Schiff Provides Music and Commentary for SFP

Pianist András Schiff (photograph by Nadia F. Romanini, courtesy of SFP)

Last night pianist András Schiff returned to Herbst Theatre to present a “concert with conversation” as part of the festivities of the San Francisco Performances (SFP) 43rd Season Gala. Rather than provide the audience with a printed program of the selections he would perform, Schiff delivered spoken introductions for each of those selections. The first half of the program presented compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and much of what was spoken involved Schiff’s thoughts about relationships between the two of them. Following the intermission, he took a similar approach to the music of Joseph Haydn and Ludwig van Beethoven.

The longest composition to be performed was also the final one: Beethoven’s Opus 110 sonata in A-flat major, the penultimate of the composer’s 32 piano sonatas. In his spoken introduction to this sonata, Schiff concluded his program by reflecting back on Bach, suggesting two instances in which influences of Bach could be found in Beethoven’s music. The first of these arises in the Adagio ma non troppo (third) movement, which appears to cite the “Es ist vollbracht” (it is finished) aria from the BWV 245 St John Passion. (Beethoven composed a chorus based in this text in 1815, and it is cataloged as WoO 97.) The subject of the fugue that concludes the sonata then serves as a reflection on the “Dona Nobis Pacem” (grant us peace) chorus that concludes the BWV 232 Mass setting in B minor.

This sonata performance was preceded by the only other Beethoven selection, the Opus 126 set of six bagatelles. This, in turn, was preceded by only one Haydn selection. This was the two-movement sonata in G minor, Hoboken XVI/44. That made Haydn the composer to receive the least attention in last night’s program. However, because the entire recital was a long one, it was clear that Schiff realized that cuts would be necessary to bring the length down to a manageable duration; and Haydn was the “sacrificial lamb” for the occasion.

The first half of the program was structured as three “Bach-Mozart pairings.” The first of these was the three-voice fugue in C minor from Bach’s BWV 1079 collection known as The Musical Offering coupled with Mozart’s K. 475 fantasia in C minor. Schiff then moved to the more upbeat key of G major, coupling the BWV 816 “French” suite with the playful K. 574 gigue. (The gigue was the final movement of BWV 816.) The selections then took a darker turn in the key of B minor. The Bach selection was the final prelude-fugue coupling in the first book of The Well-Tempered Clavier, BWV 869, followed by Mozart’s K. 540 Adagio movement. The first half then concluded with Mozart’s K. 576, his final piano sonata, whose counterpoint can be taken as a thank-you nod to Bach.

Adding Schiff’s many spoken insights made this a particularly long performance. Nevertheless, all of those insights were definitely to the benefit of his piano performances. He had clearly put a lot of thought into organizing this program; and, as was previously observed, he must have realized that he had more content than could fit in the usual two-hour duration. As a result, the program clocked in at closer to three hours (including the intermission). Nevertheless, the combination of meticulously performed executions of all of the selections with Schiff’s thoroughly engaging vocal delivery made this an event in which time seemed to fly. The pianist definitely knew how to make his return to SFP a welcome one.