Schnabel’s Beethoven
cycle began gloriously in 1932 with
his sublime – if sonically challenged
– interpretations of the last three
sonatas. Having completed the sonatas
in the meantime, the final volume closed
equally gloriously with the first ever
recording of Beethoven’s last large-scale
masterpiece for piano, the Diabelli
variations. Meanwhile the recording
industry had been making strides and
the sound here, if without the bloom
and range of the best modern recordings,
is revealed in Mark Obert-Thorn’s careful
restorations to be more than acceptable
– after a while one becomes so absorbed
in the performance that the sound scarcely
matters.
As for the performance,
it should be emphasized that this is
not one of those occasions where Schnabel’s
studio nerves failed him and left him
flailing and fumbling. His fingers are
on their best behaviour and allow us
to appreciate an interpretation which
finds a just and convincing solution
to every myriad change of mood along
the way. It would be reductive towards
the many great pianists who have given
their all to this elusive masterpiece
to suggest that it remains the only
version that counts, but it certainly
set interpretative and intellectual
standards which are a daunting challenge
to all that followed.
Schnabel is equally
responsive to Beethoven’s cryptic op.126
Bagatelles, aptly described by Alec
Robertson (quoted in the booklet) as
"a sort of sound-sketch book"
of Beethoven in his daily life. Schnabel
is as truthful towards the moments of
drollery or ugliness as to those of
beauty and contemplation. Finally, the
so-called "Rage over a Lost Penny"
whose digital demands might seem risk
territory for Schnabel, but which actually
comes off splendidly, with furious aplomb.
Naxos continues to
provide its historical releases with
exemplary presentation, in this case
by Brian C. Thompson with a technical
note from Obert-Thorn. If you don’t
have Schnabel’s "Diabelli"
then snatch this modestly priced issue
up before the threatened extension of
copyright laws kills it off.
Christopher Howell
Artur Schnabel (piano) 
