Neil McCauley
31-10-2017, 08:28
Harriet Smith writes:
It has been a long, long time since Krystian Zimerman’s last solo recording. Think back to his Gramophone Award-winning Debussy Préludes in 1994. Yes, that long. So he’s up there with Sokolov in terms of rarity value. It is, he reveals in the booklet interview, all to do with approaching 60 (which he celebrated in December 2016, 11 months after this disc was recorded) and feeling that ‘it was time to find the courage’ for such works as the late Schuberts and late Beethovens, works that he has been playing for years. (By chance I heard him play these two sonatas live in the Royal Festival Hall last spring, when he stepped in at a moment’s notice after Mitsuko Uchida had had to withdraw. That’s what I call luxury casting.)
Courage? If only certain other artists could be so forbearing. You’ll notice there are no comparisons listed. That’s because this is .....
Continues at https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/schubert-piano-sonatas-nos-20-21-0?utm_content=&utm_campaign=Gramophone%20Reviews%20-%2030OCT17%20%28subs%29&utm_source=Gramophone&utm_medium=adestra_email&utm_term=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gramophone.co.uk%2Frevi ew%2Fschubert-piano-sonatas-nos-20-21-0
It has been a long, long time since Krystian Zimerman’s last solo recording. Think back to his Gramophone Award-winning Debussy Préludes in 1994. Yes, that long. So he’s up there with Sokolov in terms of rarity value. It is, he reveals in the booklet interview, all to do with approaching 60 (which he celebrated in December 2016, 11 months after this disc was recorded) and feeling that ‘it was time to find the courage’ for such works as the late Schuberts and late Beethovens, works that he has been playing for years. (By chance I heard him play these two sonatas live in the Royal Festival Hall last spring, when he stepped in at a moment’s notice after Mitsuko Uchida had had to withdraw. That’s what I call luxury casting.)
Courage? If only certain other artists could be so forbearing. You’ll notice there are no comparisons listed. That’s because this is .....
Continues at https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/schubert-piano-sonatas-nos-20-21-0?utm_content=&utm_campaign=Gramophone%20Reviews%20-%2030OCT17%20%28subs%29&utm_source=Gramophone&utm_medium=adestra_email&utm_term=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gramophone.co.uk%2Frevi ew%2Fschubert-piano-sonatas-nos-20-21-0