Schubert: The Last Three Piano Sonatas D. 958-959-960

Franz Schubert (Composer), Alfred Brendel (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Alfred Brendel
• Composer: Franz Schubert
• Audio CD (January 18, 1994)
• SPARS Code: ADD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Philips
• ASIN: B00000417C
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #98,149 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sublime, September 13, 2002

By 

Howard Sauertieg "Howard Sauertieg" (Harrisburg, PA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Schubert: The Last Three Piano Sonatas D. 958-959-960 (Audio CD)

These sonatas are among the finest keyboard productions of the late-classical era. More intimate than Beethoven's, yet imbued with more rhythmic pulse than Mozart's, they require much taste and restraint from the performer. They're also relatively lengthy (the briefest in this set runs nearly 30 minutes). Consequently they're not very popular showpieces for professional pianists, while amateurs rarely develop to the point of being able to play them well. Ironically, Schubert's sonatas are highly melodic and ingratiating, dramatic without being overbearing, sentimental but not maudlin -- just the sort of music that should be "popular."

Brendel's performances are, to these ears, very convincing. He structures each of these episodic pieces brilliantly, rendering a coherent and affecting musical statement. For all its alleged waywardness, there is a transcendent sort of continuity in the music that defies analysis, expressive of a certain though mysterious moment in the composer's life; to hear the transition from classicism to Romanticism, one might listen to Schubert's late sonatas. If that seems too much like "homework," consider that, for melodic invention, Schubert is second to no one who ever presumed to write music.

The recording quality is good, considering its vintage (early 70s). For the price (two CDs for the price of one) this set really can't be topped.

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitive, September 8, 2000

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"pspa" (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Schubert: The Last Three Piano Sonatas D. 958-959-960 (Audio CD)

Schubert's last sonatas perhaps more than any other piano pieces sound completely different depending on who is playing them, even among artists of the highest technical proficiency. For me, ever since I listened to the B flat sonata in the early 80s, Brendel is the pianist closest to the heart and soul of Schubert. Technically, of course, he is flawless, but it is so much more than that. In his hands these great sonatas have tremendous beauty and emotional range, not only in the dark passages, but in the lighter ones as well, for example the third movement of the B flat. Brendel also resists the temptation of many artists to play parts of these sonatas so slowly that they lose their grip, yet at the same time he never sounds hurried. I would be the first to admit that Brendel does not have the range of repertoire that some of the greats have, but for me his Schubert is definitive (the Impromptus as well in particular).

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Profound, generous interpretations, November 24, 1999

By 

Christopher Smith (Atlanta, Georgia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Schubert: The Last Three Piano Sonatas D. 958-959-960 (Audio CD)

While I'm not as taken with Brendel's Mozart and Beethoven, his work on Schubert is for me unsurpassed. Brendel perfectly captures the enormous range of emotions these pieces carry, and he lets Schubert's music speak for itself, never allowing his playing to lapse into overstatement. I'm familiar with Kempff's, Pollini's and Uchida's interpretations, and they're all excellent (Pollini's are a bit cold), but Brendel is the one I always return to. Check out Brendel's playing of Schubert's Wanderer Fantasie and Impromptus (in their entirety rather than the selection on this CD) as well. Unbridled delight guaranteed!