United Kingdom Schubert: Paul Lewis (piano). Wigmore Hall, London, 30.11.2022. (JC)
Schubert – Piano Sonata in E-flat, D. 568; Piano Sonata in A minor, D. 784; Piano Sonata in D, D. 850.
Paul Lewis’ recital of Schubert sonatas on the Wigmore Hall opened with a harmonious and heat E-flat main sonority from the Sonata D. 568; that’s, earlier than a lone soprano listening to support — relatively badly tuned, sadly — determined to affix in and proceed singing till Lewis was pressured to acknowledge its presence by letting it proceed solo. What adopted was a relatively comically awkward two minutes wherein a roomful of viewers, the stewards, the pianist and the director of the Hall participated in a collaborative effort to hunt the supply — in fact, with out pointing any fingers or twisting one’s neck an excessive amount of, however merely silently ready.
Eventually, the noise died down sufficient for Lewis to proceed, and he started the E-flat main Piano Sonata D. 568 once more. The unlucky incident did unsettle — albeit very barely — the pianist, because the textures within the first motion had been barely blurred by the pedals (I solely say this as a result of afterward Lewis confirmed how completely articulate he could possibly be), however the playful crossing between E-flat main and minor tonality within the first motion had been fantastically delicate. Lewis had a approach with the accompaniment-like left hand within the second motion that made the melody in the fitting hand soar as if we had been listening to a lieder being sung. The silences and pauses had been at all times wistful and barely anticipatory, creating a sense of the music hovering, at all times having us guess at the place it was going to go. Lewis’ tone different rather more within the third motion; wealthy and luscious at occasions, shimmering and floating at others, anticipating the vary of sounds he may conjure from the piano within the later two sonatas he was to carry out that night.
Lewis’ efficiency of Schubert’s tragic A minor Sonata D. 784 was gripping and intense in a approach that attracts you in relatively than imposes itself. The silences of the primary motion, along with the acute pianissimos Lewis in some way managed to evince from the piano relayed an intense anguish which existed in Lewis’ refined and nuanced creativeness of Schubert’s music. The repressed feelings contained within the dim sound house he created confirmed us a darkish world with seemingly no mild, till Lewis performed the A serious chord, making that singular second all of the extra beautiful. It was actually fairly an intense expertise.
The grand and boisterous D main Sonata D. 850, composed when Schubert was holidaying within the mountain resort of Bad Gastein, comprised the entire second half of Lewis’ Wigmore recital. Despite its size, I used to be spellbound for the entire of it, and time flew by. Lewis took the primary motion at a quick tempo, making it very thrilling; this required a fast shift between completely different moods as Schubert’s music traverses by way of an assortment of keys, which Lewis pulled off fantastically. There had been so many colors within the Andante con moto; Lewis’ enjoying was by no means superficial, and every shading was fastidiously thought of regardless of showing spontaneous. Just once you suppose he couldn’t probably go any softer, he proves you mistaken, and you might be drawn deeper and deeper into his mesmerising soundworld, one which emanates from inside him at the same time as he interprets notes from with out. The Rondo closing motion was performed with such a fragile contact that it added a contact of poignancy to the playfulness of the jaunty fundamental theme. It jogged my memory of the nice pianist-teacher Heinrich Neuhaus’ emphasis on simplicity and naturalness in musical expression; this appeared to me manifested in Lewis’ efficiency as he revealed, together with his fantastically easy efficiency of the Rondo finale of the D main Sonata, all of the complicated and significant wonders behind such easy and naïve music.
Jeremy Chan