Whos' the Most Exciting Schubert??

[picsatsofron]

I like Schubert, (especially his piano music, but I've never really loved him. Everyone I respect in the world of music (including one of my favorite pianists, Radu Lupu) seems to believe that Schubert's piano sonatas are at least as important as the sonatas of Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, Chopin, etc. I just don't get it.

I have recordings of Radu Lupu (I like his D. 845, 958, 960 and Impromtus)
Murray Perahia (the late sonatas)
Mitsuko Uchida (again, late sonatas; I find her approach ponderous though not without beauty)
Anton Kuerti (I like his D. 850, probably my favorite recording)
Sviatoslav Richter (F minor sonata is my favorite)
and Clifford Curzon (Impromptus)

But I haven't found a rendition that I find truly exciting or transcendental, and definitely not worthy of the high praise I hear from others or comparisons to Beethoven. I guess the fault is mine for not recognizing Schubert's genius, but it's not for lack of trying. I just wonder if someone could recommend some recordings either a cycle or of individual sonatas that might give the music some extra umph, or demonstrate the superior compositional powers of someone who I consider overrated.

Thanks for your suggestions!

[j_menz]

Willhelm Kempff and Claudio Arrau are both worth checking out, though if you aren't happy with the ones you've listed there may be no hope for you.

In addition, do have a go at actually playing them if you are in any way able. I find Schubert one of those composers who is really only discovered in the playing.

[pianist1976]

I like Schubert, (especially his piano music, but I've never really loved him. Everyone I respect in the world of music (including one of my favorite pianists, Radu Lupu) seems to believe that Schubert's piano sonatas are at least as important as the sonatas of Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, Chopin, etc. I just don't get it.

That's normal. Schubert has been an underrated composer during ages. He is still underrated in many circles. I think it takes time to appreciate his work the way he deserves. Just like you, I always liked Schubert but I thought that he was a somewhat minor composer, not to be paced a the same height Bach, Beethoven, Mozart or Chopin were. I appreciated his incredible melody gift but overall I always found weakness in his works. On the last few years my love for Schubert's music has increased exponentially and today I'm not ashamed at all to put him into the same category Beethoven and Mozart are (maybe Bach is a little step up).

As I said, his melody gift is out of this world, his emotion, the way he leads the musical discourse, the overwhelming logical of his constructions, the way he uses contrasts, character, textures, his incredibly breaking harmony... Everything makes him a 1st class composer. Arrau used to say "Schubert is the ultimate interpretation problem". His songs for piano and voice are just perfect compositions. His piano sonatas were despised during decades because the scholars compared, unfavorable, with those written by Beethoven. Fortunately on the last decades they are starting to be appreciated for their own. There's no need to compare them with Beethoven's. They thought that Schubert tried to copy unsuccessfully the beethovenian model. I think they were wrong. They are very original and good sonatas.

Regarding interpretations, I think it is too much easy to trivialize or to stereotype Schubert's music (the "dreamer", only pianissimo, soft, untempered, unable to get angry as Beethoven was...) and miss the complex personality he had. Of course Schubert can be delicate, but also strong and sometimes full of rage! Another stupid stereotype I always listened about Schubert is that he never composed virtuosistically, exception made of the Wanderer Fantasie. An incomprehensible prejudice that breaks easily by just looking at any score by him. So my favorite interpreters are Brendel, Arrau and Kempff. There are also a few Richter's beautiful renditions of Schubert sonatas and pieces. I'm not a fan of Radu Lupu and I think that his Schubert is rather weak (no offense intended to Lupu's fans). I also dislike Zimerman's Schubert.

Just a few opinions.

[whitebeagle]

I think Schubert's music is more intimate, personal, compared to say, Beethoven, and I myself actually prefer playing Schubert's piano music to Beethoven's piano music. I saw Brendel play Schubert live and also have his recordings, and Brendel really opened my eyes to what Schubert is really about. If Beethoven wished to contain his struggles with the universe in his piano sonatas, Schubert's sonatas always feel like a struggle against oneself, in a good way! I'm a big fan of his lieders and would love to do selection with a singer one day.

[picsatsofron]

I hear what everyone's saying. I guess I just need a different approach. Perhaps a recording that's non-conventional or extra spicy or something. I've tried playing some sonatas (they're much trickier than they sound) and tend to prefer the animated virtuosic stuff (first movement of D. 850, D 557, fun but simple, D 946). I think many of the first movements are grand, but things peter out in the middle movements.

I'll try kempff but, based on his beethoven I don't really think of him as a sparkplug who reinvents the music he plays, same for Arrau, although I like his Brahms. Veeerrryyy slow, but I like it.

[worov]

Listen to Pires :

[picsatsofron]

You know I do not listen to Pires that often, but every time I put her on she makes me sit up and take notice. These are excellent, full of drama and yet appropriately shaped with almost orchestral tone. Any idea how she does in the larger scale works? I saw she recently recorded the A minor and B-flat...