Search - Franz [Vienna] Schubert, Stephen Bishop Kovacevich :: Schubert: Piano Sonata No. 21; Moments musicaux; Allegretto in C minor

A magnificently realized interpretation, great and essential

Schubert aficionado | CA United States | 10/14/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In the great Sonata in B-flat, Kovacevich gives hint that beyond the haunting tranquility of the piece is stillness, beyond the sorrow, a raging despair. Like Uchida, his Molto Moderato for example is slow in the Richter tradition, and yet unlike him, Kovacevich has subtly recognized and conveyed the frightening and barely repressed aggression. Uchida in comparision nearly shares Kovacevich's view, but on repeated listenings she strikes the ear as dwelling too dramatically on the despair and resignation, rendering a performance that sounds cold and hollow. Kovacevich's performance may project Schubert's despair, but it surpasses hers in that it also conveys the sweetness of existence, the anger that it may be so fleeting, and without Brendel's optimism, there is ultimate acceptance--Kovacevich's is the red-blooded and ultimately human performance, and as a wholly realized interpretation, it is successful beyond argument and essential to your collection. Not as an alternative but as comparison, I would recommend the greatest performance of another extreme, being Pollini's, for he sculpts this sonata into music of magnificent austerity. Both versions are so truly different, together they reveal Schubert's masterpiece as limitless and always sublime.

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Uniquely revealing

YIP Alex | 02/11/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is my favourite Schubert's sonata and I own no less than over a dozen of different versions and to me this is the most satisfying if you like this sonata to be dark-hued. Above all, it goes to the heart and this is what matters. Very realistic recording."