Latest / The Piano Maven with Jed Distler / Krystian Zimerman's Schubert

Transcript

Krystian Zimerman's Schubert · The Piano Maven with Jed Distler

• 0:06
  This is Jed Disler, and welcome to The Piano
• 0:09
  Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano recordings.
• 0:13
  I invite you to subscribe to The Piano Maven
• 0:17
  through my Substack page, and I've provided a
• 0:20
  link to do so in our episode description. Subscribers
• 0:24
  get a free download at the start of each month.
• 0:27
  Usually it's some rare piano item from my vast
• 0:31
  collection of recordings. And I'm also open to
• 0:35
  suggestions as to what you'd like to have for
• 0:39
  the download of the month. But I would love you
• 0:43
  to consider taking out a paid subscription because
• 0:46
  that will really help keep this podcast alive
• 0:50
  and afloat over this next year. I haven't really
• 0:54
  spoken very much on this podcast about Christian
• 0:57
  Zimmerman for some reason, but he's a pianist
• 1:02
  who brings colossal workmanship and pianistic
• 1:05
  refinement to the table, and his artistic integrity
• 1:10
  cannot... ever be questioned. He's the kind of
• 1:13
  artist who demands as much of himself as he does
• 1:17
  of the instruments that he plays upon. And he's
• 1:21
  the kind of pianist who also thinks twice before
• 1:24
  making a move, which includes releasing a recording.
• 1:28
  And his recorded output has been rather sparse
• 1:33
  over the last few decades. 2017, I reviewed a
• 1:39
  Schubert disc that proved to be Zimmerman's first
• 1:43
  solo piano release in many years, and it contained
• 1:47
  two of the big, posthumously published piano
• 1:51
  sonatas, that wonderful sonata in B -flat major
• 1:55
  with the Deutsch number 960, and the big A -major
• 1:59
  sonata, Deutsch number 959. And I remember when
• 2:04
  I was reviewing them, I was struck by just how
• 2:07
  different these performances were from each other,
• 2:11
  and I still am, rehearing them many years later.
• 2:15
  Sometimes I've taken Christian Zimmerman to task
• 2:19
  for being a micromanager, and... I felt that
• 2:24
  his micromanaging tendencies tended to dominate
• 2:28
  throughout the B -flat sonata of Schubert. And
• 2:31
  if you listen to the opening Molto Moderato movement,
• 2:36
  you'll notice a huge portfolio of expressive
• 2:40
  devices like retards and caesuras and tenutos
• 2:46
  and tapered phrases and all kinds of things that...
• 2:51
  From my taste, they seem to draw more attention
• 2:54
  to the pianist than to the composer. Now, I do
• 2:59
  have to admit, these gestures never, never spill
• 3:02
  over into vulgarity or really belaboring the
• 3:06
  obvious or a sense of caricature. But these gestures
• 3:11
  in Christian Zimmerman's hands seem to stick
• 3:15
  out predictably. over repeated hearings. Now,
• 3:19
  it's very impressive how Zimmerman separates
• 3:22
  his rhythmically impeccable articulation of the
• 3:28
  Andante Sostenuto's left -hand ostinato from
• 3:32
  the right -hand melodies. And it's just a beautifully
• 3:36
  multi -textured, three -dimensional effect that's
• 3:41
  really quite beautiful. What a beautiful sound
• 3:44
  world he creates. and yet and yet there is this
• 3:50
  air of calculation and pre -planning about how
• 3:55
  he plays this movement which contrasts to the
• 3:58
  kind of artless simplicity that you get from
• 4:02
  pianists like Leif Ove Ansnes or even Sviatoslav
• 4:07
  Richter. I think his slow movement is beautiful,
• 4:10
  although his first movement is slower than death,
• 4:14
  you know. And also Leon Fleischer's remake that
• 4:18
  was on Vanguard from, I think that was from 2004.
• 4:21
  That's also very, very beautiful in this regard,
• 4:25
  in the slow movement. Now, in the scherzo. I
• 4:29
  really do like the relaxed lilt that Zimmerman
• 4:32
  brings to the music. And this kind of unpressured
• 4:36
  tempo provides a lot of opportunities for expressive
• 4:41
  point -making, and Zimmerman fully takes advantage
• 4:44
  of them. Now, it's a matter of one's point of
• 4:48
  view, I guess, to determine if this is insightful
• 4:51
  point -making or just fussing around. I will
• 4:54
  leave that to you. But the fourth and final movement
• 4:58
  is much more all of a piece in Zimmerman's hands.
• 5:02
  But he does something really bizarre in that
• 5:04
  opening G natural unison that starts the movement.
• 5:07
  He clips the right hand but sustains the left
• 5:11
  hand rather than playing both hands equally,
• 5:15
  which is kind of weird. But... I have to say
• 5:19
  that Zimmerman's interpretation of the big A
• 5:21
  major sonata, Deutsch number 959, is one of the
• 5:27
  great ones. This is a fantastic performance in
• 5:31
  all respects. He brings real seriousness of purpose
• 5:35
  and attention to detail in this sonata that consistently
• 5:40
  serves the music first and foremost. For example,
• 5:45
  in the first movement, his brisk basic tempo
• 5:48
  and his strong contrapuntal sense kind of minimizes
• 5:53
  the music's tendency to go off on tangents. Now,
• 5:58
  maybe somebody like Murray Pariah... might offer
• 6:02
  more lyrical respite and dramatic complexity,
• 6:06
  but Zimmerman still compels your undivided attention,
• 6:10
  I think. And in the scherzo, Zimmerman arpeggiates
• 6:14
  those quick chords in very different ways, and
• 6:21
  he... gives off a real lovely sparkle and lightness
• 6:25
  to these passages. And the Rondo finale is all
• 6:30
  about long singing lines and a really natural
• 6:33
  forward momentum, very much in the style of Maurizio
• 6:38
  Pollini's fantastic recording of the Sonata,
• 6:41
  also on Deutsche Grammophon. But in terms of
• 6:44
  detail, Christian Zimmerman goes his own way,
• 6:47
  and he does marvelous, marvelous things. However,
• 6:52
  for me, the pinnacle of this interpretation lies
• 6:55
  within Zimmerman's stunning treatment of the
• 7:00
  slow movement. And I think that the slow movement
• 7:03
  is worth the entire price of this release. I
• 7:07
  would say. Here's a case where the precise and
• 7:11
  painstaking details serve the musical meaning.
• 7:15
  You'll notice, for instance, how Zimmerman clips
• 7:19
  the detached bass line accompaniment below the
• 7:24
  treble main theme. And he does so without sounding
• 7:27
  the least percussive. It's almost like the bass
• 7:30
  notes were being gently plucked on a cello. and
• 7:35
  that wild and desolate chromatic buildup in the
• 7:39
  center of the movement. This is a perfect example
• 7:42
  of controlled frenzy in Zimmerman's hands. And
• 7:47
  those loud chords at the climax are full -bodied
• 7:52
  from bottom to top. but they still manage to
• 7:56
  convey a gaunt and stinging ferocity. And in
• 8:01
  my review, I called this a moment of grim clarity.
• 8:06
  So what we have on this release is a fascinating,
• 8:11
  if kind of problematic, Schubert B -flat sonata,
• 8:15
  and we have a Schubert... a major Sonata, Deutsch
• 8:20
  959, that I think belongs in every serious piano
• 8:24
  collection. This is Jed Disler, and you've been
• 8:27
  listening to the Piano Maven podcast, and I look
• 8:32
  forward to being with you next time. And I'm
• 8:35
  sorry that I did not have a Thursday episode
• 8:38
  last week, but we're back on track this week.
• 8:41
  Anyway, I will be with you on Thursday.