Search - Franz [Vienna] Schubert, Leif Ove Andsnes, Ian Bostridge :: Schubert: Piano Sonata D. 958; Lieder; Fragments

Major talent

Frances E. Ota | Toronto, Ontario, Canada | 05/06/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"From the moment he was "discovered" in Norway, Leif Ove Andsnes has set the bar for pianists higher than it's been in a long time. He plays virtually everything - Grieg, Schumann, Haydn, Mozart, - everything, uncommonly well. His touch is light, interpretations sensitive, technique fluid, flawless, and awesome. Whatever he does is well thought out and musical. He is the rare talent who is a vehicle for the music, not an ego looking for an outlet. This recording is sensitive, serious, funny, bright, contemplative - in effect, Schubert. That doesn't mean his personality doesn't come through - just that he doesn't need it to be first and foremost. I hope he is around and recording for a long time to come."

Stunning, Revelatory Performance of Schubert's late C minor

John Kwok | New York, NY USA | 07/14/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In the last of Leif Ove Andsnes' recent EMI recordings of Schubert's late piano sonatas and lieder (with tenor Ian Bostridge), the distinguished Norwegian pianist offers a dazzling, quite revelatory, performance of the Schubert Piano Sonata in C minor D958; an almost familiar work that I have heard performed live from the likes of Paul Badura-Skoda, and, in particular, Alfred Brendel. Andesnes' riveting playing is one that seems almost relentless in its intensity, with his fingers seemingly pounding away in almost careless abandon. But of course that isn't the case, since Andsnes' performance is truly quite insightful, as well as lyrical in its tonality and phrasing, taking into account Schubert's interest in using silence as a means of making sudden shifts in tempi. And yet, I honestly doubt I have heard a faster, more compelling Allegro (first movement); certainly I can't recall ever hearing one from, for example, Brendel himself, during his annual visits here to New York City's Carnegie Hall. The concluding Allegro (fourth movement) is also as compellingly swift as its predecessor, replete with frantic tarantella rhythms associated with Italian comic opera of that time. Andsnes shifts the musical focus from himself to Bostridge in the terse lieder and lieder fragments as a sympathetic accompanist; as for Bostridge, he sings the three terse lieder comprising the Gesange des Harfners D478 with utmost sweetness and clarity. But the musical highlight for Bostridge is his convincingly morose rendition of Tottengrabbers Heimweh D842, which he sings with ample sadness, if not outright despair, emanating from his voice. Without question this CD represents a superb conclusion to Andsnes and Bostridge's Schubert collaboration on EMI, and one which deserves ample attention not only from their fans, but those interested in hearing these compelling interpretations of these Schubert pieces.

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