András Schiff - Schubert: Piano pieces, 4 Impromptus (1990)

When new recordings of the works of Franz Schubert appear, such as the Paul Lewis CD just released, it is interesting to return to older recording to pianists who have been known to dwell in the higher echelon of Schubert interpreters. This recoding dates back to 1990 (over twenty years old!) and recorded by András Schiff who here chose to devote a whole disc to shorter pieces, as if to remind us just how much the miniatures always meant to a composer who died young enough to have known "nothing but the rapture and poignancy of first sensations" (Schubert died at age 31). This is a different approach to Schubert - more straight forward, more 'classical', less probing. Schiff is secure but the inner melodies are repressed.

He opens with the C minor Allegretto, especially written for Schubert's "dear friend", Ferdinand Walcher, on his departure from Vienna in 1827; its minor/major bitter-sweetness is played with a disarming simplicity. Next, the Drei Klavierstücke of 1824 played 'straight' without any embellishments. Schiff then offers as a diversion the 12 Ländler of 1823, apparently lost to the wider world until the manuscript came into the possession of the Schubert-worshipping Brahms, who arranged for its publication in 1864.

Schiff ends with the Impromptus, left dust-covered and silent until 11 years after the composer's death. Though a very fine pianist he elects to toss these pieces off without any seeming emotional involvement. These are performed with a lightness of touch that almost makes them seem superficial - which they are most assuredly not. It is a please recording sound wise, recorded in the Mozartsaal in Vienna's Konzerthaus. But for Schubert with heart this is not the recording of choice. Grady Harp, November 11