Engaging Coupling of Beethoven and Schubert

Richard Goode at the keyboard (photograph by Steve Riskind, courtesy of San Francisco Performances)

Yesterday evening pianist Richard Goode returned to Herbst Theatre to present his eighteenth recital for San Francisco Performances. (He made his first visit in October of 1985.) His program consisted of only two compositions, one on either side of the intermission. Both pieces were the products of First Viennese School composers. The first half of the program presented music from Ludwig van Beethoven’s late period, his Opus 120, entitled “33 Variations on a waltz by Anton Diabelli.” The intermission was followed by Franz Schubert’s final piano sonata, D. 960 in B-flat major.

I know from personal experience that D. 960 is a significant undertaking. I put a lot of effort into getting my hands around those four movements. It would be unfair to say that I eventually could do justice to Schubert’s score, but I definitely came away with significantly increased respect for the composer! The sonata is one of the composer’s longest works, and I did not feel short-changed when Goode decided not to enable the repeat sign in the sonata’s first movement. Even in the absence of that repetition, he delivered a thoroughly engaging account of the diverse and adventurous journey through the four movements of Schubert’s sonata.

The title of Beethoven’s Opus 120 also makes it clear that any performance involves a major journey. I suspect that there are many that have tried to establish an architectural framework for those 33 variations, but I am not one of them! Personally, I find that the variations unfold in what might be called a musical form of stream-of-consciousness. One step follows another, each as sure as the next; and the listener is left to revel in the diversity of it all. (That diversity includes a prankish nod to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, working in a motif from beginning of the opera Don Giovanni.)

Goode’s focus could not have been more attentive in interpreting these two “late works.” Indeed, his attention was so focused that he saw no need for an encore. Personally, I agree with his decision. After two such major undertakings, one does not need a “That’s all folks!” sign-off. Better to let the memories of Beethoven and Schubert reverberate as one leaves the auditorium to head back home.