Schubert 4 Hands
Fantasia in F minor D940, Allegro in A minor D947, 'Lebensstürme' etc
Leif Ove Andsnes (piano), Bertrand Chamayou (piano)
Erato 2173296578 47:40 mins
Leif Ove Andsnes and Bertrand Chamayou include all the four-hands music Schubert composed in the last year of his life, 1828. Most familiar is the Fantasia in F minor, but no less great are the two larger-scale pieces among the remaining items.
The Allegro in A minor, D947 first appeared in print some 12 years after Schubert’s death, under the catchpenny title of ‘Lebensstürme’ (‘The Storms of Life’). The title almost certainly originated with the publisher, Anton Diabelli, and it has encouraged players to take it at great speed ever since.
Andsnes and Chamayou launch into it with excitement and intensity, but they relax the tempo and the mood for the more lyrical second subject, and the result offers a highly convincing view of the piece. When the second subject is restated in the middle of the music’s texture with delicate tracery unfolding above it, the players achieve a perfect balance – often a problematic aspect of piano duetting.
It’s a pity the album places the short Fugue in E minor between the Allegro, D947 and the beautiful Rondo in A major, D951: Schubert may have intended the latter pieces to form a sonata along the lines of Beethoven’s two-movement Sonata in E minor, Op. 90, and his Rondo was clearly inspired by the song-like finale of that work.
The absence of dynamic markings and the presence of long-held bass notes towards the end of Schubert’s Fugue, D952 suggest that he intended it for organ, rather than piano duet. Be that as it may, Andsnes and Chamayou perform this repertoire impeccably, and their attention to detail includes breathtaking pianissimo playing. Warmly recommended.
