Search - Franz [Vienna] Schubert, Valery Afanassiev :: Piano Sonata in B Flat Major

Shame about the coughing

Scaffa | Sweden | 03/23/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This one, for me, is spoilt by too much coughing by the audience members. Afanassiev plays with great earnestness and much gravitas, making the most of the pauses, attuning the listener's ears to the dramatic silences - and then to be constantly distracted by coughing sounds is most unfortunate.



In the first movement alone, I counted some fifteen coughs (which goes to show that I lost interest in the performance and just waited for the next cough to come).



Having said that, if you are not bothered by such matters as coughing audience members, this is a great performance. Very serious and heart-felt. The sound quality is also excellent, as one has come to expect from ECM.





"

Stretches the slow movement as far as it can go

Robert Lombard | Vermont | 12/23/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This sonata has received much attention from pianists in the past 60 years. The trend has increasingly been to 'milk' the slow movement for all the angst that's there, and sometimes the thread breaks. Richter may have been the trend setter; he recorded it several times, and most times the thread doesn't break.



Afanassiev stretches the thread even further than Richter did without breaking it; this is a mesmerizing performance. It's a live recording, and some audience members are not in good health, but their 'contributions' don't break the spell the music weaves.



Be aware that there is a later recording on Denon. Afanassiev goes too long there - way too long - and the thread of concentration for the listener has to break. This ECM recording is much preferable."