Schubert Piano Sonatas D845 & D575

Franz [Vienna] Schubert (Composer), Mitsuko Uchida (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Mitsuko Uchida
• Composer: Franz [Vienna] Schubert
• Audio CD (January 11, 2000)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Philips
• ASIN: B000031X81
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #191,884 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Already well established as one of today's most sensitive interpreters of Mozart, Mitsuko Uchida has more recently brought her probing, quintessentially poetic artistry to bear on Schubert. Her accounts of the composer's final trio of sonatas (the C minor and A major sonatas and the overwhelmingly visionary B-flat sonata) demonstrate that Uchida belongs in the company of such eminent Schubertians as Schiff, Lupu, and Schnabel. And so it is with her latest foray into Schubert's mercurial, often startlingly introspective, world. As one would expect from her grace with Mozart, Uchida commands a beautifully shaded, singing tone and poised sense of clarity, melodic and rhythmic. But when Schubert really begins to come into his own voice in this idiom (starting with the posthumously published Sonata D. 575), there's a good deal more at stake than the mere crafting of sublime melodies. Uchida manages to juggle the daring harmonic shifts, violent mood swings, edge-of-the-abyss pauses, and conversational digressions of these works and somehow sustain a compelling inward intensity. Especially spellbinding is the A minor sonata (D. 845), steeped in a melancholy that Uchida mines richly, with its hints of the greatness to come in the final sonatas. In Uchida's hands, there's even a foreshadowing past romanticism and into the 20th century. --Thomas May

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb Schubert from Uchida, February 18, 2000

By 

Malcolm Saldanha (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Schubert Piano Sonatas D845 & D575 (Audio CD)

This CD offers just about the best performances of both these works that you could ever expect to hear. One may quibble certain interpretive details, but overall the playing is incredibly beautiful and flawless in technique.

Another important point to note with regard to this CD is the sound itself: the instrument she plays is a one of the most beautiful Steinways I have ever heard, and the acoustic, with just the right amount of resonance, is perfect. It has none of the abrasive, hard piano tone and dull acoustics you get with so many piano recordings from DG or EMI.

In short, you can't go wrong with this recording.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mitsuko Uchida Plays Schubert Sonatas -- D. 845 & D.575, March 2, 2005

By 

Robin Friedman (Washington, D.C. United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Schubert Piano Sonatas D845 & D575 (Audio CD)

Franz Schubert's piano sonatas are treasures of lyricism and introspection. Many of these sonatas were long neglected, but listeners today are fortunate to have many versions of these works to explore.

This CD by pianist Mitsuko Uchida includes Schubert's sonata in A minor, D. 845 and his early sonata in B major, D. 575. Ms. Uchida is one of today's leading interpreters of Schubert's sonatas. She plays here with thought, care and attention to the details and subtelties of the score. She is faithful to the texts of the works, and, in particular, observes repeats. Her readings are inward in character, as is appropriate for this music. At times, I found myself wishing for more passion.

The A minor sonata D. 845, op. 42 composed in 1825, is a large-scaled, ambitious work which was the first of Schubert's sonatas to be published. It is in four movements. The first movement opens with a melancholy, lyrical theme punctuated by large chords and dramatic pauses. These is an even more lyrical second theme. There is a surprising lengthy development which includes a mysterious, light passage in a remote key followed by large, brooding passages in octaves low on the keyboard. The second movement, an andante, is a set of variations on a simple theme in two parts of 16 measures each. The variations get more complex as they progress, and include a great deal of runs and filigree and a variation in the minor. The movement closes on a note of peace. The third movement scherzo opens with a strongly rhythmic three-note figure which, as is the pattern in this sonata, develops into a passage of big chords. The contrasting trio is quiet and melodious. The finale is a rondo with some resemblance to the finale of Mozart's A minor sonata, k. 330. It opens delicately with broken chords in the minor and builds to a climax. The minor key returns after an interlude in the major. The work concludes with a climactic, sweeping passage and big chords. This is a major work that will reward many hearings.

Schubert composed his sonata in B major, D. 575 at the age of 18.
It is a four-movement work with a wealth of lovely melodies following on top of each other in profusion. The first movement begins with a march-like theme, followed by a passage featuring octaves in the right hand over triplets in the left hand, and then a lyrical quiet theme. The themes are of diverse character, and each is presented in a different key. (I find it helpful to follow this music with the score.) The second movement, andante, begins with a bell-like chordal theme which is soon followed by a singing theme in the left hand. This is largely a quiet movement. The scherzo is lyrical with an opening in the upper register of the piano followed by big chords in the middle of the keyboard. The trio is short and melodic, with a theme using six eighth notes to a bar. The finale is in 3/8 time and opens with a dance-like brusque theme followed by a flowing second theme. The music works to a soft close, with a climactic chord at the very end.

In his piano sonatas, Schubert took his lyrical and melodic gifts and poured them into a large formal structure, transforming it to his own purpose. These are beautiful works for the piano, and they will find their way into the hearts of receptive listeners.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Uchida solves a lot of the A minor's difficulties but is less convincing in the B major, September 11, 2010

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Santa Fe Listener (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Schubert Piano Sonatas D845 & D575 (Audio CD)

There have been quite a few times in Uchida's Schubert cycle when I felt that she crossed the line from introspection to self-absorption. But one would have to count her intriguing account of the A minor sonata D. 845 as a success. The strange juxtapositions of mood suits her detailed approach. Unless you put one foot after another, as Richard Goode does, smoothing out the sharp contrasts, there is hardly any way to devise a big-picture view of this work. Three of the four movements (excluding the Scherzo) have almost military -- and militant -- intrusions of sharp staccato trumpet calls, placed right next to melancholy musings that demand a lyrical touch, and Schubert employs long crescendos climaxing in bold, open chords that can sound quite raw. Uchida takes her time in the long first movement (at 13:29 she's over a minute slower than Pollini on DG) portraying each segment in its own light, adding hesitant pauses in her phrasing to bring our attention down to the micro level. The same kind of scrutiny, which sometimes strikes me as fussiness in her other Schubert readings, continues throughout. Since none of the remaining movements are easy, all containing abrupt rhythmic shifts--the herky-jerky of the Scherzo is particularly tricky-- Uchida's way works. She's quite fast in the Rondo finale, whose scurrying theme sounds like Bach in her hands. My only caveat is that the very close-up piano sound begins to rattle and grow harsh in the biggest crescendos, a fault shred by Pollini's recording to an even greater degree. If you want the best sound per se, Goode and Radu Lupu will serve, I think, with Kempff having the thinnest and most tinkly sound at the opposite end of the spectrum. the supreme exponent of tis sonata is Richter, whose dazzling, disturbing, at times terrifying readings are, for me, unsurpassable.

Those who want direct, carefree Schubert won't be turning to Uchida in any case, but I was curious how she might handle the B major sonata D. 575, which expresses a simpler side of Schubert. The first movement has a military boldness that is an interesting match to the later sonata, although the rhythm and harmony have been untangled from bewildering complications. The Scherzo has a somewhat off-kilter gait, while the second theme of the first movement and the main one in the finale trot merrily like a hobbyhorse. Richter is much bolder and more stately, and he's having more fun altogether than Uchida. Her start-stop phrasing and inserted hesitancies don't suit this music as well as they do the A minor sonata. But she's never less than interesting, and even if you do find her fussy, at least there's always care and character on display. I wouldn't object to anyone who gave this CD five stars, and I might have on another day.