Pianist
Garrick Ohlsson
was 73 years old when this recording was made in late 2021, but the trademarks of his style remain intact in this recording of a pair of
Schubert
sonatas, the brash
Piano Sonata in A major, D. 537
, and the transcendent late
Piano Sonata in A major, D. 959
. There is the muscular pianism, undiminished in force, with percussive attacks made unacceptably harsh by
Hyperion
's church acoustic. There is the tendency to treat
Beethoven
as the reference point for 19th century music several decades into the future, not the only way to approach
but certainly justifiable in that when these sonatas were written,
was one of the few composers with a deep understanding of
. There is also the intelligent, thorough approach to musical structure.
Ohlsson
's playing here generally avoids lyricism in favor of intense structural swings; the daring harmonic shifts of the
D. 537
finale come at the listener quite sharply here. There is little spirit of the Viennese dance anywhere here, but
can set his hard-edged approach aside at the most unexpected moments, as in the explosion of passion in the
D. 959
slow movement; this will linger in memory. Buyers who put this release on classical best-seller charts in early 2023 no doubt expected a fresh approach and a big sound in these sonatas, and that is exactly what they got. ~ James Manheim