Paul Lewis – Schubert. The Late Piano Sonatas (2014) [Qobuz 24bit/96kHz]

Paul Lewis – Schubert. The Late Piano Sonatas (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 02:09:02 minutes | 1,06 GB | Genre: Classical
Official Digital Download – Source: Qobuz.com | @ Harmonia Mundi
Recorded: mars-avril 2013 & septembre 2002, Teldex Studio Berlin

Paul Lewis is today regarded as one of the leading pianists of his generation, having won the most coveted prizes of the great classical institutions, for both his concert career and his recordings on harmonia mundi, topped by three Gramophone Awards including Record of the Year in 2008. He is also the first pianist in the history of the BBC Proms to have played the complete Beethoven concertos in a single season (2010). Early in 2011, Paul Lewis embarked on a two-year concert tour devoted to the works written by Schubert in the last six years of his life. Now completed, he has played in London, New York, Chicago, Tokyo, Melbourne, Rotterdam, Bologna, Florence and at the Schwarzenberg Schubertiade and the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris.

For a number of years, the piano music of Ludwig van Beethoven has dominated the recordings of British pianist Paul Lewis on Harmonia Mundi, though since 2011 he has also recorded the sonatas of Franz Schubert, an equal interest to him. This 2014 album of the last four piano sonatas may bring with it expectations of a grand statement: the late piano sonatas, like the final string quartets, the piano trios, the String Quintet, the last songs, and other works of 1828 carry with them the gravitas of Schubert’s illness and impending death, and some aspect of the composer’s mortality is usually addressed in performances of these works. Lewis is qualified to offer meaningful interpretations of Schubert’s artistic intentions, though what might not be expected is the weightlessness, ease, energy, and joy that he communicates in these sonatas, expressive choices that rises above the biographical. They are masterfully played and marvelously recorded, so such technical matters don’t interfere with the pure appreciation of the music. Drama and pathos are here, of course, along with tenderness and lyricism, but Lewis doesn’t dwell morbidly on the darker aspects, preferring instead to let the light shine through. It certainly does in all four works, and even though there are moments of intense passion, gloom, and even fury, one comes away from hearing these sonatas with a sense of the wholeness of Schubert’s conceptions, including his ineffable serenity, and Lewis’ balanced choices are fully justified. Highly recommended. -AllMusic Review by Blair Sanderson

Tracklist:
FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797-1828)
PIANO SONATA D.784 OP. POSTH. 143 A minor / la mineur / a-Moll
1 | I. Allegro giusto 13’12
2 | II. Andante 4’00
3 | III. Allegro vivace 5’23
PIANO SONATA D.958 C minor / ut mineur / c-Moll
4 | I. Allegro 10’38
5 | II. Adagio 8’14
6 | III. Menuetto Allegro – Trio 3’15
7 | IV. Allegro 9’28
PIANO SONATA D.959 A major / La majeur / A-Dur
8 | I. Allegro 11’58
9 | II. Andantino 7’47
10 | III. Scherzo Allegro vivace – Trio Un pocco più lento 5’11
11 | IV. Rondo Allegretto 13’11
PIANO SONATA D.960 B flat major / Si bémol majeur / B-Dur
12 | I. Molto moderato 15’22
13 | II. Andante sostenuto 9’14
14 | III. Scherzo Allegro vivace con delicatezza – Trio 3’44
15 | IV. Allegro, ma non troppo 8’09