Yaara Tal, Andreas Groethuysen - Schubert: Piano Music for Four Hands, Vol. 3 (1996)

The third volume of Schubert piano duets from Tal and Groethuysen highlights the astonishing range of this repertoire. Their programme shows the composer at his most inventive, conjuring vivid images of his life and milieu. Schubert composed the B flat Sonata during his first visit to Zseliz in 1818 as music teacher to Count Karl Esterhazy’s young daughters, and on their earlier disc Beyer and Dagul effectively capture this piece’s poignant charm with affectionate phrasing and carefully balanced ensemble. However, aided by a more reverberant recording, Tal and Groethuysen give a livelier account, with greater spontaneity in the outer movements and increased animation in the slow one. Sample, in particular, their deeply affecting interpretation of the thematic synthesis in the Andante’s reprise.

Schubert returned to Zseliz for a second, highly productive period of service in 1824. As he wrote to his brother, Ferdinand, “I am better able to find happiness and peace... A grand sonata and variations on a theme of my own, both for four hands, which I have already written, shall serve you as proof of this.” These two works are included here. The Grand Duo’s striking orchestral effects and remarkable symphonic scope make exceptional expressive and technical demands. Nevertheless, this duo’s majestic performance – whose feeling of natural development in the first movement, lovingly-shaped lyricism in the Andante, infectious verve in the scherzo and effective blend of subtle delicacy and brilliance in the finale – eclipses Beyer’s and Dagul’s otherwise sensitive and idiomatic version.

Tal and Groethuysen are likewise beautifully responsive to the changing moods in the A flat Variations; while atmospheric accounts of the Grande marche funebre and Grande marche heroique graphically evoke both the sombre stateliness of Tsar Alexander I’s funeral and the festive splendour of Nicholas I’s coronation. Their portrayals of the military parade in the Marches militaires are not as glossy as those of Pires and Sermet; but Tal’s and Groethuysen’s comparatively relaxed, fluent readings find more lyrical poetry in this music. Finally, in contrast to Jando’s and Prunyi’s relentless exuberance in the Deux marches carateristiques, the present musicians offer beguilingly subtler alternatives. The appeal of this outstanding release will undoubtedly extend far beyond Schubert collectors.