The Scots pianist Steven Osborne has cultivated a restrained style in which he strives not to insert himself between listener and music. He has not recorded much Schubert, although about five years before the 2015 release of the present album he did play an album's worth of duo piano music with Paul Lewis. How you'll react to this solo album may depend on how you feel about extremely self-effacing readings of Schubert. You can make the argument that the dimensions are historically right: the piano pieces on this album were ...
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The Scots pianist Steven Osborne has cultivated a restrained style in which he strives not to insert himself between listener and music. He has not recorded much Schubert, although about five years before the 2015 release of the present album he did play an album's worth of duo piano music with Paul Lewis. How you'll react to this solo album may depend on how you feel about extremely self-effacing readings of Schubert. You can make the argument that the dimensions are historically right: the piano pieces on this album were written for small audiences of connoisseurs who did not need to be led through the music by the artist. You'll further note that Osborne is a technically gifted player, capable of exceptional clarity that reveals fine shades of expression. And it's good to see a program that avoids the tried-and-true pairing of the two sets of impromptus in favor of lesser-known music: the superb and underplayed Three Piano Pieces, D. 946, late works that are essentially impromptus; and the earlier...
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![Schubert: Impromptus [Steven Osborne] [Hyperion: Cda68107]](https://www4.alibris-static.com/cover/o12299hmu3z_t.jpg)
