Paul Badura-Skoda plays Franz Schubert (2012) [Qobuz FLAC 24bit/44,1kHz]

Paul Badura-Skoda plays Franz Schubert (2012)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 02:23:25 minutes |  807 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Master, Official Digital Download |  Source:Qobuz |  Digital Booklet , Front cover | @ Genuin Classics
Recorded: Irnberger-Studio, Salzburg by Alfredo Lasheras Hakobian, November 28-December 1, 2011; Vienna by Alexander Grün, April 18-20, 2012; Vienna by Jens Jamin, March 27-28, 2011

Even at a very advanced age, the great pianist Paul Badura-Skoda is always good for a surprise: His new CD recording with GENUIN is perhaps one of the most unusual recordings, one of the most daring tonal experiments seen in recent years. Schubert’s final sonata, the wonderful B-flat major, has been recorded by Badura-Skoda, but not just once: It is heard on three different instruments in interpretations which could not be more distinctive from one another: On an 1826 Graf fortepiano (from when the work was composed), a 1923 Bösendorfer and a 2004 Steinway grand. More history and more vibrancy in its presentation could not be packed into a single disc. Superb!

Here, 85-year-old Austrian pianist Paul Badura-Skoda offers no fewer than three complete recordings of the Schubert Piano Sonata in B flat major, D. 960, with the Drei Klavierstücke, D. 946, as a curtain raiser. The three versions are played on three different pianos, a Graf fortepiano of 1826, a modern Steinway, and a 1923 Bösendorfer that for piano buffs may be worth the price of admission to this two-CD set. It’s an exceptionally warm, mellow instrument, and Badura-Skoda crafts an interpretation to match it. You might think that this effort represents a rumination on the virtues and disadvantages of historical instruments from Badura-Skoda after his long career, but in fact that doesn’t seem to be what he has in mind. He writes in his own notes that it is “simply because of the uniqueness of this sonata. It transcends the nature of the piano: even the best instrument (played with authority) cannot give full justice to its meaning, but each one brings different facets to the fore.” Badura-Skoda essentially offers three quite different readings of the work, which is quite an ambitious undertaking for a pianist of any age. The starting points are 1) for the 1824 piano the small motivic details that tend to get lost on a modern grand (sample the remarkable passage leading to the recapitulation in the first movement); 2) for the Steinway the sheer technical difficulty of the sonata; and 3) for the Bösendorfer the warm but melancholy Brahmsian lyricism. It’s a unique project, perhaps not one that belongs in every library, but certainly worthwhile for anyone deeply immersed in Schubert, or in Badura-Skoda’s recordings. -AllMusic Review by James Manheim

Tracklist:
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
3 Klavierstucke, D. 946
1. No. 1 in E flat minor 8:30
2. No. 2 in E flat major 11:19
3. No. 3 in C major 5:20
Piano Sonata No. 21 in B flat major, D. 960
(Conrad Graf Fortepiano, c. 1826)
4. I. Molto moderato 19:41
5. II. Andante sostenuto 8:28
6. III. Scherzo: Allegro vivace con delicatezza 4:18
7. IV. Allegro ma non troppo 8:40
Piano Sonata No. 21 in B flat major, D. 960
(Steinway No. 569686, 2004)
8. I. Molto moderato 19:24
9. II. Andante sostenuto 8:31
10. III. Scherzo: Allegro vivace con delicatezza 4:12
11. IV. Allegro ma non troppo 8:50
Piano Sonata No. 21 in B flat major, D. 960
(Bösendorfer No. 23274, 1923)
12. I. Molto moderato 14:44
13. II. Andante sostenuto 8:38
14. III. Scherzo: Allegro vivace con delicatezza 4:14
15. IV. Allegro ma non troppo 8:36

Personnel:
Paul Badura-Skoda, piano

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