Schubert in a happy place: More on our mystery "Con moto," part 1

Enchanted souvenir of an enchanting getaway spot: It's not surprising that the grand piano sonata Schubert composed during his August 1825 sojourn in the Austrian spa town of Gastein (in Salzburg state) has always been known as the "Gasteiner." Sources seem well agreed that Schubert's time in the storied resort area was something of an idylllic interlude.

SCHUBERT: Piano Sonata No. 17 in D, D. 850 (Gastein):
ii. Con moto [With movement]

Walter Klien, piano. Vox, recorded in the early 1970s

Wilhelm Kempff, piano. DG, recorded in the Beethovensaal, Hannover, August 1968

by Ken

If you were here last time ("What effect (if any) does this 32-second audio clip have for you?" and "Our four pianists revealed," both Sept. 26), you'll recall the above performances as two of those we heard, under the spell of one of the others, which you can be sure we'll be hearing again), of the second movement of this now-properly-identified Schubert piano sonata, which -- unlike so much of the composer's output -- was published in lifetime, and is still often known as Op. 53.

And among the performances we'll have sampled between the earlier posts and today's, I'm now designating the two we've just reheard as our Group I: renderings that seem to hear this sonata generally, and its lovely slow movement in particular, as more than anything, charmed expressions of the something-like-carefree state of mind (so unusual for this mind!) induced by the composer's Gastein experience.


IF THIS IS GROUP I, WHAT ARE GROUPS II AND III?

Fair enough. These groups include the two other performances we heard last time, the Schnabel and the Richter-in-Prague ones.

Group II: Of the "I know something's going on here;
I just can't quite puzzle out exactly what" school


Artur Schnabel, piano. EMI, recorded in Abbey Road Studios, London, Jan. 26-27, 1939

Vladimir Ashkenazy, piano. Decca, recorded in All Saints' Church, Petersham (Surrey), England, Apr. 26, 1975

Mezhdunarodnaya Kniga (MK), recorded live in Moscow, Aug. 11, 1956

Group III: Richter, of course -- live in Prague in June 1956;
plus a new pair of honorable mentions


Sviatoslav Richter, piano. Praga, recorded live in the Rudolfinum, Prague, June 14, 1956

Emil Gilels, piano. RCA, recorded in Town Hall, New York City, Jan. 16 and 20, 1960

Clifford Curzon, piano. Decca, recorded in the Sofiensaal, Vienna, January 1964


OOPS, THE LAST PIANIST IN GROUP II ISN'T IDENTIFIED!

What're you gonna do? You know the quality of help available these days!

Still, you were able to figure out who it is, weren't you? So were you surprised to find it in Group II rather than Group III? Were you able to hear why it's in Group II rather than Group III? Of course we'll be coming back to this.


FOR THE BENEFIT OF THOSE WHO WEREN'T HERE LAST TIME --

It was hearing the Richter-Prague performance that set me off. I have it in a large CD box and don't even recall why I happened to pop that particular disc, which I'm pretty sure I'd never listened to, in the CD drive. I do recall that I was barely listening; I wouldn't call it as much as "half-listening." But when it came to the second movement of Schubert D. 850, hearing just the opening 16 bars, the first statement of the movement's principal theme, quickly grabbed my attention, and when those 16 bars were repeated, as specified by the composer, well, in Richter's hands they sounded even more magical. (As I've been listening to bunches of performances of this movement, I've come to think of this as a primary test, a sort of first hurdle, for performers: When it comes to repeating those opening 16 bars, do I instinctively respond "Oh good, we get to hear that again!" or something closer to "Oh no, he's going to play that again!"?


WE'VE STILL GOT A LOT TO TALK ABOUT, NOT
TO MENTION HEARING THE REST OF THE SONATA

And everything we've heard, thought, and written is going to be subject to challenge by a 60-year-old review by the late Harris Goldsmith, whose musical thoughts I take very seriously. Seriously enough that in this case they stopped this post in its tracks.

I'm afraid, though, that even though much of this continuation is done, the completion is going to have to await a "continuation post" -- soon, I hope.

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