Schubert: 6 German Dances D820

“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

“Schubert’s great A major Sonata here receives a performance with an unusual dramatic edge. Christian Zacharias, whose versatility clearly enriches his arresting viewpoint, plays with a savage glint in his eye, bringing Schubert’s restless undercurrents to the surface so that the listener is left limp with a mixture of elation and exhaustion…there are no concessions made to the studio but a fiercely driven evocation of the desperation that hangs over the storm clouds of Schubert’s final years…Everything is relished to the full and nothing is taken for granted, with the composer’s startling harmonic twists and turns underlined with an audacious use of rubato…a vivid and compulsive experience no less boldly recorded.” Gramophone Magazine

“The Webern Op. 5 pieces, in particular, are meticulously played…” BBC Music Magazine, September 2004 ****