Schubert: Piano Sonata No. 15 in C major, D840 'Reliquie'

“As Lewis's legions of admirers would expect, they are all superbly well played, with the same clarity and careful attention to every detail that is also lavished on the Four Impromptus of D899 and the three very late piano pieces D946. Unlike some of Lewis's more recent Beethoven performances, there's nothing over emphatic here... It's a fine, thoughtful set.” The Guardian, 3rd November 2011 ****

“Lewis’s mature insight into the workings and emotional characteristics of these works lends his interpretations particular power and depth, not just in the sonatas but also in the impromptus and the late Klavierstücke as well. Considered thought always seems to support and nourish Lewis’s performances, and here his instincts animate the music absorbingly.” The Telegraph, 18th November 2011

“Lewis’s Beethoven sonatas placed him firmly in the company of great contemporary pianists. In Schubert, too, his graceful phrasing and command of dynamic contrasts are equally impressive. His magisterial account of the C major Sonata (D840) challenges all other recorded interpretations with its combination of head and heart.” Sunday Telegraph, 20th November 2011

“I enjoyed every moment of these two superbly recorded discs...These are model accounts, in which Lewis, clearly a modest man, is intent on keeping himself out of the picture...I would like to hear more of him, and I'm sure Schubert would feel the same...When Schubert is being mysterious yet somehow simple, as in the unfinished so-called 'Reliquie' Sonata, Lewis's reticence is ideal. If he is open to criticism at all, it is only at the most exalted level.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2012 ****

“every now and again a recording comes along that makes you want to dance in the street, handing out copies to complete strangers. This is one of those instances...Time and again, you marvel at the confidence and sureness of Lewis's playing, combined with the finesse and musicality that he has always displayed. It's the kind of playing, in fact, where comparisons cease to matter....An undoubted contender for the 2012 Awards.” Gramophone Magazine, February 2012

“Particularly admirable is Lewis's differentiation between Schubert's idiosyncratic indications...[in D850] his playing seems to exude a quiet jauntiness, an unencumbered masculinity, observant, appreciative and filled with pleasure that, in its guileless utterance, is heart-stoppingly beautiful...I don't know of a more convincing or enjoyable performance [of D946]” International Record Review, February 2012

“Wosner's performance, with its extremes of dynamics, glistening pianissimos followed by thunderous fortissimos, certainly projects [a] sense of something epic, while making a link to late Beethoven, and to his last sonata, Op 111, in particular.” The Guardian, 29th September 2011 ***

“His playing of the German Dances has a muscularity and a lovely transparency, while the Hungarian Melody has an exquisite soulfulness. But what strikes the listener from the first few bars of the Sonata which opens this recording...is the aristocratic grace of Wosner's tone, and his expressive shades of staccato.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2011 *****

“With this recital Shai Wosner declares himself a Schubertian of unfaltering authority and character. Entirely modern in style (tonally lean and sharply focused, never given to easy or sentimental options), he relishes every twist and turn in the so-called Reliquie Sonata...Wosner rivets your attention at every point. He also shows a high degree of charm and affection in the German Dances and the Hungarian Melody” Gramophone Magazine, January 2012

“Cooper's sensitivity to the new light shed by remote keys is unfailing, and above all she tells the strange adventure of Schubert's most tormented A minor Sonata with unerring judgment. For this account alone, the latest instalment is indispensable.” BBC Music Magazine, June 2010 ****

“Imogen Cooper...offers a near-perfect balance of head and heart in Schubert, her expressive technique and musical personality wholly in the service of the composer...I shall treasure this performance of the G flat Impromptu, a miracle of heartfelt cantabile playing that made my eyes burn.” Gramophone Magazine, July 2010

“the poise of Cooper’s playing holds one breathless...Cooper’s sense of rightness of colour and her exquisite balancing of textures fully justify her reputation as one of the great Schubertians of our time.” Sunday Times, 16th May 2010 ****

“Cooper's articulation is precise, her tempi poised, the architecture clean, the colours cool to chilly. C minor brings out the best in her. The bittersweet Allegretto and blazing first Impromptu the most arresting works in a performance of clarity and integrity.” The Independent on Sunday, 1st August 2010

“This recording (from Vanguard Classics) captures most of what makes Brendel's Schubert so special: an awareness of the composer's other-worldly dimensions that haunt as if from beyond the grave.” BBC Music Magazine, August 2009 *****

“Brendel believes Schubert is 'mysteriously episodic', but doesn’t play him that way. Architecture is re-created by scanning ahead… and by binding movements together through tempi that relate to one another. Weaknesses fall by the wayside. Not, though, the melancholic songfulness that is an indisputable part of Schubert. It is heard in, say, the B major Trio or the slow movement of D960, but shorn of the lachrymose bleating that some pianists think necessary.” Gramophone Magazine, March 2006

“Not only is his playing expressively subtle and technically impeccable, he clearly has plenty to say about everything he touches - Schubert very much included.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2009

“He plays with a cool intelligence and directness that in the "Reliquie" occasionally becomes a little stolid and colourless, but which glows with an agreeable warmth in the huge edifice of the A major sonata.” The Observer, 6th September 2009

“he plays all three pieces with an exquisite sense of colour and line. Biss delivers the kind of intensely thoughtful playing that seems to gain an extra degree of profundity when heard on disc...Biss's performance is impressively coherent, with every nuance conceived as part of an indivisible musical whole.” The Guardian, 4th September 2009 ****