silence and all, because I think it is an important part of performance, however in this case there was not only applause after the 1st and 2nd movements, but also conversation and even the director asking questions about me. I cut all of that out to preserve some sense of the integrity of Schubert's sonata. Then I deliberately pushed the Minuetto into the Allegro as a spiraling effect. You must understand that these are not typical recitals, they are a service provided to elderly people, and interaction with them supersedes the music making on some level. Of course I'm going against the grain in bringing large pieces of music to the table in these situations, which I may soon find is not the most appropriate thing to do in every situation. So far I'm getting good feedback though, which is encouraging.)

[pianowolfi]

Woaahh, "my" dear wonderful beloved C minor sonata!!!! I just started practicing it last year, put it on the side for a while and now I've just started again. That can't be a coincidence

You're really the man for spontaneous and "not so well prepared" concerts, I think! You can make the best out of not so good conditions and circumstances!

Of course this sonata will grow a lot with you, but already now it's obvious that you are on a very good path. Isn't that last movement fun to play? It's so much fun, Schubert himself must have had a lot of fun with this macabre playful Tarantella, I'm sure! The whole performance sounds like I'd imagine a Schubertiad might have sounded, not perfect, sponataneous, with a sub-ideal piano, but full of passion, tragedy, life, and first of all with the famous Viennese morbidity!...

I thought about doing a program with the Pathétique and this one and op. 111...well, I'm not sure if it's a good idea, but somehow it's fascinating to me, as all of those three have many things in common but they are at the same time so very different from each other.

[birba]

All I can say is that was a labor of love.  Anyone who could get through this sonata on that piano can only have my admiration.  My god, you could hear the hammers or whatever and it sounded like it was going to go any minute!  You actually made something out of that glorious second movement!  It was quite overwhelming.
I think you can help the last movement if you use a little less pedal in the theme.  That's the only place I found the accents not really natural.  And maybe no retard at the end of the first movement.  But these are stupid little details.  Like I said I can only admire you!

[birba]

You know, rethinking about what I said, I bet Schubert's piano didn't sound any better then the one you played on.  We're so spoiled by the steinway sound, and what not, that we forget what schubert actually sounded like back then.
Was it a grand piano?
Anyway, again, hats off!

[furtwaengler]

Thanks for listening Wolfi! It's fun to think what a Schubertiad would have been like.

You're really the man for spontaneous and "not so well prepared" concerts, I think! You can make the best out of not so good conditions and circumstances!

Goodness, I'm constantly in a panic though...I've got another one a week from Tuesday and have absolutely no idea what to play for an apparently hour long program on what they tell me is a good piano. I feel like I've got nothing in the bag, and yet for that reason have everything in the bag..."Jack of all trades, master of none..."

I thought about doing a program with the Pathétique and this one and op. 111...well, I'm not sure if it's a good idea, but somehow it's fascinating to me, as all of those three have many things in common but they are at the same time so very different from each other.

I like programs like that. I'd want to hear it (which probably means U-stream!)

All I can say is that was a labor of love.  Anyone who could get through this sonata on that piano can only have my admiration.  My god, you could hear the hammers or whatever and it sounded like it was going to go any minute!  You actually made something out of that glorious second movement!  It was quite overwhelming.
I think you can help the last movement if you use a little less pedal in the theme.  That's the only place I found the accents not really natural.  And maybe no retard at the end of the first movement.  But these are stupid little details.  Like I said I can only admire you!

I don't think they're stupid little details, Birba! It's very helpful, especially if my memory is correct that you once wrote this was a favorite sonata of yours.

You know, rethinking about what I said, I bet Schubert's piano didn't sound any better then the one you played on.  We're so spoiled by the steinway sound, and what not, that we forget what schubert actually sounded like back then.
Was it a grand piano?
Anyway, again, hats off!

It was an old, ugly brown grand. I don't recall even looking at what kind it was...my mind was spent! I feel like I need an outlet for preparing and performing things I like, and this program has turned into that outlet. I accept it as a challenge to bring something musical out of even the worst instruments. Life's an adventure.

Thanks for listening, and even enduring this instrument for 30+ minutes!