Schubert Piano Sonatas, D. 664 & D. 894 Janina Fialkowska

• Franz Schubert (1797-1828): Piano Sonata No. 13 in A Major, D. 664, Op. post. 120
• 1I. Allegro moderato07:13
• 2II. Andante04:33
• 3III. Allegro06:50
• Piano Sonata No. 18 in G Major, D. 894, Op. 78
• 4I. Molto moderato e cantabile17:28
• 5II. Andante07:47
• 6III. Menuetto - Allegro moderato03:51
• 7IV. Allegretto08:06
• Total Runtime55:48

Info for Schubert Piano Sonatas, D. 664 & D. 894

Between 1815 and 1828, a time when the sonata form, which Beethoven had per- fected, was beginning to fade in popularity, Schubert worked on some 20 sonatas. Of these he completed 11, and only three were published in his lifetime. There is confusion about the numbered lists of these works, since some publishers and cataloguers only include completed sonatas while others include unfinished works and, sometimes, fan- tasias. In 1812, when he was a resident at the Stadtkonvikt, Schubert confided to his friend Josef von Spaun (1788-1855) that: “It may be that, secretly, I hope to become someone myself, but who could still do anything after Beethoven?” The answer, it seems evident to us, lies in Schubert’s 634 lieder, his Impromptus and his Moments musicaux for piano, all unique in their genre. But did Schubert make an original contribution to the grand sonata for keyboard, a genre developed by Mozart and Haydn, and transformed by Beethoven between 1794 and 1821?

Sonata in A Major, D. 664, Op. (posthumous) 120
If we believe Stadler, this fourth complete sonata (10th, 11th, or 13th, according to the edition) was composed in the same year as The Trout Quintet, 1819, when Schubert and the singer Johann Michael Vogl were staying in the picturesque town of Steyr, in upper Austria. The sonata is dedicated to the daughter of one of his hosts, 18-year old Josephine von Koller who, writing to his brother Ferdinand, Schubert described as “very pretty and a good piano player; she must sing some of my lieder.”

In its proportions, this three-movement sonata is one of Schubert’s most delicate and balanced. Its sonata-form Allegro moderato sings of, and virtually breathes, the “inde- scribable beauty” of the landscape that surrounded the young composer. Both the second theme and the development oscillate between the major and minor modes, a device dear to Schubert. Everything in this movement brings to life the composer walking through nature, noting the play of light and shadow, of waterfalls spilling down rocks.

The eloquent Andante in D major is a very spare song in triple time. A repeating pulse of rhythm (a quarter and an eight note, three eight notes, a dotted quarter note), under- lies the entire movement. As gentle as a nocturne, it comprises three brief couplets, over the last and most developed of which subtle modulations cast a veil of melancholy.

The final Allegro is a kind of waltz or its rural equivalent, a ländler. Its graceful whirl of notes brings us back to the Von Koller home where, according to Stadler, “in every room the Muse was celebrated, generally in the evening after a collective walk or after the day’s work was done.”

Sonata in G major, D. 894, Op. 78
This 8th, 14th, or 18th sonata is dated 1826 and is dedicated to Josef von Spaun. Schu- bert called it his fourth sonata because he had worked on three others in the preceding year. One of these (D. 840) remained unfinished; the other two (D. 845 and 850), mag- isterial works, were published as opus numbers 42 and 53. The fourth sonata is sometimes called Fantaisie-Sonate or simply Fantaisie, because of the title Schubert gave its first movement. In 1827, seeing that pianists and connoisseurs were gradually losing interest in sonatas, the publisher Haslinger saw fit to distribute each of its four movements as a distinct piece. These were entitled Fantaisie, Andante, Menuetto, and Allegretto.

Robert Schumann considered this sonata to be one of “the most perfect in form and conception.” On the other hand, in 1875, when the French virtuoso Charles-Valentin Alkan (1813-1888) played it in concert in Paris, critics found it too long and more orchestral than pianistic.

The first movement of the Sonata in G major, marked Molto moderato e cantabile, is one of Schubert’s longest. It is dominated by a brief, harmonized rhythmic motif, which is recited like a contemplative ballad. The response is a second theme, a light and fluid anticipation of the opus 90 Impromptus of 1827. A major development section based on the first theme reaches its climax in an exceptional fff, a triple forte.

The Andante in D major, through which run several Mozartian turns of phrases, comprises an exquisite reverie contrasted with a stormy and grandiloquent second theme. The vigorous Menuetto in B minor, and its ravishing Trio in B major, were to find their echoes in the first movement of the Trio for piano, violin, and cello, Op. 100. Finally, the prancing Allegretto in G major is a folk-flavored rondo reminiscent of the joyous naivety of the first lieder of Die schöne Müllerin.

Janina Fialkowska, piano

No biography found.

Booklet for Schubert Piano Sonatas, D. 664 & D. 894