Schubert: Piano Sonata No. 4 in A minor, D537; Piano Sonata No. 9 in B, D575[ Piano Sonata No. 18 in G, D894
5 July was of course the day after the General Election polling day and as I had been at the local count all night and didn’t get to bed till 6am I was not best prepared for this concert. The first two sonatas aren’t ones I know and I confess I dropped off at one or two points during them. I once again experienced the acoustics of the church as being harsh and clangourous, and not very flattering to Lewis’ playing. My ears pricked up in the middle movement of D537, which has exactly the same melody as the finale of D959, played at a slower pace. ! I enjoyed the clarity, the attack and precision of Lewis’ playing, as well as the impression he gives of thinking through each note afresh, through subtle changes of shading. More than that I can’t really remember 18 hours later, though I was aware of a general Beethovenian tinge to these sonatas (e.g. the 4th movement of D575).
Fortified by time in the churchyard during the interval and a strong coffee, D894 was a very different experience. Like the last three sonatas it feels death-haunted and melancholy – when the sun shines, as in the last movement, you sense the gathering clouds. Paul Lewis played this superbly – I was particularly struck by the measured pace in the first movement and the different weighting given to the repetitions of the opening theme. He also generously played the first movement repeat. The second movement was riveting, with its contrasts of wistful and passionate responses to oncoming death and to the extinction of such potential unfulfilled. The last two movements’ highlights were the peaceful trio of the third movement and a final movement where nothing was nonchalant but full of aching regret. I thought this was as gripping a rendition as the Brendel performance I heard some 17 years ago at the Bridgewater Hall – and of course Lewis is a pupil of Brendel’s.
John's musical journey 