Franz SCHUBERT (1797-1828)
CD 1
Piano Sonata D 958 in C minor [30.31]
Piano Sonata D 959 in A major [38.45]
CD 2
Piano Sonata D 960 in B flat major [44.29]
Alfredo Perl (piano)
rec. April 2005, December 2005, August 2006, Radio Bremen Sendesaal.
CELESTIAL HARMONIES 14304-2 [69:16 + 44:29]
I was not familiar with Alfredo Perl before hearing these recordings. The
Celestial Harmonies web site claims that, "For 25 years now Alfredo Perl
has been one of the most influential performers in the field of classical
and romantic piano music." Even though he has made a recording of the
complete Beethoven sonatas his name was not familiar to me. I'll spare the
reader the further dithyrambic praise for Perl found in his record label's
web site, but it's interesting that someone whose playing has "a clear
and beautiful style that is readily identifiable" should be so little
recorded. I wondered if this recording would correct my ignorance of this
pianist.
My first impression as I began listening to this set was one of, "Oh,
my, I must turn my stereo down!" From the very first notes of D. 958,
Alfredo Perl was banging away at the piano, which was very disconcerting.
Sure, Schubert's music is not all velvet and treacle, in spite of what some
people say; there is a tremendous mixture of emotion and a wide range of dynamics
in these late piano sonatas. But Perl seems to be using hammers on his piano,
and this feeling continued throughout D. 958, as his dynamics tend toward
the heavy-handed. What makes this more disturbing is that he often has tiny
hesitations before crashing his hands down on the keyboard, making them just
a micro-second late and reinforcing the ponderous effect. Throughout this
performance of the C minor sonata, I was taken by just how much Perl was playing
the notes, and not the melodies.
Interestingly, Perl is at his best in the more lyrical passages that don't
feature extreme dynamics. The beginning of the beautiful andantino of D. 959
flows from his fingers smoothly and subtly. But as the piece progresses to
the louder sections, his playing turns aggressive and unattractive. Granted,
this movement does, again, have large shifts in dynamics, but one needs to
negotiate them in an overall approach to the music rather than simply playing
loud for loudness's sake, which is the impression I get. But in the final
movement of this sonata, with fewer loud passages, Perl returns to a charming
lyricism.
With all this in mind, I began listening to the D. 960 sonata with some trepidation.
First, it's worth noting that Perl's timing for this sonata is on the long
end of the scale; of the 13 versions I have of this work, only Mitsuko Uchida
plays longer, and that by only 30 seconds. Perl is notably longer in the very
long first movement, several minutes longer than Lupu, and much longer than
Brendel, who does not play the repeats. Perl's performance here is sensitive
and poetic, as though he's not trying to show off as he does in many of the
other movements on this set. His use of subtle pauses is interesting; he often
lets the music sink in before going on to a new phrase. In spite of my reservations
concerning the first two sonatas, I feel that Perl is excellent in this huge
first movement of the final sonata. Finally, he’s playing the music and not
the notes; it sounds not like he’s playing to impress, but rather because
he truly loves this music. The second movement continues the soft, subtle
tone of the first, and, again, Perl seems at home here. His phrasing in the
second section of the movement may be a bit too choppy and punctuated, but
overall, he brings great sensitivity to the piece. In the brief, faster third
movement, Perl plays the rapid sections with great aplomb, but the slower
parts sound mismatched to the overall movement, as though he were playing
a mash-up of two different pieces. The final movement sounds a bit out of
place, as Perl returns to his loud dynamics, and plays the opening section
with too much hesitation, unclear about what sort of phrasing he wants to
use. Later in the movement, Perl, alas, returns to key-banging - not totally
unjustified - but the difference in volume between the loud and soft sections
is disturbing.
In addition to Perl's heavy-handedness, at least in the first two sonatas,
these recordings are strongly skewed toward the lower frequencies, making
the listening a somewhat disagreeable experience. I almost never have to adjust
the bass or treble settings on my stereo, but here I was tempted to lower
the bass, because it was simply overpowering. Part of this might be due to
the Bösendorfer Imperial he plays, one with 97 keys instead of the standard
88. It could be sympathetic resonance of the extra nine bass keys that gives
this bassier tone, but the engineer should be more careful to avoid letting
the excess bass sounds bleed into the recording. One could also argue that
this piano is light years away from the type of instrument on which Schubert
actually played these sonatas.
I find this set to be a mixed bag. The first two sonatas left me wanting more,
but the last sonata, the D 960, is performed, for the most part, with great
sensitivity. Other pianists may play all these works with more emotion than
Perl, but for at least the D 960 sonata, his recording stands up there with
the best.
Kirk McElhearn