# Schubert Piano Sonatas



## clavichorder

Hi, it's my first post in the music section in a very long time. I was curious which Schubert sonatas were your favorite, and what your favorite recordings were as well, and just in promoting a discussion on them. They are about as worthy of in depth discussion as Beethoven sonatas, so it's curious that you don't see them mentioned as often, or recorded as often. 

I am currently listening to D 959 in A major played by Brendel. Stunning slow movement. I discovered D 840 not so long ago, which is sort of like the piano sonata answer to the "unfinished" symphony. It has a sort of static grandeur to it.


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## EdwardBast

In addition to the final three, I've always been fond of the "little" A major (D. 664) and the A minor, D. 784. I don't have favorite recordings. I know the last two I mentioned mostly through playing.


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## Mandryka

clavichorder said:


> I discovered D 840 not so long ago , , , It has a sort of static grandeur to it.


840 certainly is static. It's almost like something by Feldman, there's no sense of driving towards a goal. It's like the polar opposite of the Beethoven thing.

Although the music repeats all the time, the repeats have an introspective colour about them, like the memory of a tune heard before. I know it's become a cliche to link Schubert's music with nostalgia but it seems right here.

There's only one performance of it I've ever really enjoyed, and that's Richter's from 1961, it used to be on youtube, very different from his one for Philips later.



clavichorder said:


> I am currently listening to D 959 in A major . . . Stunning slow movement.


The big problem with this slow movement is the outburst in the middle: how to stop it sounding silly and random?
(there's a similar problem with the trill in the first movement exposition repeat of 960 -- which most pianists seem to just choose to avoid.)

The trick that works the best is to introduce some tension, edginess and darkness into the music that precedes it (including the first movement, but especially the initial part of the andantino.) This is what Schnabel, Lonquich and Arrau do.



clavichorder said:


> I was curious which Schubert sonatas were your favorite, and what your favorite recordings were as well, .


One I remember enjoying recently is Lilya Zilberstein's CD with D 850. Another is Kempff's first recording (NOT the second for DG) of D 960, and indeed Yudina's D 960 (I have quite a good transfer of this if you want it, better than the one on Vista Vera.) I also thought David Fray's d894 was very special, not my cup of te (too lyrical, too beautiful, too calm) but really outstanding nevertheless. Slowly I'm starting to compare the sets by Badura Skoda and Bilsson on fortepiano, I can't draw any interesting conclusions yet.


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## clavichorder

EdwardBast said:


> In addition to the final three, I've always been fond of the "little" A major (D. 664) and the A minor, D. 784. I don't have favorite recordings. I know the last two I mentioned mostly through playing.


I'm working on D 664.


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## clavichorder

Mandryka said:


> There's only one performance of it I've ever really enjoyed, and that's Richter's from 1961, it used to be on youtube, very different from his one for Philips later.


I like that performance best as well. Although he could have left out the 2nd two movements like Kempff and Brendel. No problem though, I just don't listen to them.


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## EdwardBast

clavichorder said:


> I'm working on D 664.


Lately I have been too!


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## Mandryka

Because of all this mention of 664, I just listened to it. Edouard Erdmann recorded it, Erdmann was an early advocate of Schubert's long form piano music along with Schnabel and Casadesus and Serkin. He was upstaged by Schnabel, I'd say he was unjustifiably upstaged. 

What Erdmann brings to Schubert is tension, nervous edginess. It works very well in 664.


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## Mandryka

clavichorder said:


> I like that performance best as well. Although he could have left out the 2nd two movements like Kempff and Brendel. No problem though, I just don't listen to them.


I am always tempted with these extraordinary pieces to speculate that Schubert was inspired by some sort of philosophical, moral, spiritual vision. In fact, university people are researching and publishing on this very area: Schubert's metaphysical beliefs and how they effected his music. Unfortunately the papers aren't accessible to me and the books are too expensive. I bet it's a fruitful area.

Generally in his reception Schubert had been saddled with the label of a naive natural tune-smith, fundamentally the composer of songs with catchy memorable melodies. It hasn't done his reputation as a composer of long music any good.

Richter made some comments in interview about why he played all the material in 840, by the way. Something along the lines of Schubert's so good that we should play every note, that sort of thing. By the way, I think that the better analogy is with the 9th symphony, rather than the 8th. But I can see where you're coming from.


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## clavichorder

I can see the 9th, now that you mention it, at least in the 1st two movements. The 9th does have something of the static in it too, and is also in C major.


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## trazom

The early A major sonata is one of my favorites, too. I think that's the one he wrote on a summer holiday when he was 20 years old. Actually like all of them from that sonata all the way to the last. I remember working on D.664 years ago when I first discovered it but I couldn't get passed the tricky passages in the third movement, mostly in the development section, so I put it away. I'll probably get back to it one of these days.


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## Tchaikov6

trazom said:


> The early A major sonata is one of my favorites, too. I think that's the one he wrote on a summer holiday when he was 20 years old. Actually like all of them from that sonata all the way to the last. I remember working on D.664 years ago when I first discovered it but I couldn't get passed the tricky passages in the third movement, mostly in the development section, so I put it away. I'll probably get back to it one of these days.


The little A Major is probably my favorite Schubert sonata (close with B-flat Major and C Minor though). The melody that opens it is one of Schubert's most memorable. The slow movement is heaven, and then the last movement is joyful and light.


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## agoukass

There are many that I love. D. 960 will always have a soft spot in my heart because it was the first one I heard, but D. 959 and D. 845 are also some of my all time favorites. When I bought the Kempff recordings of these pieces, I listened to them for days with the score. Every little detail, every phrase, every melody was a delight and a revelation to me. 

As time has gone on, I've found myself listening to some of the earlier sonatas more than the later ones as well as the fragments which show how Schubert developed as a composer.


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## MarkW

Ashkenazy's G major is characteristically flawless, but not soulless. The B-flat by the less well known (outside of Boston) Gabriel Chodos is extraordinary. Have also always liked the little A major (have a Kempff recording that is just fine). Heard a D majoir by the young Soviet pianist Aleksei Nasedkin (later released by Melodiya/Angel) in the early 1970s that remains impressive. The four-hand set by Brendel and Klien on Turnabout has many things to recommend on it.


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## GraemeG

If I forget every pianist I've ever heard, the last two things to fade from my memory will be a live performance of D959 by Christian Zacharias in Sydney in the mid-80s in which all time and space fused into an eternal magical stasis during the slow movement, and a live performance of D894 by Pollini in Salzburg (or Berlin) in 1989. I didn't know either work when I heard them, but the magic of them sill stay with me forever.
cheers,
GG


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## clavichorder

This one has a kind of haunting and echoing feel to it, and frankly it reminds me of Alkan in spots.


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## Mandryka

clavichorder said:


> This one has a kind of haunting and echoing feel to it, and frankly it reminds me of Alkan in spots.


It's a very fine sonata, nice to be reminded of it. Gilels took it under his wing, for a long time I used to love the recording on Orfeo. Zhukov, Richter and Vedernikov recorded it too, I seem to vaguely recall the Zhukov is a bit special. Zhukov makes it really sound like Alkan


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## clavichorder

Thanks for the tip on Gilels, he's probably my favorite pianist. Zhukov is great too.


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## clavichorder

Another great one I've recently heard is the G major Sonata/Fantasie D.894:


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## David Phillips

I can't get on with either Richter or Brendel in Schubert - they bang. Clifford Curzon is my ideal, but I like Imogen Cooper's playing of the Sonatas.


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## Mandryka

clavichorder said:


> Another great one I've recently heard is the G major Sonata/Fantasie D.894:


I last thought about this sonata about a year ago when I first heard David Fray's extraordinary recording, which is extremely mellifluous and beautiful. It's not my style, I think the music sounds better when there's more tension between left and right hands, more characterful and dramatic voicing - Arrau plays it like this. Anyway I thought it was instructive to listen to Arrau and Fray side by side, because they present such contrasting views of what Schubert was about. In the past I used to listen a lot to Richter's spacious recording on Philips, and I recall it's a high point of Lupu's cycle.


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## PeterF

D.959 & D.960 are excellent. There are many fine versions of each. I am especially partial to those by Kempff, R. Serkin, Klien and Perhia.
Two other favorites are D.664 with a fine version by Fialkowska,Brendel and Klien, and D.840 played by Kempff, R.Serkin and Klien.


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## Mandryka

clavichorder said:


> Hi, it's my first post in the music section in a very long time. I was curious which Schubert sonatas were your favorite, and what your favorite recordings were as well, and just in promoting a discussion on them. They are about as worthy of in depth discussion as Beethoven sonatas, so it's curious that you don't see them mentioned as often, or recorded as often.
> 
> I am currently listening to D 959 in A major played by Brendel. Stunning slow movement. I discovered D 840 not so long ago, which is sort of like the piano sonata answer to the "unfinished" symphony. It has a sort of static grandeur to it.


Have you had a chance to hear Valery Afanassiev's Schubert? I think it's well worth tryng, at least if you're not predisposed to the idea tha Schubert wrote naive melodic music. I mention it because I've been enjoying Afanassiev's 894, which was a sonata you mentioned. But really everythig Afanassiev has done with Schubert is full of challenging ideas.

I picked up a really interesting 850 the other week, played by Dimitri Bashkirov - he plays the variations very delicately, like lace.


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## Ukko

Schubert preferred Schnabel's interpretations. At least that's what he told Beethoven. Me too.


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## KenOC

Ukko said:


> Schubert preferred Schnabel's interpretations. At least that's what he told Beethoven. Me too.


That's odd. Most Schubert biographers agree that he only listened to stereo recordings.


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## Triplets

KenOC said:


> That's odd. Most Schubert biographers agree that he only listened to stereo recordings.


Actually Schubert preferred High Resolution Multichannel


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## jegreenwood

Triplets said:


> Actually Schubert preferred High Resolution Multichannel


You obviously need 7.1 for the Octet.


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## Vaneyes

FYI

http://www.talkclassical.com/31970-schubert-piano-sonatas-3.html

http://www.talkclassical.com/35172-schubert-piano-sonatas-2.html


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## franzvonschubertfan

I say my favorite Sonata is D.960. The beginning of it is so...Peaceful,Harmonic, and the style of it makes me love it.


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## lextune

Mandryka said:


> Have you had a chance to hear Valery Afanassiev's Schubert?


I have. It is glacially slow! His fortissimo trill in the bass before the exposition repeat is unlike any other.

I must admit to loving most everything he does though....

His Liszt Sonata is also wildly slow, but he is so connected to the pulse, and to the bloom and swell of his tone production, (probably why he is going so slow to begin with), that I never lose interest.

He will surely turn off many listeners, but those that can go with him, will love him. When he is on; I should say. I have seen live videos of him where he did not seem to quite have it that night.


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## clavichorder

The young Trifonov does a great Schubert 18 in G major: 




I can't wait till Lucas Debargue releases his Schubert sonatas. He is doing a "little A major" and the A minor 784 sonata for a recital. Knowing him, it will be stunning.


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## Mandryka

I played Arrau's D960 last week. I was very impressed, not least by the voicing. Worth hearing I'd say


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## clavichorder

For some reason this thread, which was recently updated, doesn't appear that way in the thread listings. TC problems...


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## Animal the Drummer

Ukko said:


> Schubert preferred Schnabel's interpretations. At least that's what he told Beethoven. Me too.


www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rfo61QYhTc8


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## David9

I like all the late sonatas of Schubert, but none better than the D 960 in Bb, published posthumously, I believe. Pollini's recording of this is superb, but so is Radu Lupu's - most pianists of romantic literature get around to the D 960 eventually - that second movement _andante_, in the return of the 'A' material - a sudden but gentle shift to C major (from C# minor) is like a beam of light. The Schubert's are a great love of the Romanian pianist, Radu Lupu who plays them magnificently. The boxed set The Decca Years, recorded after he won the Gold Medal in the first Van Cliburn Competiton is a great and reasonable investment - Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms and others.


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## Guest

GraemeG said:


> If I forget every pianist I've ever heard, the last two things to fade from my memory will be a live performance of D959 by Christian Zacharias in Sydney in the mid-80s in which all time and space fused into an eternal magical stasis during the slow movement, and a live performance of D894 by Pollini in Salzburg (or Berlin) in 1989. I didn't know either work when I heard them, but the magic of them sill stay with me forever.
> cheers,
> GG


I was at a Pollini recital at the Wiener Konzerthaus in 2011 and Pollini played Schubert's D960. I felt he had lost the plot and the performance was rather routine. Very disappointing.


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## Roger Knox

*Schubert and Lupu*

It is still Bb major, D960 for me and Lupu's wonderful!


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## Marinera

Mandryka said:


> I played Arrau's D960 last week. I was very impressed, not least by the voicing. Worth hearing I'd say


My favourite sonata and interpretation.


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## Bulldog

My favorite is the G major, D.894, and Ranki's is the best I've ever heard.


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## DavidA

I have so many superb recordings of the sonatas including Kempff's complete set. D960 remains my favourite and there are simply wonderful performances all very different:
Richter
Lupu
Kempff
Kovacevich
Annie Fischer
Clara Haskell
Anda
Brendel
Pollini
I am a rich man indeed - artistically at least!


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## Pugg

Uchida is also doing great job, with Perrahia my most favourites.


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## Triplets

Animal the Drummer said:


> www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rfo61QYhTc8


:lol:
I liked that as much as the Monty Python sketch with Mrs. Beethoven vacuuming under the Piano bench while Ludwig struggles with the 5th Symphony.


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## Heliogabo

No one has mentioned Leonskaja, I've been listening to her playing Schubert's sonatas on spotify and it's great.


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## Skilmarilion

Very much a fan of Javier Perianes' recent release on harmonia mundi:


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## Mandryka

Claudio Arrau D960. The performance reminds me of the Sistine chapel ceiling. Every little gesture is full of meaning. Listening to it I feel overwhelmed almost, intellectually (there's a lot of nuance to take in, you can't let your mind wonder for fear of missing something), but also "spiritually" (Arrau's psychologically deep, as they say.)

It's as if Arrau is saying that Schubert took the humble piano sonata, domestic art form _par excellence_, and reconceived it as an an abstract, complex,multilayered epic poem.

Part of Arrau's technique involves voicing, honestly the voicing here is like no one else, the voices balance to produce music which almost sounds as though it's working mainly through polyphony, through polyphonic tension. Maybe I have seriously underestimated this aspect of 19th century music.

A reviewer for the BBC said he sounds "uncomfortable." That's because the price to pay for all this meaningfulness is that you lose the spontaneous and the visceral. Arrau does not want to dazzle you by sounding as though he's been possessed and driven by a spirit, or by demonstrating his virtuosity. To me that seems not a high price to pay - this isn't entertainment after all!

He takes the first movement repeat, and his way of doing it is extraordinary for its poise, as if the music breaks down _beautifully_ and _delicately_. At the moment of the big cacophonic chord, you sense that he's holding his nose in disgust, keenly get the moment out of the way, Maybe this is why the reviewer said he sounded uncomfortable.

This is quite a contrast from the nervous breakdown approach of (e.g.) Richter - and I don't know quite what to make of it. But I do think that Brendel was right to argue that the repeat is very problematic, and I'm not sure that anyone's found a good way of doing it - not Arrau, not Richter, not Staier, not Afanassiev . . . Probably best omitted!


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## clavichorder

Well, I took Ukko's suggestion and listened to Schnabel. Great D 850! Great sonata too. There are some stunning moments of melody and harmony at moments throughout.


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## JCLEUNG

My favorite at the moment is Schubert D.960 B flat major. There is something so calmingly haunting about the main theme from the first movement, and so starkingly simple and beautiful about the 2nd movement.


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## David Phillips

My favourite recording of a Schubert Piano Sonata is the little A Major made by Dame Myra Hess in 1928. It's quite perfect with the 78 scratch sounding like falling rain.


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## Triplets

JCLEUNG said:


> My favorite at the moment is Schubert D.960 B flat major. There is something so calmingly haunting about the main theme from the first movement, and so starkingly simple and beautiful about the 2nd movement.


I go through periods where I will listen to work obsessively, playing it several times in the course of a week.


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## eternum1968

The d850 is very interesting


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## Vahe Sahakian

One of my favorites is an all Schubert SACD by Arcadi Volodos, this one has sonatas D157 and D894, well played and well recorded.


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## juliante

Initially I didn’t get what the fuss was with d960. I recently listened again without expectation and completely fell in love with it, like so many others. I realised that I had been trying too hard the first time round, instead of letting its understated majesty envelop me. Franz really was the man.


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## Alkan

My first exposure to the sonatas was with Friedrich Wuehrer on the Vox label. I only had volume 3 (the better known sonatas being in volumes 1 and 2) for a while, and these lesser known efforts of Schubert became my favorites: d157, d279, d459, d557, and especially d566, d625, and d784. Today I still don't like the little A Major nearly as much as them. When I later discovered d960, it became my favorite.


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## Josquin13

With Schubert, I tend to be most taken with his 'late' works, on solo piano or otherwise--anything that Schubert composed in the D. 900s, or shortly before, is of special interest to me: starting from around the time of his final String Quartet No. 15, D. 887, which is one of Schubert's most profound utterances, and then all the subsequent works that poured out of his febrile imagination, one after the other, until his tragic, early death at the age of 31 in 1828.

Among his earlier solo piano music, the exceptions would be his D. 664, D. 784, D. 840, and D. 845 Piano Sonatas; along with his 6 Moments musicaux, D. 780. I confess I'm not a huge fan of Schubert's "Wanderer Fantasy", D. 760. The only pianist I've ever really enjoyed listening to in the "Wanderer Fantasy" is Vladimir Ashkenazy on a 1980s Decca digital release (though I've not heard Bruno Leonardo Gelber in this music):

https://www.allmusic.com/album/schubert-sonata-in-b-flat-major-wandererfantasie-mw0001865966

Otherwise, my favorite Schubert piano works all fit into the 'late' period: the 8 Impromptus, D. 899 & D. 935, Drei Klavierstücke, D. 946, and the Piano Sonatas D. 894, D. 958, D. 959, and D. 960. In addition, Schubert's late Fantasy in F minor for piano duet, D. 940, is one of my favorite works in the four-hand genre.

As for pianists that I've most liked in Schubert, it depends on my mood at the time. For example, I sometimes enjoy listening to the Russian pianists play Schubert, and sometimes I don't. Interestingly, most of the Russians slow down considerably in the first movement of Schubert's final Piano Sonata, D.960, in pursuit of a more profound depth--such as Sviatoslav Richter (46:30, 47:15), Valery Afanassiev (52:09), Maria Yudina (who begins the sonata more slowly than anyone, & then oddly speeds up), Grigory Sokolov, Elisabeth Leonkskaja, etc. Surprisingly, Vladimir Sofronitsky is the only Russian pianist I've heard that doesn't fit into the Russian mold, as he plays the opening more fluidly. When I'm not in the mood for the heaviness of these interpretations, I prefer to listen to pianists such as Michel Dalberto, Radu Lupu, Annie Fischer, Alfred Brendel, Paul Badura-Skoda, and historically, Artur Schnabel, all of whom are less ponderous in D. 960 (to varying degrees).

Here are 10 pianists--all Schubert specialists--that I've most enjoyed in Schubert's solo piano music over the decades (in no particular order):

1. Alfred Brendel: I most treasure Brendel's first Schubert survey for Philips. He was especially fine in the 8 Impromptus (which won a rosette award from the old Penguin Guide). Brendel's Drei Klavierstücke, D. 946 from his second Philips digital survey is also a favorite of mine: https://www.amazon.com/Schubert-Pia...pID=51kcvJQVJaL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch. In addition, I treasure Brendel's 1961 recording of Schubert's Fantasy in F minor, D. 940, with pianist Evelyn Crochet on the Vox label.

To my ears, the following Brendel set offers the best sound remasters to date--in ambient surround imaging, or AMSI (as the CDs have the same warmth as my old Philips LPs)--it's also a terrific bargain at $22: https://www.amazon.com/Brendel-Spie...fkmr0&keywords=alfred+brendel+spielt+schubert


















2. Michel Dalberto--Dalberto's distinguished, nearly complete series of all of Schubert's compositions for solo piano is an invaluable survey (it was first issued by Denon in a series of volumes, and then by Brilliant in one box set). Not only is the piano playing of a consistently high quality, but Dalberto has recorded many unfinished fragments & obscure works, some of which are remarkable--making his set indispensable. Unfortunately, the Brilliant reissue has gone out of print, and become very pricey; however, various volumes from the Denon set can still be found at a reasonable price. RCA has likewise reissued a selection from the series: https://www.discogs.com/Michel-Dalb...-Musicaux-Wanderer-Fantaisie/release/11192727

https://www.amazon.com/Michel-Dalbe...717&sr=1-11&keywords=Michel+Dalberto+schubert

3. Emil Gilels--The great Russian pianist was a first rate Schubertian, and made one of my all-time favorite recordings of Schubert's 6 Moments Musicaux:






4. Sviatoslav Richter--although Richter could turn ponderously slow in Schubert (sometimes mesmerizingly so), for me, he was exceptional in the unfinished Piano Sonata, D. 840, and the last three sonatas--D. 958, 959, & 960 (and on his piano accompaniment of tenor Peter Schreier in the song cycle, Die Winterreise). I especially like Richter's 2 Eurodisc Schubert recordings made in the early 1970s, and his later Philips recording of D. 840. There's also an exceptional live D.960 recorded from the Aldeburgh festival in England in 1964, along with a Fantasy in F minor, with composer Benjamin Britten at the piano, that are well worth hearing:

https://www.amazon.com/Sviatoslav-R...pID=51NGh2Dt8wL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch
https://www.amazon.com/Schubert-Pia...=B003E1QD4Y&psc=1&refRID=D6YM9705N4MYTEPCG12W
https://www.amazon.com/Schubert-Pia...pID=51F5xMIPH-L&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch
https://www.amazon.com/Schubert-Pia...-1&keywords=richter+d.+960+schubert+aldeburgh
https://www.amazon.com/Schubert-Pia...pID=614U-SR219L&preST=_SX300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

5. Maria Joao Pires--among digital era pianists, Pires is one of my favorite Schubert pianists. She's not afraid to bring out some of the darker, more high strung & less comfortable elements in Schubert's piano music:














https://www.amazon.com/Schubert-Son...pID=51KSm2RhTRL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch
https://www.amazon.com/Schubert-Imp...qid=1531081198&sr=1-3&keywords=Pires+schubert
https://www.amazon.com/Schubert-Imp...qid=1531081198&sr=1-5&keywords=Pires+schubert
https://www.amazon.com/Sonatas-D-96...qid=1531081198&sr=1-8&keywords=Pires+schubert
https://www.amazon.com/Schubert-Pia...qid=1531081198&sr=1-1&keywords=Pires+schubert

Pires is also excellent in Schubert's Fantasy in F minor piano duet, D. 940, on two recordings--one with pianist Hüseyin Sermet for Erato: https://www.amazon.com/Schubert-Pia...qid=1531081198&sr=1-9&keywords=Pires+schubert, and the other with pianist Ricardo Castro on DG: https://www.amazon.com/Schubert-Res...id=1531081198&sr=1-10&keywords=Pires+schubert






6. Radu Lupu--Radu Lupu is remarkable in Schubert. Among his many fine Schubert recordings, I've probably most liked his 8 Impromptus: https://www.amazon.com/Schubert-Imp...pID=51a5Ecb7GLL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch






Like Pires, Lupu has recorded an excellent version of the Fantasy in F minor (with pianist Murray Perahia):





https://www.amazon.com/Schubert-Pia...1531156528&sr=1-2&keywords=radu+lupu+schubert

7. Edwin Fischer--among historical pianists, Fischer's 8 Impromptus and 6 Moments Musicaux are legendary, and some say unequaled. IMO, they're essential listening for Schubert fans (& particularly his 8 Impromptus):https://www.amazon.com/Schubert-Imp...pID=51jyBi8RAOL&preST=_SX300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch






8. Artur Schnabel--Like Fischer, Schnabel was another pioneering advocate for Schubert's solo piano music, and his D. 960 is unforgettable, probably my favorite version of all. For me, it's essential listening, especially in contrast to the more ponderous Russian interpretations:






The Dante label Schnabel remasters are first rate (& I prefer them to the EMI References CDs):

https://www.amazon.com/Arthur-Schna...&sr=1-1-spell&keywords=schubert+schabel+dante

Schnabel's Schubert has been more recently reissued, however, I haven't heard these new remasters: 
https://www.amazon.com/Schubert-Lat...5814&sr=1-31&keywords=artur+schnabel+schubert
https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Sch...55874&sr=1-4&keywords=artur+schnabel+schubert
https://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/classical/products/8036019--schnabel-plays-schubert
https://www.allmusic.com/album/arth...ert-recordings-1932-1950-box-set-mw0001851740

9. Valery Afanassiev--My 9th pick could have easily been either Wilhelm Kempff or Vladimir Ashkenazy, but at the moment I'm on a Valery Afanassiev binge, as I've been happily revisiting many of his recordings over the past weeks--so I'll make Afanassiev my 9th choice. I think his pianism needs to be heard live in concert, in order to fully appreciate the depth of his interpretations. I've found that when a pianist slows down considerably in the concert hall, as Afanassiev does in D. 960, it can work more effectively when experienced live, than when listening at home or in the car, even to a recording of the same recital. Indeed, like his late Brahms, Afanassiev's live Schubert is even more mesmerizing in the concert hall. Granted, he does occasionally have some unusual or unexpected ideas, interpretatively (such as heavy accents that jump out at you, or long pauses between notes)--which may not be to all tastes, but you can't accuse Afanassiev of being superficial in Schubert (or any other composer that he plays).














https://www.amazon.com/Schubert-Pia...531158896&sr=1-9&keywords=afanassiev+schubert
https://www.amazon.com/Schubert-Pia...531158896&sr=1-6&keywords=afanassiev+schubert
https://www.amazon.com/Schubert-Pia...531158896&sr=1-1&keywords=afanassiev+schubert

10. Paul Badura-Skoda--Badura-Skoda has long been renowned as a Schubertian, and has recorded the solo piano music on both a modern grand and various period pianos. While all of his Schubert recordings are worthwhile, Badura-Skoda is my 'go-to' pianist (along with Malcolm Bilson) for Schubert played on a period piano.










https://www.amazon.com/Paul-Badura-...ar-strip-0&keywords=paul+baduraskoda+schubert
https://www.amazon.com/Paul-Badura-...pID=61VvMtlxEXL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch
https://www.amazon.com/Schubert-Wan...pID=516I4KkzQFL&preST=_SX300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch
https://www.amazon.com/Paul-Badura-...pID=51Y-WyxCntL&preST=_SX300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

My two favorite period sets:

https://www.amazon.com/Schubert-Com...D=51Nz1O%2BpjyL&preST=_SX300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch
https://www.amazon.com/Schubert-Son...=1-1-catcorr&keywords=Malcolm+bilson+schubert

If I were to add more Schubert pianists to my list, I'd have included Annie Fischer, Wilhelm Kempff, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Murray Perahia, Christian Zacharias, Paolo Bordoni (in the complete Waltzes), Klara Würtz, and Andras Schiff. Though I've not heard Eduard Erdmann's Schubert, or Martino Tirimo's EMI Schubert box set (where Tirimo plays his completions to Schubert's unfinished works), or David Fray either.


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## Mandryka

I enjoy Schubert’s instrumental music less the more I listen to it. That’s to say, the emphasis on melody and the complete lack of contrapuntal interest means that, for me, his music wears thin pretty quickly. Where it remains interesting for me, is to see how different musicians have interpreted the sonatas, symphonies, quartets, trios etc. In fact, same with the songs.


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## les24preludes

Mandryka said:


> Generally in his reception Schubert had been saddled with the label of a naive natural tune-smith, fundamentally the composer of songs with catchy memorable melodies. It hasn't done his reputation as a composer of long music any good.


I participated in the BBC "Schubert Lab" with Tom Service, and we had a professional music notator writing down Schubert's output to see how long it would take. It was a bit of a revelation - in his most intensely productive period he was practically writing down his music spontaneously. He had a quite remarkable facility for creating melodies (like Paul McCartney in another field). I think because of his tragically short life we can only be grateful for what he left us.


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## endelbendel

759 Bolet.
Also Perlemuter.
Of course, Brendel.


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## Brahmsian Colors

Current favorites: 13 and 21. For me, Geza Anda infuses these works with the most satisfying lyrical quality I've heard.


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## DavidA

Haydn67 said:


> Current favorites: 13 and 21. For me, Geza Anda infuses these works with the most satisfying lyrical quality I've heard.


Yes he does. There are so many ways to play these works I find. Kovacevich is superb in 21


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## Dimace

Ladies and Gentlemen, Franz Schubert is a big mystery to me. A mystery I can't find its solution, but to admire its complexity and beauty. *His sonatas are, after Beethovens, the most intriguing and profound piano pieces ever composed.* Having in mind that he died at 31, this quality is really unthinkable to me. What he had composed at his 50, I wonder every time I listen to his works. And this question will remain unanswered, but the question who can play Schubert has been answered, at least in Germany:* Ingrid Haebler!* I respect all the great Schuberts interpreters and I have listened almost everyone of them. But only Ingrid gave me the feeling that Schubert played the way the composer himself had wanted. Only she seems to understand the rejection, the isolation and the solitude the young composer faced from his surrounding. And after, all this hidden pathos, all this love, which never found a way out, despite the composer was always in love. Very difficult situations, Ladies and Gentlemen, which made his piano music an eternal Golgotha for every interpreter. Paul Badura Skoda, maybe one of the best Beethoven interpreters, has started with the German and long time after went to Austrian. He had fear of him and that was fair! At the end, he based his illustrious carrier on Beethoven and not on Schubert. Do you know why? Because, as he told me after a concert in Berlin, with Beethoven he found many pianists to follow, imitate and surpass. With the Austrian he had to be the one, because he found no one to follow. Now, at the end of his great carrier and life, he made the definitiv Schubert turn... NOW!! (he had recorded Schubert in the past. But in comparison with Beethoven's works, are not so highly appreciated from the public and the critics) 
As a conclusion: We listen the GREAT Austrian composer everywhere and from everyone. And after, the moment we fell ready for the Schubert like a genius, the Schubert like a lonely man, the Schubert like an unsuccessful lover, the Schubert like a completely esoteric entity, we turn to Ingrid Haebler to understand that what gives us today joy (his music) sent him once upon a time to his early grave. Because Schubert, like Wolf, was a victim of his music, but he NEVER wanted something like this.

Here what I believe is the bible for every Schuber scholar:


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## Mandryka

Has anyone tried the new CD by Alexander Lonquich? I think it’s rather interesting.


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## Rogerx

Mandryka said:


> Has anyone tried the new CD by Alexander Lonquich? I think it's rather interesting.


Not out before November 16th in this part of the world.
( That is if you mean the double CD)


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## Brahmsian Colors

DavidA said:


> Yes he does. There are so many ways to play these works I find. Kovacevich is superb in 21


I followed through on your mention. It soon became obvious this was an extremely fine rendition. Thanks very much, David. :tiphat:


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## clavichorder

I'm glad that this thread is still going after over a year. The Schubert sonatas have been a great investment of my time, and I'm sorry I didn't come to them in full when I was in my late teens or early 20s and more inspired/less bogged down.

Lucas Debargue released recordings of the little A major and A minor D 784. I like some of what he does in them, other parts are too fast or erratic. Important to have new interpretations by artistically able pianists.






D 850 is a masterful one, as every sonata is D 664 onwards. The trio to the scherzo is both far out and heavenly. I like some of the earlier ones too, as played by Kempff.


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## Mandryka

clavichorder said:


> I'm glad that this thread is still going after over a year. The Schubert sonatas have been a great investment of my time, and I'm sorry I didn't come to them in full when I was in my late teens or early 20s and more inspired/less bogged down.
> 
> Lucas Debargue released recordings of the little A major and A minor D 784. I like some of what he does in them, other parts are too fast or erratic. Important to have new interpretations by artistically able pianists.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> D 850 is a masterful one, as every sonata is D 664 onwards. The trio to the scherzo is both far out and heavenly. I like some of the earlier ones too, as played by Kempff.


Be sure to try the new Lonquich when you can. It's challenging.


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