ANDRÁS SCHIFF
CD REVIEWS
New ECM recording - Beethoven Piano Sonatas Vol III Op 14 (1 &2), Op 22 & Op 49 (1 & 2)
The Observer - December 10 2006
"This third volume of the complete Beethoven Sonatas, which Schiff is taking in chronological order, combines the four smaller sonatas, Op 14 and 49 with the larger, magisterial Op 22, no 11 in B flat major. As always, Schiff is a master of detail, often rephrasing bars you thought you knew well, coming up with fine nuances while never losing sight of the work's overall architecture. Recorded live in Zurich's Tonhalle, thanks to Schiff's belief that it's vital to play in front of an audience, this is a distinguished instalment in an outstanding cycle." Anthony Holden
BBC Music Magazine - January 2007
"The Third volume in Andras Schiff's complete Beethoven cycle offers an intriguing programme, the didactic Op 49 Sonatas and the intimate Op 14 set forming a rather attractive hors d'oeuvre to the weighty Op 22 Sonata. Yet although all these works manifest very different moods and characters, Schiff makes efforts to penetrate beneath the surface aspects of the music, focusing on moments of intimacy and introspection.
Taking an unusually expansive approach to the first movement (op 14/1), Schiff invests the musical argument with an astonishing variety of texture and dynamic range, the concluding passage sounding like an uncanny anticipation of the first movement of Schubert's B flat Piano Sonata. With a clever balancing between the hands, the ensuing Allegretto sounds much more sombre than usual, and Schiff brings a great deal of exuberance to his delivery of the finale.
The modest Op 49 Sonatas are treated with affection and poetic sensibility, whilst Schiff relishes the unbuttoned humour of the middle movement of Op 14/2. Highlights of the Op 22 Sonata include an almost vocal right-hand in the Adagio con molto espressione, Schiff exploiting the cantabile tone of his Fabbrini piano to wonderful effect, and a finale that draws an impressive contrast between the almost Schumannesque lyricism of the opening and the dramatic and forceful contrapuntal elaboration of the middle section." Erik Levi
Beethoven Piano Sonatas Vol II Op 10 (1-3) & Op 13 (Pathetique)
The Times - April 2006
"Nice and pleasant isn't possible with Beethoven, Schiff remarks in the excellent notes to this second volume in his ongoing ECM cycle. To prove the point he plays the three Op 10 sonatas and the Pathetique with forthright tone and terse attack, emphasising their revolutionary spirit and striving for orchestral effects. The manner equally pays off when Beethoven jokes: Op 10 No 2 becomes a comedy of darting fingers." Geoff Brown
BBC Music Magazine - June 2006
"Two fiery Sonatas in C minor frame the second instalment of Andras Schiff's Beethoven cycle. Drawing an obvious emotional link between the two works, he characterizes the outer movements of the Op 10 No 1 with headstrong immediacy.
Schiff's Pathetique is equally stimulating with a particularly fine sense of tempo proportion between the slow and fast sections of the first movement. Some may question his provocative decision to play the slow introduction when repeating the exposition (especially as no such indication exists in the earliest published edition), but I would argue that there are logical structural reasons for doing this.
While there is much to admire in Schiff's renditions of the two C minor Sonatas, the most spontaneous playing on this disc comes in the larger D major Sonata where Schiff combines impetuosity with an imaginative quicksilver sense of humour in the outer movements, whilst finding repose and nobility in the Largo e mesto." Erik Levi
Beethoven Piano Sonatas Vol I Op 2 (1-3) & Op 7
The Times - 4 November 2005
"Schiff coaxes a clear, brittle sound from his Steinway as he embarks on his cycle of Beethoven's Piano Sonatas. He hits the barbed sforzatos of Sonata No 1 like wisecracks. He is at his friskiest for the lightly leaping scherzo of No 2 and at his most mock-serious for the frowning bass of No 3's limpid slow movement. He maintains the crisp tone for No 4 in E flat, but with more serious-minded intent. The cycle promises much." Rick Jones
Sunday Times - 6 November 2005
"The Hungarian pianist is a fastidious and methodical completist, so it should come as no surprise that he begins his "live" traversal of the 32 with the already characteristic Op 2 set of three sonatas and the single work of Op 7, written in the composer's twenties. His brilliant articulation in the allegros, prestissimo (Op 2, No 1) and minuets and scherzos brings a pristine clarity to this much-played music. Some traditionalists may find his quasi-authentic approach mannered, but it is rare to hear such crisp fingerwork and unmuddied textures on the modern piano. Throughout the series, Schiff will use a Steinway for the more virtuosic pieces and a Bosendorfer for works that require a heavier sonority. If the results match this volume, we are in for a memorable and individual cycle." HC
Gramophone - December 2005
"The first thing that struck me over the course of listening was the actual sound of Schiff's Steinway, whose remarkable timbral differentiation between registers is akin to instruments of Beethoven's time, or the mellow 'ping' characterising many of today's Bosendorfer grands. It doesn't hurt, too, that Schiff's multi-levelled technique and profound stylish perception work hand-in-glove. Given this pianist's seasoned expertise as a Bach player, his fastidious care with voice-leading and executing turns, trills, and other ornaments should come as no surprise."
"What's more, Schiff's acute attention to Beethoven's subito dynamics and inner voices brings unusual intensity to passages such as the syncopations in the development section of Op 2 No 1's first movement. For breathtaking variety of articulation, listen to Op 2 No 2's Largo appassionato, where the staccato bass notes are duly short yet more resonant than usual, or the marked contrast between the Rondo's songful outer sections and vehement central minor-key episode."
"But Schiff proves equally capable of conveying the music's implicit drama within a few short strokes. Notice how he eases his way into the first movement's opening measures as if sneaking on stage, timing out the rests a split second longer than they're notated, then decisively establishing Beethoven's Allegro con brio directive at the first fortissimo (bar 13)."
"Schiff's absorbing interpretations shed fresh light on thrice-familiar works and are guaranteed to grow on you." Jed Distler
BBC Music Magazine - January 2006
"In the three Op 2 Sonatas, Schiff demonstrates the radical and multi-faceted emotional nature of these early works most effectively. Using a Fabbrini piano which boasts a brilliant high register as well as more defined bass, he is able to conjure up a sound that bears some relationship to the fortepiano of Beethoven's day whilst offering a distinct advantage in terms of drawing out important inner lines in the music. The approach too is more fanciful than one might expect for early Beethoven, allowing Schiff the necessary latitude to emphasise the lyrical as well as the intense nature of Beethoven's musical language. A good point of comparison here is the almost dreamy textures Schiff achieves in the Finale of the A major as opposed to the raging torrent of sound that characterises the equivalent movement in the F minor. The first movement of the big C major Sonata is conceived very much on orchestral lines with a dramatic variety of colouring and characterisation, as well as an unexpected use of the sustaining pedal. In keeping with his overall conception, the E flat Sonata is presented as an even more radical departure, its expressive qualities almost anticipating Schubert."
"Throughout this finely recorded set, Schiff highlights plenty of musical details that tend to be bypassed by other artists, and for this reason his performances deserve an enthusiastic recommendation." Erik Levi
Goldberg Variations
The Times - 17 October 2003
"Listen to the pianist Andras Schiff: 'A recording is a document of one's view of a piece of music at a given time. It's not a monument for eternity'. He is right, though if a recording and its interpretation reaches a sufficient level of truth and beauty it can seem a monument to many - especially to those who promote a company's back catalogue.
Consider Bach's Goldberg Variations, one of the glories of Western art, written originally for the two-manual harpsichord.
Schiff's Decca account, recorded at Kingsway Hall in 1982, has also become a boon companion to many people for its clarity, subtlety, good sense, and singing lines.
Since no great artist stands still, Schiff has now issued another performace (ECM New Series ECM1825). The results may not appear hugely different, apart perhaps from ever-increasing crispness of his fingerwork; listen to the handcrossing whirlwind of the 14th variation and marvel.
Come closer, though. This is a recording from a concert in Basel, October 2001, and the shapes, the contrasts, and silences Schiff brings to the aria and its 30 variations very much suggest a living organism. We don't hear Schiff's breathing, but we certainly hear Bach's as he spins the theme into brilliant cascades, gentle musings, or intricate canons. What Landowska called the "black pearl" variation, the sombre 25th, provides the emotional climax, as it should; but the set is still governed by Schiff's light wit,his delight in Bach's genius, and the joy of a pleasure being shared." Geoff Brown
Sunday Times - 19 October 2003
"This live performance in Basel comes 20 years after Schiff's first recording of the work, and is absolutely magnificent. As toccata-like variations such as Nos 14 and 29 attest, his playing has all the virtuosity of Gould's, but without its flamboyance; while his spiritual authority, raptly evident in the adagio Variation 25, is completely his own, the result of lifetime's devotion to Bach. He provides detailed, witty notes (the booklet also contains an acrostic on his name by Vikram Seth, but no track listing), and robustly defends his practice of using piano rather that harpischord, and of observing all repeats. The journey he takes us on lasts 71 minutes, and the simple return of the opening aria is quite overwhelming." Paul Driver
Gramophone Awards Issue 2003
"Familiar territory lovingly re-visited, though with plenty to say that's new"
"Hand on heart, can you listen to a harpsichord for that long? Meaning an hour and a quarter of Bach's Goldberg Variations. There's nothing like coming clean on the issue of 'period' performance, and I have to confess that for much of the time I'm with Andras Schiff 100 per cent. Whatever your likes or dislikes in the Goldbergs, Schiff will surely elicit a positive reaction, more so than with his 1982 Decca recording which although similarly felicitous had little of the daring, imagination and sheer scale of this 2001 live re-make.
And there are other surprises. The princely alla breve tenth variation is initially low-key, but Schiff effects a gradual crescendo so that what started out as reserved ends with imperious resolve. This is a fascinating, beautiful, deeply pondered and profoundly pianistic Goldbergs, and while not 'authentic' in the accepted scholarly sense, it is appreciative of Baroque manners and ornamentation. It also employs the Urtext of the New Bach Edition.
Schiff concedes that to try to convince the wary that Bach 'works' on the piano is as useless as 'trying to make carnivores out of vegetarians'. So let's say that while he is undoubtedly a carnivore, he's most definitely 'organic'; in other words, he knows his meat and knows what is good. Schiff 01 is essential for those who want to listen beyond the notes." Rob Cowan