Schubert Piano Sonata No.21 in B-flat major, D.960 || Rachel Naomi Kudo, Piano

Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Piano Sonata No.21 D960 in B-flat major (1828)
0:09 I. Molto moderato
19:35 II. Andante sostenuto
30:54 III. Scherzo. Allegro vivace con delicatezza
34:54 IV. Allegro ma non troppo
Recorded January 5, 2021
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The Sonata in B-flat major, Op. posth., was completed September 26th, 1828, a bare two months before the composer's death. Schubert played the Sonata at a party, September 27th, at a certain Dr. Menz', along with one or two other sonatas, probably the A major and C minor works from that same period.
A small biography of Schubert by his brother Ferdinand appeared in the Leipzig Neue Zeitschrift Für Musik, April 23, 1839. In it Ferdinand, who seems to have spent most of his time fulfilling the business and publicity aspects of the composer's unfinished career, provides an illuminating remark on the composer's piano technique:
"Although Schubert never represented himself as a (pianoforte) virtuoso, any connoisseur who had the chance of hearing him in private circles will nevertheless attest that he knew how to treat this instrument with mastery and in a quite peculiar manner, so that a great specialist in music, to whom he once played his last sonatas, exclaimed: ''Schubert, I admire your playing even more than your compositions!'"
Other testimony indicates that Schubert was by no means the technician that most other great writers for the piano have been -- Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, etc. There were even passages of his own writing that he had difficulty playing at all. And yet, when the mood was on him -- as has been the experience many another essentially 'family pianist' he could make the instrument sing. Grove quotes him as having said of his own playing on one occasion: "The keys under my hands sang like voices, which if true makes me very glad because I cannot abide that accursed thumping... which delights neither my ears nor my judgment."
This antipathy towards "thumping" is perhaps a predictable attitude in a composer whose creative occupation was, so much of the time, the evocation of tenderness, nostalgia and the more delicate senses. Even in his instrumental works his orientation remains not towards virtuosity, but towards song.
A solemn theme of majestic bearing opens the first movement, Molto moderato, 4/4/, ending in an ominous trill on the low G-flat. The second theme is lyric and slight. A long development section follows, in which new elements of brighter color are injected, momentarily relieving the general gloom and foreboding.
The second movement, Andante sostenuto, 3/4, is in C-sharp minor, a somewhat daring departure from the homeground of the original key. The ominous feeling of the first movement is continued, now with a touch of mystery added. A livelier middle section in A major leads back to the opening material.
The third movement, Allegro vivace con delicatezza, 3/4, is in sharp contrast to the two first movements. Schubert could not be gloomy forever, even on his deathbed. A gay and dancing and sometimes humorous spirit prevails here, "with delicacy."
The finale, Allegro, ma non troppo, 2/4, is a Rondo movement. The octave G in the bass that opens it steps off into nowhere like a clown off the high board, and then recovers itself. The effect is playful but exhibits a certain mastery of material as well. By the final movement Schubert the musician has taken over completely and charmed himself out of his own sorrows.
Charles Burr
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Engineer: Federico Furlanetto
Piano Technician: Massimiliano Pinazzo
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[@davidadler3796]

What a beautiful performance! Ms. Kudo is a world class pianist.

[@susumukudo009]

Wonerful performance. Thank you

[@pintpink6524]

awesome!!