Customer Reviews

Schubert: Piano Sonatas, D850 & D784

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If this entire CD recital of two great Schubert piano sonatas were as good as the opening Allegro of D. 850, Uchida would have made one of the best Schubert recordings in a long time. In that movement she shows none of her all-too-characteristic self-consciousness, giving a whirlwind reading full of natural briO and very original phrasing-- a fascinating musical mind is at work.

But as the other movements progress, she does fall into her studied mannerisms, and the second sonata, D. 784, could use a good deal more vigor and less holding back for the sake of extra nuance. Despite this complaint, there is no doubt that Uchida is remarkably well-suited to bringing out the extra dimensions in Schubert's piano writing, which is at once as simple as water and as mystifying as fog. I intend to enjoy this CD one sonata at a time, which seems to be the best way to apreciate her fine-grained approach without growing tired of it.

I must admit that - compared to companion volumes in Mitsuko Uchida's series of recordings devoted to sonatas and other piano works by Schubert - this very CD lacks something essential. I am not able to point out namely what, since her technical command is sparkling as ever, her beautiful tones get their proper nuances, her overwhelming finger-work amazes, her sense of narration follows the logical trajectory of each movement in searching the desired objectivity (though making a little bit too harsh and cold her approach) and the recorded sound is fabulous (masterly captured in that splendid golden hall at Musikverein in Vienna),.

Perhaps the lacking feature of Uchida's present rendition stems in the fact that she misses for a little the singing quality of this wonderful music, seemingly uninterested in that leisure play interconnecting notes and translating them into a floating cantabile so specific to Schubert (and so magisterially crafted by her in Impromptus, for instance). In trying to offer a completely unsentimental account of Schubert's sonatas in D major (D 850) and A minor (D 784), Mitsuko Uchida asks herself here to be insensitive to the playfulness of these scores. Everything seems too exact, too rigorous and grave with Uchida in these two sonatas. The small units seem not blend each other as to give rise to that fabulous main line, lightly singing and flowing naturally. They remain disparate, however much polished by Uchida's care for detail. If the expansive Sonata in D major allows for overweighed outbursts and sharp contrasts, even for brusque mood changes and discontinue sound isles in an outwardly-oriented discourse, the most lyrical A minor Sonata fails to become seductive under such a treatment.

All in all, this is a well-worthy recording for Uchida fans and for those who had no previous exposure to Alfred Brendels's or Radu Lupu's more refined versions of these sonatas. The comments above are nothing else than a short argument for giving only four stars to this valuable recording.

Much to my amazement, Philips recorded this fine CD in the great hall of Vienna's Musikverein, offering some of the best, most realistic, sound I have heard for a recent classical piano recording. But this superb sound quality may not be a primary reason for those interested in acquiring this CD, which is, in of itself, an interesting study in contrasts between Schubert's most exuberant piano sonata (D major, D850) and most austere (A minor, D784). Distinguished pianist Mitsuko Uchida offers two compelling performances, especially of the D major sonata, which should be of interest to both her fans as well as passionate - and knowledgeable - students of Schubert's piano sonatas. But her performances will be infuriating to some listeners, since she tends to dramatize a bit too much, the accents present in Schubert's scores, especially in the D major sonata (Having heard both Alfred Brendel and Paul Badura-Skoda perform this sonata live in concert, I will note that I have more of a preference for their lyrical interpretations, which are quite dissimilar from each other, and yet, in their own distinctive ways, quite compelling.). Still, I hope that others will agree with me that Uchida has offered her own, thoughtful, interpretations of each score, which should be considered as noteworthy as those I've heard live or in recordings from Brendel, Badura-Skoda and the late, great Wilhelm Kempff. So I will concur with others, most notably the Penguin Guide, that this fine recording should not be regarded as a definitive recording of either sonata; however, it is one well worth listening.

Under most circumstances, I love Uchida. Her Mozart... superb! What we have here is another matter entirely.

Imagine playing Schubert as if he were a deep, dark secret of self-absorbed introversion and you're waiting with baited breath for the next note or shoe to drop. That's what I hear here. What I like about Schubert is his generosity of ideas; he doesn't hold back grudgingly and has more ideas than he can practically get down on paper -- a true cornucopia of inspiration -- and it seems like the last thing on his mind is to parcel out his music piecemeal. But Uchida is parcelling out the notes with hesitation as if Schubert were a murder mystery instead of a lyric poem. I can't remember the last time I've had such a strong aversion to a Schubert recording -- and she lived in Schubert's birth place, Vienna, for how many years? And yet she appears to have absorb little that gives her much depth of insight into one of most flowing and singing composers of all time. Perhaps she would understand Schubert's soul if she played him at parties and balls, like he did himself, before recording him in the studio. Instead, her performances sound like the product of an isolated and insular existence -- exactly the opposite of this composer's exuberant life and nature. No one could sing through his music like Schubert did, and I have to take exception when the singing is stripped away and what remains is starkness... a psychological profile of a great composer without the joyous, rippling lyricism and flow. I'm reminded of a Rorschach inkblot test.

Banging... I agree with another reviewer entirely who commented on her abundance of banging. I do not care for banging Schubert or a brittle, dry, overly studied, intellectual approach to his music. The interpretations are an attempt, imo, to bring something new, but end up bringing something unwanted to this joyous composer: a quality of straight-jacketed grimness... a laborious grinding out of the notes. I'm exhausted, not revitalized from listening to this grueling performance. (I'm not exaggerating.)

I like lyricism and flow. These performances lack consistent lyricism, and the flow is staggered and interrupted by too many drop-outs of tempo and intensity. Schubert may have admired Beethoven greatly but that does not mean he ever wanted to be played as Beethoven is played, with an overly explosive attack -- playing him as a second rate Beethoven instead of as a first rate Schubert.

Except for her delicious Mozart and some Beethoven, I'm beginning to think that Ms. Uchida has one of the narrowest idiomatic ranges and repertoires of any of the reputedly great pianists of modern times. I've never heard her perform other composers in a way that sounded convincing to me, such as her Debussy and Schumann. Perhaps her other Schubert recordings are more enjoyable.

This is my first time hearing Mitsuko Uchida playing Schubert sonatas.

I've been fortunate to hear a number of fine recorded performances of Schubert Piano Sonatas including pianists Wilhelm Kempff, Sviatoslav Richter, Alfred Brendel, Murray Perahia, Artur Schnabel, Artur Rubinstein, Stephen Hough and, in concert, Leon Fleisher and Seymour Lipkin. To me, Schubert, above all, should sing.

Mitsuko Uchida over-interprets, over dramatizes Schubert, at least in these sonatas, to their detriment. She is so involved in "interpreting" Schubert that she seems to lose the overall picture. The music tends to fall apart. Schubert's piano sonatas, which can appear long winded, lose their overall flow as Uchida plays them. Her emphasis on overly strong, sharply accented phrasing, to me, is sometimes misplaced: It robs the music of its essential song, poetry and coherence. One becomes aware, first and foremost, of Uchida and her efforts "to beautify what is already beautiful", as the Penguin Guide to Compact Discs and DVDs puts it, and secondly to Schubert.

Far better, in both sonatas, is Richter or Kempff whose approach emphasizes the songfulness, poetry and overall structure of this music. For example, listen to how Richter (Living Stage) and Kempff (Deutsche Gramophon) shape the second movement of the D Major Sonata, how they bring out the subtle melodic contrasts and poetry in the movement, versus how Uchida's sudden, overly strong, accented chords seem jarring, break the songfulness and contrasting lyricism of the movement, lose the movement's overall architecture, in a seeming attempt to bring out the beauty that is already in the music.

The Penguin Guide to Compact Discs and DVDs writes of this particular Schubert/ Uchida recording, "{r}ecommended without qualification to Ms. Uchida's admirers, but with caution to others."

Superb realistic, digital recorded sound.

I like Ms. Uchida's work, especially her Mozart piano concerti, and I like Schubert and I thought this a safe bet but I couldn't get through it. In the first movement of D850, it seemed as though Schubert had written repeated accented chords and then filled in the interstices with scrimshaw, and with scrimshaw a bit unsure of itself at that. I was alway brought up short, thinking that we ought to get somewhere with this, but we didn't. It went on, more banging, more noodling, and more banging, until I ejected the disk and gave it away. Schubert doesn't normally require patience. If you want to live to be 150 in subjective time, try Philip Glass or that patience-trying "Bolero."

Out of respect for Schubert, whom I don't know as well as some of the oher great Teutonic composers, I'll look around for another version. Perhaps it takes just the right pianist, like Liszt's "Mephisto Waltz."