Search - Franz [Vienna] Schubert, Paul Badura-Skoda :: Schubert: Les Sonates pour le Pianoforte, 1

The Foremost of the Complete Schubert Cycles

Mark Ringer | New York | 08/05/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Badura-Skoda's cycle of Schubert Sonatas succeeds in creating a vision of these works as an unbroken arc of musical and spiritual development. These performances, utilizing various pianos from Schubert's time, will convert anyone who has not yet discovered the beauties of the pianos of the 1810s and 20s when they are played with such consummate imagination. Delicate effects of color and touch, impossible on the modern grand, announce themselves to the ear. Simply put, these performances reveal why this music is the product of such instruments. While several of these works have received matchless performances from many great pianists over the years (such as Schnabel, Kempff, Uchida, Richter, Brendel) which must be heard by anyone who loves this music, the present set reveals a performer palpably steeped in all of Schubert's music. He makes the bridge between the earliest experimental works and the towering masterpieces of the final years into an enthralling, but seemingly logical journey. The performer's annotations are particularly insightful in helping the reader place these works within the context of Schubert's complete works."