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Philippe Cassard & Cedric Pescia - Franz Schubert - Sonata D959 & Piano Duets (2014) {La Dolce Volta LDV 15}
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© 2014 La Dolce Volta | LDV 15
Classical / Romantic / Piano

The title ‘1828’ refers to Schubert’s final and astoundingly productive year, which brought forth the three duets and solo sonata featured on this disc. In Philippe Cassard’s hands, the declamatory dynamism of the D959 A major Sonata’s first-movement exposition takes a back seat, with an emphasis on shapely soft playing that ravishingly comes to roost throughout the movement’s development section. The pianist’s eloquent legato holds attention in the Andantino’s outer sections, yet he downplays the harrowing chromatic climax. He similarly understates the Scherzo’s explosive descending minor scales, yet his delicate, witty arpeggiation of the main theme’s leaping chords delights. While the Rondo gains assurance and momentum as it progresses, I prefer Pollini’s firmer left-hand projection in the explosive central minor episode and the intelligent architecture of his dynamics.

British pianist Jonathan Plowright makes his début recording on BIS. Hailed by Gramophone as ‘one of the finest living pianists’, Plowright is recognised worldwide as a truly exceptional artist. Brahms’s Piano Sonata No. 3 is heroic in scale, unconventional in layout and exudes high quality making it one of the most impressive sonatas since those of Beethoven and Schubert.

The box set comprised 100 volumes featuring 72 pianists of the 20th century, each volume with two CDs and a booklet about the life and work of the featured pianist. The set contains a variety of composers from different eras, from Baroque to Contemporary classical.

After her critically acclaimed recordings of Mozart (complete sonatas), Schumann and Schubert, Hungarian-born Klára Würtz turns to her compatriot Béla Bartók, presenting a representative selection of his piano works. She plays a powerful, rhythmically vital yet never “pounding’ Sonata, a colourful and vibrant Suite Op. 14, an uncompromising Allegro Barbaro, and a selection of pieces from Mikrokosmos and Gyermekeknek (For Children).