Musical memories

  Few people will argue with me if I claim that Liszt's Sonata is one of the greatest pieces of piano music ever composed. Yes, I'd also put in a vote for Scriabin's Fifth Sonata and some of the other works I've written about on this blog, but this piece seems to have it all - beauty, excitement, temper, fantasy, power, mystery, enlightenment. How can that be? By most accounts, Liszt was the greatest pianist ever. He was also quite a composer and champion of other composers' works - from Beethoven (whom he met as a child) to Wagner (his son-in-law). In his longest work for the piano he let out all the stops, and if you are going to perform it, you have to do the same.  I've heard the Sonata many times in concert, each time it was memorable. For example, I'll never forget hearing the wonderful Elisabeth Leonskaja start it in Freiburg with those first mysterious notes and then, when she got to the octave jumps, she missed the mark. I was sitting close enough ...

There are late sonatas (Mozart's, Haydn's, Beethoven's) and then there is Schubert's very last sonata. Much has been written about the phenomenon of late works - that they are the artists' message to us from "the beyond". But at the age of 35 (Mozart) or 31 (Schubert) or even 56 (Ludwig van), how can you be anywhere but with your feet firmly planted on the planet - or on the pedals?  One thing is for sure, though: After you've written 17 (Mozart) or 61 (Haydn) or 31 (Beethoven) or 20 (Schubert), the next one is bound to profit from all that practice in writing, not only for that genre but for all the others, too.  Schubert's Sonata #21 in B-flat is so full of colors, textures and timbres that I feel he must have been inspired by the expressive power of other instruments as well. Of course, he was the best song writer of all time, so his gift for melody is apparent in this four-movement piano sonata.  I first became aware of it when I was given the...