The Schubert Impromptus, D. 899, and Moments Musicaux, D. 780, derive their interest in part from the fact that their titles are, to a degree, misnomers. They have the shape of "impromptus" and "musical moments," but they wrestle with the sonata ideas heard in Schubert's larger piano pieces, and the sets of four, as pianist Alexandre Tharaud detects here, are easily enough heard as four-movement piano sonatas. Tharaud's readings are both on the quiet side and large in scale; he accords with a description of Schubert's own ...
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The Schubert Impromptus, D. 899, and Moments Musicaux, D. 780, derive their interest in part from the fact that their titles are, to a degree, misnomers. They have the shape of "impromptus" and "musical moments," but they wrestle with the sonata ideas heard in Schubert's larger piano pieces, and the sets of four, as pianist Alexandre Tharaud detects here, are easily enough heard as four-movement piano sonatas. Tharaud's readings are both on the quiet side and large in scale; he accords with a description of Schubert's own playing by observer Albert Stadler: "He belonged to the old school of those excellent keyboard players whose fingers had not yet begun to attack the poor keys like birds of prey." Tharaud tones down the big rhythmic second themes and keeps to clear textures, avoiding grand Romantic gestures. Yet this is not exactly chamber-sized Schubert, either. His opening gesture in the first Impromptu defines large musical spaces, and he is concerned with the long line throughout. It's an...
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