ARTUR SCHNABEL: Complete Works for Solo Piano—Jenny Lin, piano—Steinway & Sons

by | Jul 12, 2019 | Classical CD Reviews | 0 comments

ARTUR SCHNABEL: Complete Works for Solo Piano—Jenny Lin, piano—Steinway & Sons—30074, 66:23, 74:22, ****

There’s a fascinating 2018 documentary, No Place of Exile (available on Amazon Prime), on the life of Artur Schnabel (1882-1951), the famous pianist whose 1930’s recordings of the Beethoven Piano Sonatas became legendary.  In the documentary, contemporary German pianist Igor Levit pays tribute to Schnabel’s musical legacy, “For me, Artur Schnabel has been one of the most important pianistic and musical figures since my childhood. No one has played Beethoven with such inspired, witty, deep and fun way as Arthur Schnabel in the 1930’s.”

It turns out that Schnabel was also a prolific composer. His output includes a wide variety of chamber music, songs, three symphonies and the piano music on this disc. While Schnabel’s reputation as a pianist rests on his interpretation of Beethoven, Mozart and Schubert, his compositions inhabit the musical world of the early 20th century. He thought of himself first as a composer and second as a pianist. He never let public opinion of his music inhibit his compositional freedom. Schnabel’s response to critical rejection of a performance of his 1920-21 Dance Suite by pianist Eduard Erdmann was, “I don’t “vie” for recognition, I want to compose and I shall never, ever allow myself to be talked into believing that something is worthless if I alone derive pleasure from it, let alone of minor value because it makes “others” happy.”

The music on this disc covers almost 50 years of his composing life. The Three Fantasy Pieces of 1898 was composed as a sixteen year old piano student of Theodor Leschetizky, who awarded him a prize in a contest of the teacher’s students. It’s a delight, with a “Little Waltz” a nod to his love for the Viennese three step. Three Piano Pieces (1906) begins with a melodically flowing Brahmsian “Rhapsodie.” “Night Picture” is darker, but pensive and moving. “Waltzes” are enjoyable and entertaining. Any lover of Romantic piano music would enjoy these early pieces.

Dance Suite describes the course of the relationship of two of Schnabel’s friends. A “Fox-Trot” describes the encounter with humor and propriety. “First Pause” is short and hesitant. “Waltz” moves the relationship into love. The music is more extended (almost 15 minutes), and complex. It’s a challenging new sound world for Schnabel. In “Second Pause,” Schnabel omits bar lines, making it “relaxed, dreaming about dance and love.” It’s a reverie that questions ‘falling in love.’ “Towards Tomorrow” is an Ivesian romp—an exuberant answer to commitment and marriage.

Disc 2 is the modern Schnabel that not everyone understood or appreciated. Of the 1923 Piano Sonata, Arturo Toscanini exclaimed, “Tell me, are you really the same Schnabel who wrote that horrible music I heard ten years ago in Venice?” The opening of this work, with its spiky thick dissonant chords announce that Schnabel has entered the musical world of the radical 1920’s. What follows are movements of tender, soft eighth notes, and a “Cheerful, impish, cheeky, somewhat obstinate” section that uses twelve-tone motives. A sedate, ethereal movement becomes a dreamy reverie and the work ends in a “fiery, bold and unrelenting” statement. At the premiere, two musicians yelled, ‘Allora basta’ (‘that’s enough’) during the last movement.

It was fourteen years before Schnabel wrote another piano work, Piece in Seven Movements (1936-7). It’s dedicated to his friend and benefactor, Mary Virginia Foreman (1908-2012) who established the Schnabel Music Foundation, which sustained his legacy. There’s a welcome clarity of line and efficiency in these movements. Especially memorable is a brief shimmering, sensual “Allegretto placevole,” the clever and brilliant central “Allegretto agitato,” and the  mercurial and propulsive waltz that ends the work. Seven Piano Pieces (1947) are even sparer in texture and melody. Almost impressionistic in nature, they wander sensually until the “Agitato” and “Vivace” breaks the atonal trance. The disc ends with Schnabel’s arrangement of “Four Waltzes from Old Vienna” by Joseph Strauss.

Kudos to Jenny Lin, a superb pianist, and the realistic Steinway sound for another example of a stimulating piano program. These are two very different discs that trace the compositional journey of Artur Schnabel, one of the great pianists.

—Robert Moon

 

 




Related Reviews
Logo Pure Pleasure
Logo Crystal Records Sidebar 300 ms
Logo Jazz Detective Deep Digs Animated 01