Franz Schubert: Sonatas in A major, D 959 & B flat major, D 960 in Bloomington, MN

Just shy of 70 years old when this recording was issued in the late summer of 2024,
Ronald Brautigam
has a claim to be regarded as a master statesman of the fortepiano. Indeed, his recordings of
Beethoven
and
Schubert
have been eagerly welcomed by historical keyboard fans and even quite a few general listeners, who quickly put this album on classical best-seller charts. These are rich recordings of
's last two piano sonatas. It is not clear how much
Brautigam
had to do with the booklet notes by
John D. Wilson
, but the performance and the notes mesh well;
Wilson
convincingly points out that
, in the summer of 1828, had no intention of dying and, in fact, was in good spirits since he had begun to experience some well-deserved success. There is, in
's scenario and in
's playing, nothing "autumnal" about these late works. Instead,
opens the
Piano Sonata in A major, D. 959
, with intense phrasing that adds a good deal of instability to the work and proposes a complex phrase structure that sounds almost like
Schumann
or even
Brahms
.
's tempos are on the quick side throughout, but more important than the tempo is a strong feeling of urgency, of barely controlled forward motion. It fits well with
's piano, a copy by the builder
Paul McNulty
of a Viennese Graf instrument from 1819. This has a reasonable claim to sound like what
imagined when he composed the music, and in
's hands, it very much looks toward the future of Romantic music. This is passionate, compelling
, with only overresonant church sound a minor complaint. ~ James Manheim