This is quite an inspired pairing, even if it risks giving you the mother of all earworms after hearing one of Schubert’s catchiest themes in two versions: the return of the whimsical melody of the second movement of the early(ish) A minor Sonata in its superior, Beethovenian guise as the Rondo finale of the late A major shows how extraordinary was the creative journey Schubert had undertaken in the space of just a decade.

Garrick Ohlsson approaches both sonatas with a high sense of drama. This is big-boned pianism that rarely lacks immediacy or drive. However, as in his previous Schubert volume (Dux, 12/14), his preference is evidently for under-interpretation and allowing the music to do the job. We are therefore not in the poetic domain of Brendel, nor do we encounter the surging emotions of Uchida, and certainly not the technicolour marvels of Volodos. This is very much straight-down-the middle Schubert.

Ohlsson faithfully follows the score, even including the often-omitted second repeat in the opening movement of the A minor Sonata. All well and good, if it were not for his relentless determination, which would be a bit much even without the repeats. Both Uchida and Brendel bring greater dynamic contrasts and clearer textural definition to this movement. Ohlsson’s second movement is somewhat hesitant, to the point of heavy-footedness. Compared to Uchida’s inspired wanderer, Ohlsson is a rather weary traveller, dwelling on rather than marvelling at what the journey has to offer.

On the surface the expansive universe of the A major Sonata should suit Ohlsson’s Beethovenian heft. Certainly he cannot be faulted for drama, power and virtuosity. But the other side of the coin is a rather tiring literalism, a deficiency of poetry, warmth, sparkle and pathos, not helped by a strange sensation of rush that accompanies some of the transition sections. The Scherzo third movement is here curiously sedate. What I miss most is how Volodos and Brendel make me hold my breath in order to grasp every whisper, or how Uchida makes me vibrate and tremble with every passage.