Classic FM. Schubert

Classic fm

The late Schubert
Piano Sonata No. 21 in B flat Major, D960 Three Piano Pieces, D946
Oleg Marshev (piano)
Danacord DACOCD 646

Schubert’s last few months were constantly plagued by syphilitic fits of giddiness, almost certainly the result of some ill-advised liaison some years beforehand. Despite this he hits just kept on coming, and included his Ninth Symphony (“Great”), his String Quintet and his final three piano sonatas. The B flat is the last of all Schubert’s sonatas, and it is an unfanthomable achievement by a mere 31-year-old, from whom life was literally slipping away. Whereas some virtuosos choose to envelop the sonata in a haze of dreamy nostalgia, Oleg Marshev pays it as a valedictory statement in the Beethoven mould to often startling effect- frequently ravaged by searing emotions. Revisionist and compelling

Jullan Haylock