Perianes Archive

SCHUBERT: Piano Sonata D. 960; Piano Sonata D. 664 in A major – Javier Perianes – Harmonia mundi

by Audiophile Audition | Apr 11, 2017 | Classical CD Reviews

A persuasive interpretation of Schubert’s introspective masterpiece. SCHUBERT: Piano Sonata D. 960; Piano Sonata D. 664 in A – Javier Perianes, p. – Harmonia mundi/PIAS 902282, 62:50 (3/19/17) *****: Schubert’s final Sonata D. 960 in B flat Major can be seen as a valedictory monument; he had, at the time of its writing, a sure sense of his imminent demise. This still doesn’t explain the many puzzling features of this great work. Constructed in four movements with conventional designations, it is uniquely unbalanced. Its massive 20-minute Molto moderato has little of the underpinnings of sonata-allegro form, instead presenting a maze of improvisatory ideas which circle back on themselves time and again as if puzzling over their implications, or more appropriate to the Romantic sensibility, wandering in search of a path. The experimentation with formlessness and even chaos in his final works takes many forms. Here, in contrast to the cacophonous derangements of the A major sonata, we have something closer to a distracted mentality, a kind of inspired amnesia. To help imagine this first movement, picture a man walking through a verdant countryside on a spring day. He botanizes and communes with nature cheerfully enough. He has, however, no knowledge […]