Schubert: The Late Piano Sonatas Paul Lewis

• 1 I. Allegro giusto 13:12
• 2 II. Andante 04:01
• 3 III. Allegro vivace 05:29
• 4 I. Allegro 10:38
• 5 II. Adagio 08:14
• 6 III. Menuetto 03:16
• 7 IV. Allegro 09:29
• 8 I. Allegro 11:58
• 9 II. Andantino 07:47
• 10 III. Scherzo Allegro vivace - Trio Un pocco più lento 05:12
• 11 IV. Rondo Allegretto 13:22
• 12 I. Molto moderato 15:23
• 13 II. Andante sostenuto 09:15
• 14 III. Scherzo Allegro vivace con delicatezza - Trio 03:45
• 15 IV. Allegro, ma non troppo 08:09
• Total Runtime 02:09:10

Info for Schubert: The Late Piano Sonatas

Over the last three years, British pianist Paul Lewis has been involved in a project of recording major compositions by Franz Schubert for the harmonia mundi label.

This is the third and final set in the series. This consists entirely of the four “late” sonatas: D. 784 in A minor, D. 958 in C minor, D. 959 in A major, and D. 960 in B-flat major. The last three of these were all composed (in what must have been a feverish burst of activity) in September of 1828, only months before Schubert’s death. They were his final large-scale compositions. It is also worth noting that, during the 2012-2013 concert season, Lewis was giving recital programs in which he was performing all three of these sonatas.

„Taken as a whole, this third collection will put the cap on a truly adventurous project. Each of the four sonatas is revelatory, not only in Schubert’s capacity to work so well with extended duration but also in the composer’s always-daring approaches to harmonic progression involving modulations into distant territories from which he always finds a sure path back to his tonic. Combined with the bold rhetoric of his frequently uneven rhythmic patterns, the listener cannot fail to recognize that, in the “evolutionary chain” of creative musical composition, Schubert is the undisputed descendant of Ludwig van Beethoven, going to boundaries that Beethoven established and pushing them beyond the wildest dreams of his contemporaries.“

„All this is presented with crystalline clarity through Lewis’ impeccable command of execution. Listening to him perform any one of these large scale compositions, one is easily convinced that he holds the entirety of the work in his mind while his fingers ably navigate the path from beginning to end. More than that, however, one can imagine that he can also hold all of September of 1828 in his mind, all the ideas that needed to be expressed and the urgency with which Schubert developed them through his own hands and committed them to paper.“ (Stephen Smoliar, Classical Music Examiner)

'One of the most highly prized recording marathons of recent years.... An unmissable benchmark.' (Gramophone)

Paul Lewis, piano

Paul Lewis
is internationally regarded as one of the leading musicians of his generation. His recent cycles of core piano works by Beethoven and Schubert have received unanimous critical and public acclaim worldwide, and consolidated his reputation as one of the world’s foremost interpreters of the central European classical repertoire. His numerous awards have included the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Instrumentalist of the Year, two Edison awards, three Gramophone awards, the Diapason D'or de l'Annee, the Preis Der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, the Premio Internazionale Accademia Musicale Chigiana, and the South Bank Show Classical Music award. In 2009 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Southampton.

He performs regularly as soloist with the world's great orchestras, including the Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, London Symphony, Bavarian Radio Symphony, NHK Symphony, New York Philharmonic, LA Philharmonic, and the Royal Concertgebouw, Tonhalle Zurich, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Philharmonia, and Mahler Chamber Orchestras, in collaboration with such conductors as Sir Colin Davis, Stephane Deneve, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Bernard Haitink, Pablo Heras-Casado, Daniel Harding, Paavo Järvi, Sir Charles Mackerras, Andris Nelsons, Wolfgang Sawallisch and Robin Ticciati. He is also a frequent guest at the world's most prestigious festivals, including Lucerne, Mostly Mozart (New York), Tanglewood, Schubertiade, Salzburg, Edinburgh, La Roque d’Antheron, Rheingau, Klavier Festival Ruhr, and London’s BBC Proms where in 2010 he became the first pianist to perform a complete Beethoven piano concerto cycle in one season.

Paul Lewis’ recital career takes him to venues such as London's Royal Festival Hall, Alice Tully and Carnegie Hall in New York, the Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna, the Theatre des Champs Elysees in Paris, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Berlin Philharmonie and Konzerthaus, Tonhalle Zurich, Palau de Musica Barcelona, Oji Hall in Tokyo, Melbourne’s Recital Centre, and the Sydney Opera House.

His multi-award winning discography for Harmonia Mundi includes the complete Beethoven piano sonatas, concertos, and the Diabelli Variations, Liszt’s B minor Sonata and other late works, and all of Schubert’s major piano works from the last six years of his life, including the 3 song cycles with tenor Mark Padmore. Future recording plans include the Brahms D minor piano concerto with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Daniel Harding, and solo works by Mussorgsky and Schumann.

Paul Lewis studied with Joan Havill at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London before going on to study privately with Alfred Brendel. Along with his wife the Norwegian cellist Bjørg Lewis, he is artistic director of Midsummer Music, an annual chamber music festival held in Buckinghamshire, UK

Booklet for Schubert: The Late Piano Sonatas