SCHUBERT: Complete Works for Violin and Piano, Vol.2: Sonata for Violin and Piano in A major “Duo”, D. 574 (Op. Posth. 162); Fantasia for Violin and Piano in C major, D. 934 (Op. Posth. 159); Fantasia in F minor for Piano Duet, D. 940 (Op. 103) – Julia Fischer, violin, piano /Martin Helmchen, piano – PentaTone multichannel SACD PTC 5186 348 [Distr. by Naxos] 67:04 *****:
Franz Schubert (1797-1828) wrote the A major “Duo” sonata in 1817, a happy work, brimful of good cheer and exuberance, qualities Julia Fischer and Martin Helmchen bring out in spades. The confident air in this work may be due to Schubert’s decision to give up teaching, for him not a particularly enjoyable way to earn a living as he quickly found, as he had decided to branch out into becoming a full-time musician. Fischer’s control and feather-light playing in the scherzo is most impressive; she and Helmchen are ideally and equally paired and are of a mind in this repertoire.
The Fantasia D. 934 is a much later work, written in 1827 for the well-known Bohemian violinist, Josek Slavik. Here again the mood is upbeat in the outer movements; the slow movement, in contrast, plumbs far greater depths giving a taste of impending mortality. Fischer doesn’t milk the moment to excess, producing a performance moving in its restraint. The last movement is a series of variations on his song “Sei mir gegrüßt” (D.741), with words by Friedrich Rückert telling of eternal love. Here again, Fischer and Helmchen get the mood just right, not too plain nor over-romantic.
This intimate recital is completed with a performance of the Fantasia in F minor for piano duo, written in Schubert’s last year, with Fischer playing her “other” instrument. She is a very fine pianist as she demonstrated in Frankfurt not long ago with a concert including Saint-Saëns’ Third Violin Concerto and Grieg’s Piano Concerto. So well matched are the pianists that without information in the accompanying booklet it is hard to tell who is playing which part. The largo comes across powerfully without becoming bloated, and the delightful Allegro vivace bursts with high spirits. This performance is I think worthy of standing next to Emil and Elena Gilels’ on DGG, or the Prague Piano Duo’s on Praga Digitals due shortly for review here.
Recorded at the Concertboerderij Valthermond,The Netherlands, during 2009, the engineering is a credit to PentaTone’s now extensive collection of fine-sounding recordings, both violin and Steinway sounding superb in these excellent acoustics. Very highly recommended!
— Peter Joelson
