Jonathan Biss Concludes Schubert Series

Pianist Jonathan Biss (photograph by Benjamin Ealovega, courtesy of SFP)

Last night in Herbst Theatre, pianist Jonathan Biss concluded his three-part series of recitals for San Francisco Performances (SFP) entitled Echoes of Schubert. The series was structured around the last three piano sonatas to be composed by Franz Schubert: D. 958 in C minor, D. 959 in A major, and D. 960 in B-flat major, none of which were published during the composer’s lifetime. Indeed, they remained out of sight for about a decade, after which A. Diabelli & Co. published all three of them in a single volume in 1838, given the title Franz Schubert’s Allerletzte Composition. Drei grosse Sonaten, which was dedicated to Robert Schumann.

Since the sonatas were performed in order of catalog number, the series concluded last night with D. 960. In many ways this is the most massive undertaking of the three. Furthermore, since the catalog of Otto Erich Deutsch is chronological, only five entries remain in the principal portion of the document. (The last is the final song, “Der Hirt auf dem Felsen.”) Biss took all of the notated repeats, allowing the sonata to unfold into the full extent of its “heavenly length” (Schumann’s epithet). His command of both tempo and phrasing escorted the attentive listener through an extended journey well worth taking.

Having struggled with this sonata during my younger days, I have cultivated a genuine love for this music both for its inventive technical qualities and for the profundity of its expressiveness. (I happened to be working on this undertaking during a trip to Seattle for my first encounter with Richard Wagner’s Ring cycle in its entirety. I managed to find a piano near my hotel, and I pursued a path through the entire sonata every morning!) As a result, I try not to miss an opportunity to listen to this music in recital.

As might be expected, I have also accumulated a fair number of recordings. On that score, however, I have to say that I have cultivated an appreciation for the “historically-informed” performances that have been recorded. The fact is that, to put it bluntly, Schubert poured a lot of notes into D. 960. As they accumulate into larger masses, they tend to obscure each other when they are played on a contemporary keyboard (such as the Steinway Model D that San Francisco Performances offers to its recitalists). On the other hand, because the dynamics are not as overpowering, a performance on an instrument from the early nineteenth century is more conducive to accounting for every note that Schubert penned. For those of us that are sticklers for detail, that amounts to a significant asset.

However, if last night’s instrument did not allow Biss to do justice to every minute detail, he could still deliver a compelling account of the sonata in its entirety. Indeed, as the sonata unfolded, I found myself scribbling a note in my program book suggesting that Schubert might have had a “four seasons” plan in mind. There is something “autumnal” in the almost wistful rhetoric of the opening movement, which is then followed by the “winter chill” of the Andante sostenuto. The Scherzo, of course, is spring, while the concluding Allegro ma non troppo blazes in the heat of summer!

The program began with the third of the four impromptus collected in D. 935. Composed in the key of B-flat major, this is a sunny set of variations on a theme that Schubert had previously explored in earlier guises. Biss brought a light touch to his interpretation, which provided just the right “warm-up” for the more imposing sonata that would follow.

Prior to that sonata, however, he gave the second (ever) performance of Tyshawn Sorey’s “For Anthony Braxton,” which had been commissioned by SFP. Biss introduced this piece by discussing the interplay of composed and improvised music that one could find in Braxton’s compositions (many of which were given enigmatic icons as titles). He described the genre as “trans-idiomatic,” which is about as good an account as any!

He also observed that the music was not necessarily “directed.” I can definitely affirm that proposition. At my first classes in composition, the teacher liked to caution against the problem of “noodling.” Unfortunately, Sorey had a tendency to “noodle.” As a result, while he laid out a landscape of interesting territory at the beginning of his composition, it was not long before the journey through that landscape devolved into “more of the same.” Needless to say, it did not take long for D. 960 to blow away the cobwebs of that prior listening experience!