Cheap Schubert: Piano Sonatas, Opp. 42 & 122 (Music) (Franz Schubert, Jeno Jando) Price

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Customer Reviews of Schubert: Piano Sonatas, Opp. 42 & 122

Excellent Advocacy for These Less-Well-Known Sonatas
The Sonata in A minor D 845 (1825), while not as popular as its near contemporaries D 850 and D 894, for me is a more striking work. Maybe it's just that listeners favor major-key over minor-key Schubert, because D 845 shares with the three great sonatas of Schubert's last year a symphonic scope that listeners seem to admire in the composer's piano works. And D 845 is nearly as grand and majestic as the last sonatas. Even the second movement--which is a set of five variations on a folksy, landler-like theme very typical of the composer--is full of high drama and brooding passages reminiscent of late Schubert, such as found in the Fantasy for piano four hands or the slow movement of my favorite Schubert sonata, D 959. Also, D 845 includes one of those heroic scherzos that recall the String Quintet and Great C Major Symphony, as well as an aptly impulsive, quicksilver rondo finale. Quite a sonata, then!

The Sonata D 568 is apparently a revision and completion of a sonata Schubert started in 1817 and was conceived as part of the series of grand sonatas that includes D 845, D 850, and D 894. While not the equal of D 845, it is a charming and beautifully crafted work full of fine Schubertian melodies.

This natural pairing is handled ably by Jeno Jando. In fact, this is one of the finest solo piano recordings I've heard by him. Here, he seems a born Schubertian: his approach is straightforward and unfussy, but he catches the drama and the varied emotions of these works in admirable fashion. For a sample of the clean but subtly shaded finger work he brings to these sonatas, turn to the finale of D 845. Excellent sound engineering from Naxos too. I would recommend this enthusiastically at twice the price Naxos is asking.