Piano Sonata in A minor, Op. post. 143, D 784 Piano Sonata in D major, Op. 53, D 850 Schwanengesang, D 957: No. 1, Liebesbotschaft (arr. F. Liszt) No. 4, Ständchen (arr. F. Liszt)
For his fifth volume of Schubert’s piano works, Barry Douglas turns to a contrasting pair of sonatas composed in the 1820s. The A minor, from 1823, was composed whilst he suffered an episode of depression following the onset (and harsh treatment for) syphilis. The D major sonata, however, was written in 1825 on a holiday to Gastein in the Austrian Alps, and is musically more confident and extravert, reminiscent of the ‘Great’ C major Symphony, begun during the same trip.
Douglas completes his programme with a pair of Liszt transcriptions from Schwanengesang: ‘Liebesbotschaft’ and ‘Ständchen’.
As with the other volumes in this series, Barry Douglas plays a Steinway Model D, and the recording was made in the Curtis Auditorium of the CIT Cork School of Music. Recording: Curtis Auditorium, CIT Cork School of Music, Bishopstown, Cork, Ireland; 29 and 30 November 2019. Piano: Steinway Model D (541 687) concert grand piano courtesy of the CIT Cork School of Music.
