Schubert Piano Duets

Two great pianists come together for the first time

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: Franz Schubert

Genre:

Chamber

Label: Hyperion

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 76

Mastering:

Stereo
DDD

Catalogue Number: CDA67665

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
Allegro, 'Lebensstürme' Franz Schubert, Composer
Franz Schubert, Composer
Paul Lewis, Piano
Steven Osborne, Piano
Divertissement, Movement: Andantino varié Franz Schubert, Composer
Franz Schubert, Composer
Paul Lewis, Piano
Steven Osborne, Piano
Fugue Franz Schubert, Composer
Franz Schubert, Composer
Paul Lewis, Piano
Steven Osborne, Piano
Rondo Franz Schubert, Composer
Franz Schubert, Composer
Paul Lewis, Piano
Steven Osborne, Piano
(8) Variations Franz Schubert, Composer
Franz Schubert, Composer
Paul Lewis, Piano
Steven Osborne, Piano
Fantasie Franz Schubert, Composer
Franz Schubert, Composer
Paul Lewis, Piano
Steven Osborne, Piano
Schubert, Hyperion’s high production standards, two star pianists, Potton Hall for the venue, Simon Eadon and Andrew Keener at the desk: it’s a line-up that on paper, at least, makes this release self-recommending. Listening to the result proves it to be so.

Though Paul Lewis and Steven Osborne may not immediately appear stylistically empathetic artists, let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments. In this repertoire they are as one, touch and tone indistinguishable from one another, playing with a delicious fluency and obvious affection. They open with the Allegro in A minor in a finely graded and characterised reading that puts Jandó and Prunyi (Naxos, 12/92), for example, in the shade. To conclude, there is the great F minor Fantasie in which the incomparable opening is lent a hint of optimism, even jauntiness, before the subsequent journey to a pathetic conclusion. This is a reading that compares favourably with the benchmark recording by Lupu and Perahia (Sony, 3/86R).

My one complaint is that the central part of this generous programme is a sequence in similar tempi and dynamics, pace the plaintive theme of the Andantino varié, a work I have never heard played more disarmingly than here. There is rather too much evenly paced quaver passagework at mezzo-forte (even in the little E minor Fugue) for rather too long a stretch. But no – by any standards – this is a Schubert disc to return to and live with.

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