Master Pianist Perahia Gives New Life to the Last
Three Sonatas of Franz Peter Schubert.
by Ed Vincent
"Highly recommended" OPJ

Even in the light hearted elements of his compositions there seems to be something drawing us or leading us to the more pensive side of human nature.  Do I project the  zen like state of inner reflection based upon his early death or his impending demise? Perhaps, but after reviewing his death one finds the evidence pointing at a death from syphilis.  Did a death from syphilis imply he was a fun, out going guy?  His death was probably not caused by the infection itself, but rather from the treatment for its cure.  People with syphilis in the time of Schubert were subjected to mercury treatments and many died from mercury poisoning. Schubert lived during the Napoleonic Wars and was in Vienna when it was bombarded several times and taken over by the French.  His father was a schoolmaster, and his family was of moderate working means.  Schubert did not associate with the nobility like Beethoven, but Beethoven said before his own death that `He has the godly sparks,'' and adding that ``this one will surpass me,''. 

Schubert never owned his own piano and composed a great deal in his head, perhaps similar to Beethoven,
as Beethoven went deaf in his later years.

Four years before his death Schubert wrote that he was ``the most miserable, unlucky man in the world.''.  Perhaps just a moment of sorrow or self indulgence in woe.  His last three compositions featured in the new CD are wonderfully performed by Mr. Murray Perahia.  Mr.  Perahia has been a gifted player on the piano since the young age of 4.  Mr. Perahia, a New Yorker from birth does an excellent job of bringing this wonderful gathering of Schubert’s last compositions to our living rooms.

In the past week I have heard some rather nebulous compositions that have a great lack of structure and some find these works nice, I find many such compositions boring.  Schubert’s works performed by Mr. Perahia are pensive, thoughtful, and artful in their performance. Schubert and Beethoven would each be pleased with this album.

---

GRAMMY-WINNING PIANIST MURRAY PERAHIA 
EXPLORES THE LAST THREE SONATAS OF FRANZ SCHUBERT ON HIS NEW SONY CLASSICAL RECORDING
 

Perahia To Perform One Sonata During Spring American Recital Tour 

(New York, NY, April 25, 2003) – Pianist Murray Perahia returns to the music of Franz Schubert with his new Sony Classical recording of the composer’s three final piano sonatas.  Winner of a Grammy Award in February 2003 for his disc of the Chopin études, Perahia will feature one of the Schubert sonatas on his brief spring American recital tour.  The new Schubert 2-disc will be released on Tuesday, May 13, 2003.

The CD’s include Sonata in C minor, D. 958; Sonata in A Major, D. 959; and Sonata in B-Flat Major, D. 960 – all three written in the month of September in 1828, during the final year of Schubert’s brief and enigmatic life.

Perahia is performing Schubert’s A Major Sonata as a part of his recital program in his spring American tour.  He will play the sonata, along with works by Bach and Beethoven, in Baltimore (April 23), Morrow, GA (April 25), Boston (April 27), Newark (May 4), Toronto (May 6) and New York’s Carnegie Hall (May 11).

Schubert, who was only 31 when he died in November of 1828, wrote some 18 sonatas for the piano, but these last three are his crowning achievements in the form.  They revealed a dramatic shift in the composer’s imagination and range – each a work of uncommon subtlety and intensity.  Even with his precarious health failing, Schubert produced an extraordinary range of music in his last year, much of it seemingly shadowed by the experience of composing the monumental 1827 song cycle Winterreise.  In 24 poems to music, that cycle recounts a young man’s anguish and unfulfilled longing for death in the aftermath of an unrequited love.  The three last piano sonatas seem haunted by the spirit of the lonely, alienated wanderer of Winterreise, which perhaps echoes the sorrows of the composer’s own life.

An exclusive Sony Classical artist, Murray Perahia has focused on the music of J.S. Bach in other recent recordings for the label.  They include award-winning discs of the Bach keyboard concertos with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields (SK 89245 & SK 89690), a Gramophone Award-winning recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations (SK 89243) and the Grammy Award-winning discs of Bach’s English Suites (SK 60276 & SK 60277).

Murray Perahia’s new recording of the late Schubert sonatas will be featured on www.MurrayPerahia.com, the pianist’s domain on Sony Classical’s Web site at www.sonyclassical.com. Sony Classical.com is an online resource for exploring the label’s entire catalogue of recordings, and includes sound clips, track listings, cover art and other information about the recordings.  The site also features an online radio show, album supersites, multimedia, artist biographies, tour schedules and discographies for all Sony Classical artists, as well as special promotions, and much more.