# Favorite Recordings of Schubert's D.960 sonata



## peeyaj

This piece is my favorite piano sonata of all time. It is sublime, mysterious, glorious, transcendental, tragic, uplifting, utterly beautiful piece of piano music. Written at the last two months before his early death at 31, in this sonata, I can hear Schubert contemplating his death.

According to Wiki:



> Of the three sonatas, the last (in B-flat) is the most famous and most often recorded. The following is an incomplete list of pianists who have made notable commercial recordings of the sonata trilogy, in full or in part:...
> 
> Sonata in B-flat: Paul Badura-Skoda, Daniel Barenboim (2 recordings), Clifford Curzon, Jörg Demus, Leon Fleisher (2 recordings), Clara Haskil, Vladimir Horowitz (2 recordings), Sviatoslav Richter (4 recordings), Arthur Rubinstein (2 recordings), Artur Schnabel, Rudolf Serkin (2 recordings).


My favorite recording is in this:















Kempff's opening movement clock at 21:10, and he superbly captures the sublimity of this great piece. Other recordings I have are of: Horowitz, Richter, Brendel and Lewis, but Kempff beats them all in my heart. Highly recommended.

What's yours? Or you haven't listened it to yet?


----------



## Lisztian

Definitely Richter for me.


----------



## kv466

Not my specialty but I really like my Clifford Curzon.


----------



## Vaneyes

Lupu, Pollini, Sokolov, Lewis.


----------



## Jeremy Marchant

I can't say I've listened to many different performances, but Brendel's 70s version certainly is very powerful for me, and is my favourite of those I know.


----------



## Ukko

progressively decelerated: Schnabel (no messing around) > Richter (approximately any of them) . Afanassiev (ECM). I think the slow movement can't be played any more deliberately than Afanassiev plays it in that recording without disintegration.


----------



## Stargazer

Jeremy Marchant said:


> I can't say I've listened to many different performances, but Brendel's 70s version certainly is very powerful for me, and is my favourite of those I know.


Yeah, I'd probably say that's my favorite as well


----------



## pasido

Love the D960. Definitely up there in terms of favorite solo piano works.

I'm learning this piece and I've noticed that there is no pedaling at all. It's pretty amazing what effects pianists like Kempff and Richter can do without a pedal. Also, listen to Richter's Well Tempered Clavier. There is do pedaling at all in these pieces but Richter creates such a nice effect, especially in the very first piece - the C major prelude.

I grew up with the Kempff version, but I'm fond of Richter's slower D960. Perahia's is another god one - clean and balanced.


----------



## DeepR

Richter, I don't even have to hear the rest.


----------



## Orange Soda King

Anybody heard the queen's version?


----------



## Natasha

This music is so inspiring


----------



## UberB

Richter in Prague 1972

although if you can't find it, then the studio recording also suffices. But if you don't hear Richter in this sonata you are missing out.


----------



## LudwigNAV

I am a big Kempff fan as well when it comes to this work and with Schubert in particular. I really began to see Kempff's playing in another light when I heard him play the last three of Schubert's sonatas, such refinement of style and articulate playing that I never found in others that I have listened to.


----------



## moody

I think that Schnabel's performance is a great one, it was the first Schubert sonata I heard. I am also impressed by Rudolf Serkin and Clifford Curzon.


----------



## Hausmusik

Brendel (70s) that has been mentioned may be my very favorite, although it omits the repeat and thus several important bars of music that only occur in the transition to the _da capo_. Other favorites: Uchida, Hough, Goode (also sans repeat, but with a tremendously bleak and moving Andante Sostenuto).


----------



## Taneyev

Horowitz for me.


----------



## pasido

Richter makes all the other D960's sound boring. That's coming from someone who's currently learning this piece!


----------



## SottoVoce




----------



## Andreas

I love Kempff for his straight, no nonsense approach. Yes, we know about the tragedy of Schubert's all too short life. And that leads us to think of interpretations such as Richter's as more appropriate. Maybe they are. Kempff, however, plays the sonata as if he never knew what happened to Schubert. And that, in a way, makes it really magical.


----------



## pasido

I love my very own interpretation of the D960 the best! Best perk of learning piano ever :lol:


----------



## Geof Manley

The last recording (1968?) of this work by Arthur Rubinstein was the first I heard. And even after hearing Schnabel's and Horowitz's renditions, the beauty and melancholy of this performance make it remain my favorite. I believe he made four recordings of the work over his lifetime, and that it was a work very close to his heart.


----------



## DavidA

I have many performances of this sublime work. Recommendations off hand:

Kempff
Horowitz
Brendel - live - last concert
Fleisher
A Fischer
Curzon
Lupu
Pollini
Richter
Kovacevich
Anda
Haskill

They all have something to say about the piece


----------



## Marinera

Arrau and Richter.


----------



## joen_cph

The Horowitz recordings are very different from each other, but interesting (CBS/Sony, DG).

Yudina's is indeed interesting and intense; likewise Richter´s Praga recording.


----------



## Mandryka

Erdmann is worth hearing, he was put in the shade by Schabel though that may have been partly a question of EMI's PR.

Another interesting performance is Afanassiev on ECM.


----------



## chesapeake bay

Paul Badura-Skoda recorded this in 2012 on A Steinway D, A Graf Forte Piano and a Bosendorfer, its interesting how different it sound on each. I personally really like the Bosendorfer


----------



## Over the Rainbow

UberB said:


> Richter in Prague 1972
> 
> although if you can't find it, then the studio recording also suffices. But if you don't hear Richter in this sonata you are missing out.


For me it is Richter and this is my two best chooses of the D 960 
1/ live Praga 72 (praga digitals)
2/ Studio Salzburg 1972 (alto)


----------



## Josquin13

My first recording of Schubert's D. 960 was Sviatoslav Richter's 1972 Salzburg studio recording on a Eurodisc LP. I found it hypnotic, mesmerizing: 



. Although at the time, I didn't realize how slow Richter's interpretation was, having not heard any others. Later, I found that this is the Russian way in Schubert's D. 960, as they tend to play the sonata very slowly, in search of a deeper profoundity within the music (Richter, Afanassiev, Yudina, etc., although L.Berman & Sofronitzky are arguably more balanced). I then heard Richter's earlier 1960s Aldeburgh performance on Music & Arts, and was similarly impressed. Richter's live 1972 Prague recording is worth hearing too, as Richter was often at his best when he gave concerts in Prague: 



. On the other hand, Richter's live 1973 Budapest, Hungary performance is even slower than the others, by quite a bit, and I don't like it as much, as I don't think he pulls it off. To my ears, the playing can become a bit fragmented and overly ponderous, and isn't as concentrated as his other versions: 




Over the decades, I've heard a good number of other D. 960s that I've also liked and thought were exceptional, some even more so than Richter's Salzburg recording: from pianists Lazar Berman (1978 studio & his later live one), Maria Joao Pires (on both Erato & DG), Clara Haskil, Vladimir Sofronitsky, Annie Fischer (on EMI & Hungaraton), Alfred Brendel (Philips 1 & 2, I haven't heard the final live recording, but would like to), Valery Afanassiev (ECM--when I'm in the mood), Malcolm Bilson (on fortepiano), Artur Schnabel (my 1st historical choice), Deszo Ranki(on Denon), and Michel Dalberto (on Denon).

It surprises me that Dalberto's performance hasn't been mentioned on this thread so far, as it's very fine, one of the better recordings that he made in his extensive survey of Schubert's solo piano works. (I think Dalberto tends to get underrated in the music of Schubert & Debussy.)

Michel Dalberto:

















Lazar Berman:










Annie Fischer:




Vladimir Sofronitsky: 




Maria Joao Pires: 




Malcolm Bilson (on a fortepiano--I find Bilson to be an interesting alternative to versions played on a modern grand, especially when I'm not in the mood for the heavier, slower Russian treatment):


















If I could only take 3 versions with me to my desert island, it would be a very difficult choice, but I might choose the following:

1. Lazar Berman 1978 studio.
2. Maria Joao Pires DG (IMO, Pires 2nd recording is a lot better than the critics from the British rags gave it credit for. Too bad the Penquin Guide wasn't still around to give it a Rosette. I think Pires is brilliant in Schubert, and she's very well recorded by DG, too.).
3. Arthur Schnabel.


----------

