The shift from c shapr minor to the A major melody in the 2nd movement is sublime. Schubert is really soemthing else, from the depth of despair you are instantly lifted to heavenly bliss.
You'll have to take that dispute up with YT, since I'm not the one who puts them there (and, in any case, they are the only reason you get to listen to this free on YT).
I'll let you into a secret. These blasphemous interruptions can be completely quelled by installing an ad-blocker. A free and totally effective one is adguard adblocker. Forgive yourself for having delayed so long. Do you know what bliss is? Listening without ads!
1st mvt - snow-filled woodland, melancholy, the beauty in loneliness. 2nd mvt - church bells, death, reminiscence of childhood days. 3rd mtv - skaters on the lake. 4th mvt - into the beyond.
So often, the harmonic daring of great pieces does not strike a non-musically-trained ear; in this great sonata, Schubert uses harmony to such magical effect even the untrained ear can sense something transcendental about it.
Excellent comment. Within the confines of classical structure, Schubert's harmonic voyages and experiments are extraordinary; along with the late masterpieces of Beethoven, these paved the way for Romanticism to start experimenting with form and effects; one of the most interesting and exciting periods in Western music. ruclips.net/video/CDRNeLzPU2w/видео.html
@@j.grimes4420 there's nothing exceptionally jazzy about it, but the way schubert chooses to rotate through certain harmonies and how he moves back to d minor at the ends of the first couple phrases is quite modern
IMO that e-flat minor at 12:50 is the emotional peak of the entire movement. I personally think that whole section should be played more slowly and quietly.
Wtf the return of the introduction isn’t even the best part of ballade 4. It’s the return of the second theme in Db Major. Not to mention there are plenty more moments in music as sublime or even more sublime than that
I appreciate the detailed analysis and comments, but to me it's simple: this is the most beautiful and moving piece of piano music ever written - - - and god knows how I love Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann, Brahms, etc., but there is just a certain "something" about this sonata that bores into my soul and lives there...and has for over 50 years. Cannot be explained.
I understand you 100% I love all the great composers, but there is something so wierd about Schubert. His pieces, the sonatas (or in my case the impromptus and symphonies) are something else.
@Stygian Eons It might be that you are translating the comment to another language and you are missing key points. If that's the case let me help you. He/she is saying that the the concept is simple. The concept is that Schubert makes music so beautiful that it can't be explained. Yes, you might say that because it cannot be easily explained it must be complex, contradicting the first statement. But if you think about it, he/she is referring to the simplicity of his or her personal concept of Schubert's music, not the mechanics behind it. Remember this: concepts are easy, making sense of them and how they work is hard. So regardless of the detailed analysis, the personal subjective concept is that Schubert's music is unexplainably beautiful. And that is the "simplicity" behind it. Hope that helped you.
@Stygian Eons Because understanding the concept of something unexplainable is easy, explaining why that is, is hard. (It's the concept that is referred to as easy not the explanation why) To give an example: "The jurney of a thousand miles begins with one single step" -Lao tsu, the founder of Taoism The message above is very easy to understand the concept. However the implications of it can end up being very deep and complex. Same thing with distinguishing between concept of something unexplainable and the mechanics behind it. But to be honest, I think we are overthinking all of this. It's just a comment on RUclips. We don't have to give it much thought. 😅
I've always thought Kovacevich was somewhat underrated as an interpreter of the classic Viennese composers. Every tempo, nuance, attack, rhythm, ritardando, just seems right. This is a fantastic take on this gorgeous work.
There is always a higher power than us... that's why we are called humans... and that's what drives human civilization... the struggle to free ourselves from our imprefections and reach for the perfect...
i would put Chopin and Liszt (h-moll Sonata at least) on the same level (and im a hardcore Beethoven fan, especially Sonata 21, 29, 32 and the pathetique)
His later sonata yes, some of his early ones are sadly pretty bland and forgettable to my ears - feel like he was trying to make some rent money on them - can't fault him if so.
I'd heard it before (not least in several films) but recently have become obsessed with it, accessing the many wonderful interpretations available on RUclips.
Да, это настоящая уховёрта. Мне кажется, Шуберт сочинял в ходу. Здесь, по-моему, слышна гроза, весна, свежий воздух, походка в горах вблизи Вены (Wienerwald). А тема 4.ого движения напоминает как бы русскую народную песнь.
Love the analysis! The entire development section of the 1st movement is sheer genius. One of my other favorite modulations in the piece is the Gb major to F# minor to A major in the recap from 14:46 to 15:02
When I listen to some music, after a while, I have a profound sense it's listening to me and it knows me and I know I have found a friend for life. This music and this performance has this power and gives me abiding relief and comfort. It's beautiful.
The sonata must be listened in its entirety. The second movement is already just such a direct call to the heart, but it's even more effective when it's heard after we've been through the first movement. And the third movement is like a sigh of relief... everything about this sonata is just so perfect. Thanks for listening to my rant :D
oh yes indeed. Heart-stoppingly gorgeous. Probably my favorite moment in the 1st movement, alongside the delicate triple-pianissimo fragment of the opening theme in the development section.
Thank you for sharing this and also for putting up the score at the same time. I've listened to this work for over 40 years and this is the first time I've done so with the music. It is fascinating. I watched a performance by Schiff the other day and it was the first time I'd heard the 1st time bars before the repeat of the first half. I was bewildered that there was music in this piece that I'd never heard and I couldn't understand why anyone would want to leave it out. With regards to this performance there are few words really. It's marvelous. But looking at the score you realise just how difficult the dynamic juxtapositions can be to achieve on a modern piano where the decay is so much longer than it would be on a wooden framed one of the period. Anyway, what a wonderful we live in where technology makes all of this possible.
There's something about that repeating G-flat trill in the opener; it seems like the world stops and waits for it for just a moment. I like especially its occurrence right before the recap, and then again at the very end of the movement before the final cadences.
Thank you for your wonderful account on this recording : "There is no slouch toward profundity, no gesture of unnecessary sophistication. Instead there is a consistent variety of articulation -- warmth [23:22], sadness, violence, tranquility -- all as the work demands it." I totally agree with you and these elements are what I care about the most in the interpretation of classical music.
It's amazing the number of pianists who think Schubert and his sonatas are vastly inferior compared to Beethoven or even Haydn. Most pianists/teachers I've met and worked with think Schubert is just an ok composer and won't really play his music. And yet, every vocal professor I've ever worked with adores Schubert lieder.
I think this is because Schubert's songs and his chamber music overshadow his piano output. But at least his three last piano sonatas are masterpieces for sure, I can agree with that.
He is a great piano composer because he was at first a piano for lieder. Composing for piano only, he managed for the absence of singer by composing for 3 piano “voices” rather than only 2. You can hear that in all his late piano works - impromptus, lay 3 sonatas
there is this wintery feeling in several of the later works from Schubert, the feeling that you go on a rise, in a nature covered with snow and ice, to nowhere. It's just dead ends, moments of silence, shadowy chasms, mazes that lead to madness.
Edo tries I.F. Yet for me Mozart remains the most tragic composer - in some ways the wintery quality was part of Schubert, in Mozart there is always a gap between the Mozartian ideal and his difficulties coming to terms with life itself - Schubert never has any such ideals in the first place
I usually like Ashish's selections, but I feel this one is a miss. Kovacevich plays with a truly lovely tone, and I can hear his commitment (and not only in the humming, a la Glenn Gould), but I feel he's missed the point. This sounds more like Beethoven; it lacks the overall mood setting that makes Schubert unique. Fatally, Kovacevich's rubato is cloying and a bit precious, garbling the long-breathed melodic line rather than adding momentum. Much prefer the Uchida and Richter versions.
I saw this performed live in concert by Marc-Andre Hamelin last night, and I honestly feel like he was able to surpass even this magnificent recording- he brought out so many different layers in the texture and it was just... Utterly indescribable, a truly enormous dynamic range, utter coherency to the massive structure and it was just utterly superb. This is one of the best recordings without a doubt, but what I heard last night was truly stunning.
Richters performance is profound just like the Chopin Etudes of Polinni are which does'nt mean that other pianist can not offer us a new light or perspective on the graet masterpieces which can be heard on you channel. One thing I know for shure. You Mr. Kumar are a musiclover indeed.
Удивительно: мне действительно больше нравится Ковалевич, несмотря на то, что многие традиционно хвалят Рихтера. Ну просто уже традиция такая, по инерции... Ковалевич!.. Как-то свежо, ни единой ноты пустой, формальной (без интонации). Этот исполнитель разговаривает интонациями, а у Рихтера я слышу только архитектонику и... увы, разочаровываюсь, так как выбор в сторону формы, а не содержания, естественно, не увлекает моё сознание от ноты к ноте вперёд. Для меня идеально такое прочтение, в котором форма непосредственно соткана из содержания - тогда она органически сама выстраивается, без специальных к тому усилий. Ковалевич (простите, не указано имя исполнителя) живёт в каждой ноте, от её начала и до конца, в режиме реального времени - и именно поэтому это так увлекает сознание естественным образом, так как что внутри (у исполнителя) - то и снаружи (у слушателя). Эти законы столь глубоки, что работают как во взаимоотношениях между одним человеком и другим, так и между исполнителем и слушателем. Данного исполнителя слышу первый раз и немного в шоке от масштабов дарования... Мне кажется, что это Гений...
Как же больно, жалко, досадно, что многие кроме Рихтера никого не знают, да и что там греха таить... и не хотят знать (!) Так проще, ведь не надо заставлять себя думать и размышлять, так комфортнее. Большое спасибо автору канала, что выложили это Чудо!
I started learning this shortly before my grandmother passed away, and desperately wanted to play the second movement at her funeral. Unfortunately the church wouldn't let me. Always makes me think of her now
Why wouldn’t they let you? I don’t want a funeral, I want a celebration of my life. Play all the music you want. Hell, talk shit about me, I can’t hear you, I’ll be dead! I’m sorry for your loss.
Sounds like a lot of those magic modulations involve moving to Flat 6, which, yes, can sound magical. That also gives a clue about the tonal relationship between c# and C, I speculate, since E is the relative major of c# and C is the Flat 6 of E. Noticing that the two chords have a D# -> E line. This is a marvelous piece and thank you for posting and sharing your notes. I think this is within my technical abilities, so I'm going to give it a spin.
I've always found this sonata and especially the last movement somewhat morbid (though maybe that's reading too much into Schubert's personal life at the time he wrote this Sonata), and while Richter's celestially beautiful rendition is very worth listening to, I like the hint of angst that Kovacevich represents.
"I find myself to be the most unhappy and wretched creature in the world. Imagine a man whose health will never be right again, and who in sheer despair continually makes things worse and worse instead of better; imagine a man, I say, whose most brilliant hopes have perished, to whom the felicity of love and friendship have nothing to offer but pain at best, whom enthusiasm (at least of the stimulating variety) for all things beautiful threatens to forsake, and I ask you, is he not a miserable, unhappy being? ‘My peace is gone, my heart is sore, I shall find it nevermore,’ I might as well sing every day now, for upon retiring to bed each night I hope that I may not wake again, and each morning only recalls yesterday’s grief." Franz Schubert 1824.
Ashish, are you familiar with Donald Francis Tovey's great essay "Tonality in Schubert," in which he discusses the modulations in the first movt. of D. 960? It's brilliant.
This music is one of the best things ever done by a human being. People should do more wonderfull things like this than to kill each other for some silly reason.
Truly beautiful recording of one of the greatest of all masterpieces. Curious that K doesn’t follow the dynamics very closely In several places, in what is in other regards a meticulously considered, scrupulous, and polished reading.
The incredible quality of the Schubert writing here in his late B-flat work; the poignant urgency of transcendence depicted--at least according to my brain,--yes, these qualities remind me of Beethoven's Sonata number 32. And yes, that would be my opinion, as best I can phrase it.
Thank you for your remarks, excellent!, everytime I play this wonderful sonata it is as if time stood still, after 40+ minutes you walk away and think: what happened? it's a marvel of time-stopping art, one of those musical wonders that will linger in our memory for ever, at least in mine.
I think there was a piano from the Festival Hall in London that he always liked to use for recordings, I dunno if its the piano or what but often there is a very misty sound
@@pookz3067 That's precisely the problem, Zimerman plays Schubert as if it was Chopin. Zimerman has never been a good Schubertian in my opinion. His playing of this sonata (and the A major, D.959, for that matter) feels very casual. His rubato is mostly out of place and his tone, while still very beautiful when isolated, doesn't seem to work with Schubert. Honestly it's a pretty bland performance.
@@MisterPathetique As a massive Zimerman worshipper I have to sadly agree somewhat. His Chopin, Liszt and Beethoven are otherworldly and often incomparable but his Schubert is a little too tame for such a mentally tortured and wild composer harmonically. It's still an excellent recording though and I think his more reserved style does suit the Impromptus quite nicely. It all depends on the listener's tastes at the end of the day and it's hard to judge what is "good or bad" at this level.
In the chapter "They Tell Me It Rained" in An Unquiet Mind there is a scene with "an elegant, moody, and totally charming Englishman", she puts on this song to set the mood. Enjoy :) "When he arrived -- elegant, just in from a formal dinner party, black tie, white silk evening scarf draped, askew, around his neck, a bottle of champagne in his hand -- I put on Schubert's posthumous Piano SOnata in B-flat, D. 960. It's haunting, beautiful eroticism absolutely filled me with emotion and made me weep." (pg 162)
Schubert was of the first to use such a radical modulation as F major to C# minor, which happens right at the beginning of the development section of the first movement. I was thinking, "Who in heaven's name is Kovacevich?" I knew him as Stephen Bishop and have not listened to him in years. To me the influence of Myra Hess is profound. It's a lovely performance.
Schubert composed this 2 months before he died. He knew he was dying and I think for the first time he composed what he really wanted. He composed for himself and not to please others or for $$. Such a tragedy to have lost him so young! I know everyone speaks of Mozart having died young, but Schubert was like 4-5 years younger than Mozart, and not to mention Pergolesi, he was only 26 when he died. I would have loved to have seen the great music they could have accomplished if they had lived into their 60s. Let just for a second imagine if J.S. Bach had died in his 20s or 30s, we would have lost so much!
Ashish Kumar, I am grateful and humbled by your harmonic analysis of this miracle of a composition. Thank you for your investment of intelligence in us! Yes, the sweetness of melodic line for which Schubert-and Handel-are beloved, leaves a student of music theory completely slammed when each composer, but most gymnastically Schubert, pulls a four-step modulation through keys that should be surrounded with scary names like “past pluperfect imperative.” But the non-scholar just glides dreamily over these because Schubert’s flawless emotional judgment and Romantic expressive skills make it all sound inevitable. I count Schubert among the six or seven most profoundly gifted composers of Common Practice’s 300 years who leave us thinking they didn’t write works like this for us, but rather we were born to hear it.
I can read notes, but reading music is completely another thing. Watching the notes pass with the pianist playing turned the notes on the page into music. What a remarkable gift it is to be able to write music and transform the written notes into a performance as beautiful, poignant, and powerful as this.
La hermosura de la Música del divino Franz en este moderado y dulce inicio campestre lleno de contraste interseccionado con sus típicas deliciosas y encantadoras melodías,un regalo exquisito para el oído humano, recordemos que Schubert era Beethoveniano quizá como ningún otro compusitor de su época y se inspira aquí en la misma naturaleza y el campo descaradamente al igual que su ídolo y maestro genio absoluto de Bonn cuya fuente de inspiración principal y suprema como no podía ser de otra manera:LA NATURALEZA,EL COSMOS de ahí al escuchar al divino Ludwig nos evoca las maravillas naturales y su Música suena mucho más imponente que cualquiera,para terminar el genio de Bonn tanto admiraba al genial vienés que exclamó en su lecho delante de su discípulo:"me parece que en este hombre hay una chispa divina"no podía estar más acertado,tan sabías y geniales eran sus obras composiciones como frases, aforismos modelo,por ej:"amo más a un árbol que a un hombre"
I never heard this sonata before but ... Never heard such à lovely composition’ so nice, so gentle, so free in the way of writing small pieces, few notes, in différent harmonies... I am going to study it (try...) but sûre i Will listen this piece more and more times
that may come across but remember Schubert was very poor when it came to idiomatic writing for the piano. This is why his music only came to be played publicly and published 50 years after his death. this work I find too personal and demanding on an average listener. it's very introvert like alot of his works which doesn't always fit your standard concert repertoire material
@@gustavopalma9451 Putting sound and expression to clearly one side, writing piano music without a thought to the performer and understanding its limitations. Akin to a verbal tongue twister.
The last 3 sonatas of Schubert are masterpieces in their own right. Comparing to Bethoven or other composers is not the point. They are in the fall mood of last works of Schubert - 1928. They cannot be separated from each other - the first movement of the first sonata D 958 announces everything. Like many piano works of Schubert they come from a Lieder pianist - a dialogue between a voice and a piano hand, the other hand making for the « bassa continua », leading then to the 3 différents voices dialoguing, as well as the Impromptus. These sonatas have also moments very strongly structured - Back like fugues -, ending up in some explosions. Silences and brutal chords are breaking and renewing the music. I am no great musicologist, but again these works are masterpieces in their own right in musical history, no equivalent .
I must say I disagree strongly. I don't like Richters performance at all lbut this one is wrong in its own rights. To me it sounds blatantly trying to play like a half-dead almost too weak to press the keys performance, as if he wanted to portray how it might have sounded when Schubert in his last days played it. That's not what a pianist should do, I strongly reject this absurd histrionics.
"Indeed I remember my first agent...Raymond Duck. This DREADFUL little Israelite. Four floors up on the Charing Cross road with never a job at the top of them..."
The shift from c shapr minor to the A major melody in the 2nd movement is sublime. Schubert is really soemthing else, from the depth of despair you are instantly lifted to heavenly bliss.
I will never forgive you for placing ads in the middle of this priceless masterpiece. Ever.
You'll have to take that dispute up with YT, since I'm not the one who puts them there (and, in any case, they are the only reason you get to listen to this free on YT).
@@AshishXiangyiKumar fair enough.
@@johnphillips5993 Ever?
@@johnphillips5993 lol
I'll let you into a secret. These blasphemous interruptions can be completely quelled by installing an ad-blocker. A free and totally effective one is adguard adblocker. Forgive yourself for having delayed so long. Do you know what bliss is? Listening without ads!
1:45
Schubert wrote the *best* tunes of any composer. That he died so young is tragic. A wonderful composer.
That's unfair to other composers
@@crazyorganist1609 Many people would say that these last 3 piano sonatas are among the best out there
Chopin and Mozart the same thing....
1st mvt - snow-filled woodland, melancholy, the beauty in loneliness. 2nd mvt - church bells, death, reminiscence of childhood days. 3rd mtv - skaters on the lake. 4th mvt - into the beyond.
So often, the harmonic daring of great pieces does not strike a non-musically-trained ear; in this great sonata, Schubert uses harmony to such magical effect even the untrained ear can sense something transcendental about it.
Excellent comment. Within the confines of classical structure, Schubert's harmonic voyages and experiments are extraordinary; along with the late masterpieces of Beethoven, these paved the way for Romanticism to start experimenting with form and effects; one of the most interesting and exciting periods in Western music. ruclips.net/video/CDRNeLzPU2w/видео.html
11:58 this is just breathtakingly beautiful
I have a feeling that jazz players would have their interest piqued but I'm not sure.
@@j.grimes4420 there's nothing exceptionally jazzy about it, but the way schubert chooses to rotate through certain harmonies and how he moves back to d minor at the ends of the first couple phrases is quite modern
@@anotherdepressedmusician It reminds me of the voiceleading in My Funny Valentine.
The motif is also used to open the lied "Der Wanderer".
IMO that e-flat minor at 12:50 is the emotional peak of the entire movement. I personally think that whole section should be played more slowly and quietly.
00:00 - Mvt 1, Molto moderato
19:58 - Mvt 2, Andante sostenuto
29:16 - Mvt 3, Scherzo
33:15 - Mvt 4, Allegro ma non troppo
If you listen carefully to this through headphones you can hear Stephen humming to parts of this wonderful piece.
i can't hear it though
12:25 to 13:09 is one of the most sublime moments in piano music, right up there with the return of the introduction in Chopin's 4th ballade
I just thought this part is one of my favorite in my ideal piano sonata hitlist 😍
And the return of the starting theme in Rach prelude op 32 no13
Wtf the return of the introduction isn’t even the best part of ballade 4. It’s the return of the second theme in Db Major. Not to mention there are plenty more moments in music as sublime or even more sublime than that
39:59 So delicate and beautiful!
I appreciate the detailed analysis and comments, but to me it's simple: this is the most beautiful and moving piece of piano music ever written - - - and god knows how I love Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann, Brahms, etc., but there is just a certain "something" about this sonata that bores into my soul and lives there...and has for over 50 years. Cannot be explained.
I understand you 100% I love all the great composers, but there is something so wierd about Schubert. His pieces, the sonatas (or in my case the impromptus and symphonies) are something else.
@Stygian Eons My comment or the original, and in what sense?
@Stygian Eons It might be that you are translating the comment to another language and you are missing key points. If that's the case let me help you. He/she is saying that the the concept is simple. The concept is that Schubert makes music so beautiful that it can't be explained.
Yes, you might say that because it cannot be easily explained it must be complex, contradicting the first statement. But if you think about it, he/she is referring to the simplicity of his or her personal concept of Schubert's music, not the mechanics behind it.
Remember this: concepts are easy, making sense of them and how they work is hard.
So regardless of the detailed analysis, the personal subjective concept is that Schubert's music is unexplainably beautiful. And that is the "simplicity" behind it. Hope that helped you.
@Stygian Eons Because understanding the concept of something unexplainable is easy, explaining why that is, is hard. (It's the concept that is referred to as easy not the explanation why)
To give an example:
"The jurney of a thousand miles begins with one single step"
-Lao tsu, the founder of Taoism
The message above is very easy to understand the concept. However the implications of it can end up being very deep and complex. Same thing with distinguishing between concept of something unexplainable and the mechanics behind it.
But to be honest, I think we are overthinking all of this. It's just a comment on RUclips. We don't have to give it much thought. 😅
@Stygian Eons yep
I've always thought Kovacevich was somewhat underrated as an interpreter of the classic Viennese composers. Every tempo, nuance, attack, rhythm, ritardando, just seems right. This is a fantastic take on this gorgeous work.
The first movement is so unbelievably beautiful that it makes me want to believe in a higher power.
Believe in Schubert
There is always a higher power than us... that's why we are called humans... and that's what drives human civilization... the struggle to free ourselves from our imprefections and reach for the perfect...
God
Schubert & Scriabin both were inspired by that same Power
That power is the Lord himself and Jesus, find it before it is too late my brother
Schubert was, in my opinion, the only one who came close to Beethoven in this form.
Jack Fletcher Beethoven loved Schubert’s work ☺️🎹
i would put Chopin and Liszt (h-moll Sonata at least) on the same level (and im a hardcore Beethoven fan, especially Sonata 21, 29, 32 and the pathetique)
His later sonata yes, some of his early ones are sadly pretty bland and forgettable to my ears - feel like he was trying to make some rent money on them - can't fault him if so.
@@adrianh.6022 The most stupid word in the English language is the word "fan"; i am skeptical if you are going to understand why...
@@prager5046 Enthusiast would be a more suitable word i guess
Never heard this one before, now I am obsessed with it.
It's incredible. A Rosette in the Penguin Guide.
I'd heard it before (not least in several films) but recently have become obsessed with it, accessing the many wonderful interpretations available on RUclips.
Да, это настоящая уховёрта. Мне кажется, Шуберт сочинял в ходу. Здесь, по-моему, слышна гроза, весна, свежий воздух, походка в горах вблизи Вены (Wienerwald). А тема 4.ого движения напоминает как бы русскую народную песнь.
Love the analysis! The entire development section of the 1st movement is sheer genius. One of my other favorite modulations in the piece is the Gb major to F# minor to A major in the recap from 14:46 to 15:02
When I listen to some music, after a while, I have a profound sense it's listening to me and it knows me and I know I have found a friend for life. This music and this performance has this power and gives me abiding relief and comfort. It's beautiful.
Interesting.
I couldn't have said it better myself! I feel exactly the same say: it knows me! Amazing...........
wow that second movement is something else
I can’t believe that is composed only 2 months before the composer’s death...
The sonata must be listened in its entirety. The second movement is already just such a direct call to the heart, but it's even more effective when it's heard after we've been through the first movement. And the third movement is like a sigh of relief... everything about this sonata is just so perfect.
Thanks for listening to my rant :D
Good that he takes the first movement exposition repeat: so many pianists don't.
20 minutes of movement, understandable hhah
Given how great that bit right before the repeat is, I would consider it almost a crime not to play it!
Skipping a Schubert repeat is no bueno. :) Curiously he does skip the repeat in the second part of the Scherzo at 33:04.
@@trutwijd there is no repeat after the central part, only at the beginning
I thought this was alright at first but then the melody of the 1st movement really grows on you. I love this song!
11:35 Schubert went nuts in here
Descent into madness. It's brilliant.
It's one of his best moments
never knew he had such a rage inside of him. its like reviewing his previous work, Erlkonig d.328
Robert Schumann has
KI’m
Ok I
II’m
I’m so I
I I i I I I k
Sorry, my phone added all that previous comment.
Schubert, à jamais tu resteras dans nos coeurs.
15:00 one of the most beautiful harmonic shifts in music.
YES! ... one of the most beautiful works ever written.
Fully agreed.
oh yes indeed. Heart-stoppingly gorgeous. Probably my favorite moment in the 1st movement, alongside the delicate triple-pianissimo fragment of the opening theme in the development section.
9:48, 26:23...
@@josephmathmusic agreed. The c major modulation at 26:23 is my favorite harmonic moment in this sonata along with 14:56
Thank you for sharing this and also for putting up the score at the same time.
I've listened to this work for over 40 years and this is the first time I've done so with the music.
It is fascinating. I watched a performance by Schiff the other day and it was the first time I'd heard the 1st time bars before the repeat of the first half. I was bewildered that there was music in this piece that I'd never heard and I couldn't understand why anyone would want to leave it out.
With regards to this performance there are few words really. It's marvelous. But looking at the score you realise just how difficult the dynamic juxtapositions can be to achieve on a modern piano where the decay is so much longer than it would be on a wooden framed one of the period.
Anyway, what a wonderful we live in where technology makes all of this possible.
There's something about that repeating G-flat trill in the opener; it seems like the world stops and waits for it for just a moment. I like especially its occurrence right before the recap, and then again at the very end of the movement before the final cadences.
Thank you for your wonderful account on this recording : "There is no slouch toward profundity, no gesture of unnecessary sophistication. Instead there is a consistent variety of articulation -- warmth [23:22], sadness, violence, tranquility -- all as the work demands it." I totally agree with you and these elements are what I care about the most in the interpretation of classical music.
It's amazing the number of pianists who think Schubert and his sonatas are vastly inferior compared to Beethoven or even Haydn. Most pianists/teachers I've met and worked with think Schubert is just an ok composer and won't really play his music. And yet, every vocal professor I've ever worked with adores Schubert lieder.
I think this is because Schubert's songs and his chamber music overshadow his piano output. But at least his three last piano sonatas are masterpieces for sure, I can agree with that.
He is a great piano composer because he was at first a piano for lieder. Composing for piano only, he managed for the absence of singer by composing for 3 piano “voices” rather than only 2. You can hear that in all his late piano works - impromptus, lay 3 sonatas
there is this wintery feeling in several of the later works from Schubert, the feeling that you go on a rise, in a nature covered with snow and ice, to nowhere. It's just dead ends, moments of silence, shadowy chasms, mazes that lead to madness.
_An Alpine Sonata,_ perhaps.
Edo tries I.F. Yet for me Mozart remains the most tragic composer - in some ways the wintery quality was part of Schubert, in Mozart there is always a gap between the Mozartian ideal and his difficulties coming to terms with life itself - Schubert never has any such ideals in the first place
Nice one!
I've always felt that this work in particular is more "Siberian" than "Austrian" in its spirit and outlook.
This is one of the best comments I’ve ever read on RUclips. Very poignant observation.
The slow movement is one the saddest and painful ever composed. The luminous melody in the middle makes the return to the sadness even more painful.
I usually like Ashish's selections, but I feel this one is a miss. Kovacevich plays with a truly lovely tone, and I can hear his commitment (and not only in the humming, a la Glenn Gould), but I feel he's missed the point. This sounds more like Beethoven; it lacks the overall mood setting that makes Schubert unique. Fatally, Kovacevich's rubato is cloying and a bit precious, garbling the long-breathed melodic line rather than adding momentum. Much prefer the Uchida and Richter versions.
11:26-11:56 is absolutely some of the most profound music I have ever heard, especially with all the music leading up to it.
I saw this performed live in concert by Marc-Andre Hamelin last night, and I honestly feel like he was able to surpass even this magnificent recording- he brought out so many different layers in the texture and it was just... Utterly indescribable, a truly enormous dynamic range, utter coherency to the massive structure and it was just utterly superb. This is one of the best recordings without a doubt, but what I heard last night was truly stunning.
Haden Plouffe a
Richters performance is profound just like the Chopin Etudes of Polinni are which does'nt mean that other pianist can not offer us a new light or perspective on the graet masterpieces which can be heard on you channel. One thing I know for shure. You Mr. Kumar are a musiclover indeed.
Agreed but Richter is Richter . David Jamison
Удивительно: мне действительно больше нравится Ковалевич, несмотря на то, что многие традиционно хвалят Рихтера. Ну просто уже традиция такая, по инерции... Ковалевич!.. Как-то свежо, ни единой ноты пустой, формальной (без интонации). Этот исполнитель разговаривает интонациями, а у Рихтера я слышу только архитектонику и... увы, разочаровываюсь, так как выбор в сторону формы, а не содержания, естественно, не увлекает моё сознание от ноты к ноте вперёд. Для меня идеально такое прочтение, в котором форма непосредственно соткана из содержания - тогда она органически сама выстраивается, без специальных к тому усилий. Ковалевич (простите, не указано имя исполнителя) живёт в каждой ноте, от её начала и до конца, в режиме реального времени - и именно поэтому это так увлекает сознание естественным образом, так как что внутри (у исполнителя) - то и снаружи (у слушателя). Эти законы столь глубоки, что работают как во взаимоотношениях между одним человеком и другим, так и между исполнителем и слушателем. Данного исполнителя слышу первый раз и немного в шоке от масштабов дарования... Мне кажется, что это Гений...
Как же больно, жалко, досадно, что многие кроме Рихтера никого не знают, да и что там греха таить... и не хотят знать (!) Так проще, ведь не надо заставлять себя думать и размышлять, так комфортнее. Большое спасибо автору канала, что выложили это Чудо!
I started learning this shortly before my grandmother passed away, and desperately wanted to play the second movement at her funeral. Unfortunately the church wouldn't let me. Always makes me think of her now
Why wouldn’t they let you? I don’t want a funeral, I want a celebration of my life. Play all the music you want. Hell, talk shit about me, I can’t hear you, I’ll be dead! I’m sorry for your loss.
おお、その教会はこの曲がリストのソナタのように高尚な曲である事を理解していなかったようだ...その教会の方々には悪いが宗教曲以外を一貫に見下す態度はとても古い価値観と言わざるを得ません
他の有名な例だと教会は葬式の形式に囚われてフォーレのレクイエムを拒否したりなどまであります、我々の価値観からすれば教会は感情が無いと言われても仕方がないでしょうね
Everyone talks about the first 3 movement, are there anyone who loves all the movements including the 4th? All of the movements rocks for me.
4th is a gem
Sounds like a lot of those magic modulations involve moving to Flat 6, which, yes, can sound magical. That also gives a clue about the tonal relationship between c# and C, I speculate, since E is the relative major of c# and C is the Flat 6 of E. Noticing that the two chords have a D# -> E line.
This is a marvelous piece and thank you for posting and sharing your notes. I think this is within my technical abilities, so I'm going to give it a spin.
I've always found this sonata and especially the last movement somewhat morbid (though maybe that's reading too much into Schubert's personal life at the time he wrote this Sonata), and while Richter's celestially beautiful rendition is very worth listening to, I like the hint of angst that Kovacevich represents.
wwwaldo333 maybe so, but the Richter is loaded with ads, and this one is not!
One of the most beautiful pieces of classical music. But I prefer the Richter's version.
So do I. And then there's Richter's Brahms second piano. Sublime.
"I find myself to be the most unhappy and wretched creature in the world. Imagine a man whose health will never be right again, and who in sheer despair continually makes things worse and worse instead of better; imagine a man, I say, whose most brilliant hopes have perished, to whom the felicity of love and friendship have nothing to offer but pain at best, whom enthusiasm (at least of the stimulating variety) for all things beautiful threatens to forsake, and I ask you, is he not a miserable, unhappy being? ‘My peace is gone, my heart is sore, I shall find it nevermore,’ I might as well sing every day now, for upon retiring to bed each night I hope that I may not wake again, and each morning only recalls yesterday’s grief."
Franz Schubert 1824.
Such beautiful playing. Not percussive, still tender in the louder exciting moments.
I cannot put in words how much I adore the second movement.
Ashish, are you familiar with Donald Francis Tovey's great essay "Tonality in Schubert," in which he discusses the modulations in the first movt. of D. 960? It's brilliant.
Thank you so much for the recommendation!!!😍
This music is one of the best things ever done by a human being. People should do more wonderfull things like this than to kill each other for some silly reason.
Truly beautiful recording of one of the greatest of all masterpieces.
Curious that K doesn’t follow the dynamics very closely In several places, in what is in other regards a meticulously considered, scrupulous, and polished reading.
Reminds me of Beethoven :O
Is it so? Schubert have lived for a few years after Beethoven's 9th
this is innacurate - Schubert requested op.131 to be played on his deathbed
Beethoven was better.
IN YOUR OPINION.
The incredible quality of the Schubert writing here in his late B-flat work; the poignant urgency of transcendence depicted--at least according to my brain,--yes, these qualities remind me of Beethoven's Sonata number 32. And yes, that would be my opinion, as best I can phrase it.
A perfect interpretation. Thank you!
YUP...
Wonderful performance by Kovacevich! Astonishing harmonic progression through distantly related keys!
Thank you for this exquisite rendition of one of my all time favorite piano works, as well as your very insightful commentary!
To me this is the spiritual conclusion to the Classical Era.
I would give anything to hear late Schubert...
This Masterpiece couldn’t be described better…👍👏
Thank you for your remarks, excellent!, everytime I play this wonderful sonata it is as if time stood still, after 40+ minutes you walk away and think: what happened? it's a marvel of time-stopping art, one of those musical wonders that will linger in our memory for ever, at least in mine.
Do you think the piano it was played on had an effect on the sound? Because I agree, it sounds very different despite being clearly a piano.
I think there was a piano from the Festival Hall in London that he always liked to use for recordings, I dunno if its the piano or what but often there is a very misty sound
There's a translucency and intimacy to his sound, which he has always attributed to Myra Hess' teachings.
what do you think of zimerman’s recent recording of this sonata on dg? i’d love to have another video with his interpretation
Yes his performance is marvelous
you're cute, just saying
It’s very, very good. Reminds me a lot of his Chopin interpretations in sensibilities. I think they will go down as classical recordings of the piece
@@pookz3067 That's precisely the problem, Zimerman plays Schubert as if it was Chopin.
Zimerman has never been a good Schubertian in my opinion. His playing of this sonata (and the A major, D.959, for that matter) feels very casual. His rubato is mostly out of place and his tone, while still very beautiful when isolated, doesn't seem to work with Schubert. Honestly it's a pretty bland performance.
@@MisterPathetique As a massive Zimerman worshipper I have to sadly agree somewhat. His Chopin, Liszt and Beethoven are otherworldly and often incomparable but his Schubert is a little too tame for such a mentally tortured and wild composer harmonically. It's still an excellent recording though and I think his more reserved style does suit the Impromptus quite nicely. It all depends on the listener's tastes at the end of the day and it's hard to judge what is "good or bad" at this level.
what a great comment analysis, makes you enjoy the piece with a totally new perspective
Really speaks to the soul this one
9:56 - 12:39 definitely my favorite part.
In the chapter "They Tell Me It Rained" in An Unquiet Mind there is a scene with "an elegant, moody, and totally charming Englishman", she puts on this song to set the mood. Enjoy :)
"When he arrived -- elegant, just in from a formal dinner party, black tie, white silk evening scarf draped, askew, around his neck, a bottle of champagne in his hand -- I put on Schubert's posthumous Piano SOnata in B-flat, D. 960. It's haunting, beautiful eroticism absolutely filled me with emotion and made me weep." (pg 162)
24:25 Who forgot to turn off his cellphone?
Schubert was of the first to use such a radical modulation as F major to C# minor, which happens right at the beginning of the development section of the first movement. I was thinking, "Who in heaven's name is Kovacevich?" I knew him as Stephen Bishop and have not listened to him in years. To me the influence of Myra Hess is profound. It's a lovely performance.
The modulation between the tonic and mediant was most popularized by Liszt when he used the chords side by side
Beethoven’s Hammerklavier has B-flat major but the third movement is in F-sharp minor
I think Beethoven was first
Schubert himself is music, music of otherly world.
12:50 magic
10:20
21:50
That scherzo could almost be a Shostakovich prelude.
No
I’m so pleased to have found this piece. Better later than never
Schubert composed this 2 months before he died. He knew he was dying and I think for the first time he composed what he really wanted. He composed for himself and not to please others or for $$. Such a tragedy to have lost him so young! I know everyone speaks of Mozart having died young, but Schubert was like 4-5 years younger than Mozart, and not to mention Pergolesi, he was only 26 when he died. I would have loved to have seen the great music they could have accomplished if they had lived into their 60s. Let just for a second imagine if J.S. Bach had died in his 20s or 30s, we would have lost so much!
3:16 beethoven's cadenza
This is lit
facts
15:58 In that bar the highest A in the last beat is missing a sharp accidental
its missing your sharp eyes
Magnifique interprétation et superbe sonorité du piano !!!
My favorite sonata i'he ever heard❤😊
is this harder than waldstein sonata?
Ashish Kumar, I am grateful and humbled by your harmonic analysis of this miracle of a composition. Thank you for your investment of intelligence in us! Yes, the sweetness of melodic line for which Schubert-and Handel-are beloved, leaves a student of music theory completely slammed when each composer, but most gymnastically Schubert, pulls a four-step modulation through keys that should be surrounded with scary names like “past pluperfect imperative.” But the non-scholar just glides dreamily over these because Schubert’s flawless emotional judgment and Romantic expressive skills make it all sound inevitable.
I count Schubert among the six or seven most profoundly gifted composers of Common Practice’s 300 years who leave us thinking they didn’t write works like this for us, but rather we were born to hear it.
20:00
Zimerman released his Schubert Sonatas (20 + 21) a year after this video. What do you think of it?
I've never really listening to Schubert, until I found this xD
Brutal pounding at 4:00, 5:00, and strangeness of pauses that become interruptions, sets up a pattern of harsh discombobulation - as with 9:14.
I can read notes, but reading music is completely another thing. Watching the notes pass with the pianist playing turned the notes on the page into music. What a remarkable gift it is to be able to write music and transform the written notes into a performance as beautiful, poignant, and powerful as this.
00:00 - Mvt 1, Molto moderato
19:58 - Mvt 2, Andante sostenuto
29:16 - Mvt 3, Scherzo
33:15 - Mvt 4, Allegro ma non troppo
What do you think of Lupu's recording?
Haruki Murakami brought me here.
9:57 to 10.30 sounds pre-Stravinsky
It sounds very classical in my opinion
Stunningly beautiful and fascinating.
La hermosura de la Música del divino Franz en este moderado y dulce inicio campestre lleno de contraste interseccionado con sus típicas deliciosas y encantadoras melodías,un regalo exquisito para el oído humano, recordemos que Schubert era Beethoveniano quizá como ningún otro compusitor de su época y se inspira aquí en la misma naturaleza y el campo descaradamente al igual que su ídolo y maestro genio absoluto de Bonn cuya fuente de inspiración principal y suprema como no podía ser de otra manera:LA NATURALEZA,EL COSMOS de ahí al escuchar al divino Ludwig nos evoca las maravillas naturales y su Música suena mucho más imponente que cualquiera,para terminar el genio de Bonn tanto admiraba al genial vienés que exclamó en su lecho delante de su discípulo:"me parece que en este hombre hay una chispa divina"no podía estar más acertado,tan sabías y geniales eran sus obras composiciones como frases, aforismos modelo,por ej:"amo más a un árbol que a un hombre"
Why are Schubert's sonatas so long apparently?
Because Schubert made them long.
yes, Kova, you are absolutely on top of the world.
Do not listen to this sonata while reflecting on your soul! You might get an angelic sense of hope about the world.
Sounds parts sounds like beethoven but without the fire and passion like more simple idk how to explain but still beautiful
It sounds effortless
I never heard this sonata before but ... Never heard such à lovely composition’ so nice, so gentle, so free in the way of writing small pieces, few notes, in différent harmonies...
I am going to study it (try...) but sûre i Will listen this piece more and more times
this is one of the last compositions of Schubert before he died at the age of 31, so it's a very sad and haunted piece of music.. 😢
15:00
What an astonishing piece, pretty sweet and groundbreaking, Kovacevich has such a warmth touch
Does anyone know why the recording plays B instead of C# in bar 5 of the second movement (around 20:15)?
Old edition mistake. B is correct and present in all recent printings of the score
@@fatreq Thank you very much!
I think Schubert surpasses Chopin in building up a climax and have it result in something so frail that it is utterly beautiful. 12:30
that may come across but remember Schubert was very poor when it came to idiomatic writing for the piano. This is why his music only came to be played publicly and published 50 years after his death. this work I find too personal and demanding on an average listener. it's very introvert like alot of his works which doesn't always fit your standard concert repertoire material
@@JaymesSinnah that’s an interesting thought thanks for that
What do you mean with "poor idiomatic writing"? @@JaymesSinnah
@@gustavopalma9451 Putting sound and expression to clearly one side, writing piano music without a thought to the performer and understanding its limitations. Akin to a verbal tongue twister.
The last 3 sonatas of Schubert are masterpieces in their own right. Comparing to Bethoven or other composers is not the point. They are in the fall mood of last works of Schubert - 1928. They cannot be separated from each other - the first movement of the first sonata D 958 announces everything. Like many piano works of Schubert they come from a Lieder pianist - a dialogue between a voice and a piano hand, the other hand making for the « bassa continua », leading then to the 3 différents voices dialoguing, as well as the Impromptus. These sonatas have also moments very strongly structured - Back like fugues -, ending up in some explosions. Silences and brutal chords are breaking and renewing the music.
I am no great musicologist, but again these works are masterpieces in their own right in musical history, no equivalent .
I must say I disagree strongly. I don't like Richters performance at all lbut this one is wrong in its own rights. To me it sounds blatantly trying to play like a half-dead almost too weak to press the keys performance, as if he wanted to portray how it might have sounded when Schubert in his last days played it. That's not what a pianist should do, I strongly reject this absurd histrionics.
"Indeed I remember my first agent...Raymond Duck. This DREADFUL little Israelite. Four floors up on the Charing Cross road with never a job at the top of them..."
0:57 😭😭😭
I love everything about this, but my favorite parts are from Movement 2 from 19:57 - 22:55 and 25:29 - 29:16 (especially the ending from 27:30) 😌