Artist: Julia Fischer, Martin Helmchen
Title: Schubert: Complete Works for Violin and Piano
Year Of Release: 2014
Label: PentaTone Classics
Genre: Classical
Quality: SACD (DSD64 2.0, DST64 5.1; Image.iso)
Total Time: 02:11:35 min
Total Size: 6,5 Gb
Julia Fischer & Martin Helmchen adopt a rather quick tempo & a light touch, hardly too heavily pedaled in the piano part, in the opening of the 1st movement of Schubert's 1st Sonata in D Major, a work that could lend itself, slight as it may be, to overblown Romantic rhetoric (although not in leaner 7 more spirited readings like that of Joseph Szigeti, who recorded the Sonata with Andor Fцldes in 1942, a performance re-released in Sony's "Masterworks Portrait" series 52538 in 1992). Their kind of reading lends the work a freshness that period instrumentalists (such as Andrew Manze on Harmonia Mundi 907455, whose somewhat more nuanced reading on period instruments I urgently recommended in 31:6) might envy. The same approach yields dividends in the opening theme of the 2nd movement. At its quicker tempo, the rapid passagework in the last movement sparkles. The contrasts in dynamics sound pointed & the dialogue between the instruments, especially bright.
The more dramatic Sonata #2 in A Minor could lose its impetuousness in this kind of reading, but while the 1st theme may not sound urgently declamatory, the 2nd theme has gained in poignancy; the harmonic shifts in the middle section emanate from the duo's strong exploratory sense. This reading's storm finally bursts in the 3rd-movement Menuetto & subsides for the 1st theme of the finale, only to return in full force in the middle of the movement.
The Sonata #3 in G Minor sounds appropriately brusque in Fischer's & Helmchen's reading; while they never sounds fussy, they uncover a great deal of detail, although with the trees always integrated into the forest--& they reveal the similarity between the serene trio of this Scherzo & that of the 9th Symphony.
The Rondo in B Minor features a more overtly virtuosic violin part (all Schubert's works for the violin, even the 3 sonatas included in the program, demand a sort of virtuosity on account of their extreme awkwardness). It's clear from the bold & masterful 1st measures of their performance that Fischer & Helmchen have recalibrated their approach to this difference in character. They build tension almost unbearably through the Andante before discharging it in an exuberant reading of the Rondo proper. In 17:6, I suggested that an idiosyncratic performer might be best prepared to render these awkward scores "without getting tripped up in the attempt . . . with a routine technical approach," & in fact, Gidon Kremer & Valery Afanassiev bring "drama, drive, & passion" to the Rondo (Deutsche Grammophon 000001502), as David K. Nelson remarked in 15:6. In fact, so does the older violinist to whom Kremer has been most often compared: Szigeti (in the Sony collection mentioned above). David's reference to Beethoven's "Kreutzer" Sonata might apply to Szigeti's performance as well. Not so brilliant, perhaps, like Nathan Milstein's performance, nor as heavily laced with testosterone as Kremer's or Szigeti's, Fischer's, in close partnership with the sensitive & nuanced Helmchen, nevertheless easily holds its own.
These well-recorded performances by Fischer & Helmchen (I listened to them in 2ch mode), as distinctive--in their own way--as those by Andrew Manze, not only provide a pleasant hour of music-making at a very high level, but offer what almost amounts to an alternative, cleaned, & restored view of Schubert's works-- without outrй mannerisms or timbres. If this weren't enough, the volume appears to be Vol. 1 of a complete collection--with the Sonata in A Major & the Fantasy in C apparently on the way. But why wait, since this 1st volume deserves to be urgently recommended in itself.
~ Fanfare, Robert Maxham, Jan-Feb 2010
SACD1:
01-Sonata in D major, D. 384 - Allegro molto
02-Sonata in D major, D. 384 - Andante
03-Sonata in D major, D. 384 - Allegro vivace
04-Sonata in A minor, D. 385 - Allegro moderato
05-Sonata in A minor, D. 385 - Andante
06-Sonata in A minor, D. 385 - Menuetto (Allegro)
07-Sonata in A minor, D. 385 - Allegro
08-Sonata in G minor, D. 408 - Allegro giusto
09-Sonata in G minor, D. 408 - Andante
10-Sonata in G minor, D. 408 - Menuetto (Allegro vivace)
11-Sonata in G minor, D. 408 - Allegro moderato
12-"Rondo Brillant" D. 895 - Andante - Allegro
SACD2:
01-Sonata in A major "Duo", D. 574 - Allegro moderato
02-Sonata in A major "Duo", D. 574 - Scherzo (Presto)
03-Sonata in A major "Duo", D. 574 - Andantino
04-Sonata in A major "Duo", D. 574 - Allegro vivace
05-Fantasia in C major, D. 934 - Andante molto
06-Fantasia in C major, D. 934 - Allegretto
07-Fantasia in C major, D. 934 - Andantino
08-Fantasia in C major, D. 934 - Tempo primo-Allegro-Allegretto-Presto
09-Fantasia in F minor for Piano Duet, D. 940 - Allegro molto moderato
10-Fantasia in F minor for Piano Duet, D. 940 - Largo
11-Fantasia in F minor for Piano Duet, D. 940 - Allegro vivace
12-Fantasia in F minor for Piano Duet, D. 940 - Tempo I
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