Recital covers late sonatas of Haydn, Mozart

One of the great Classical interpreters, pianist András Schiff (now Sir András), took the stage of the Lensic Performing Arts Center on Tuesday night. The recital focused on late sonatas of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, precisely the pianist’s expertise.

Clarity not only of articulation and expression but of structure and overall concept defined Schiff’s playing throughout the concert. He began with Haydn’s Piano Sonata in C Major (Hob. XVI: 50). The opening movement was pure piano frolic. In the Adagio he seemed intent on emphasizing precisely what would have been new to contemporary audiences and which keeps the work fresh. He spun forth the final Allegro molto with an unbridled gaiety of spirit.

While Haydn and Mozart were still writing for a glorified harpsichord, it took Beethoven to begin to develop the power and expressiveness of the pianoforte. He often broke the strings of the still fairly delicate instrument of his day.

Of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas it cannot be said that any two are much alike.

This is especially true of the late works. Piano Sonata No. 30 in E begins with two “normal”-sized movements, then in the third expands into a greater duration than the first two combined. The Theme and Variations is not a set of separate variations but is conceived as an organic whole using the variation form to create contrast. Schiff wove a brilliant tapestry of color and dynamics bringing us ultimately back to the original theme, now given new significance by virtue of its transformations. One cannot put one’s foot in the same river twice.

I daresay many people in the audience had themselves played the Mozart Sonata in C Major, K. 545. Technically, it is not difficult. But I would further venture that all those who had played it heard something they didn’t know was there. A turn of phrase, a moment of impetuosity, perhaps a fresh look at the piece in its entirety, drawing out its fundamental musicality. That is the joy of a master artist, and a perfect demonstration of how ingenious simplicity is never simplistic nor simple.

The last three piano sonatas of Schubert comprise some of his most sublime work. The C minor Sonata, D. 958 published posthumously, is as dark as anything he wrote. It’s Beethovenesque qualities have often been pointed out, yet the Schubertian melodies are always waiting in the wings. Schiff took the mysterious and chromatic opening Allegro with extremes of dynamic contrast. The prayer-like quality of the Adagio rose to dramatic heights of emotional anguish. The final Allegro was drawn in epic breadth in an almost interminable breathless gallop with moments of transcendental beauty that only an interpreter of the first magnitude can create.

Three encores followed, Schubert’s Impromptu in E-flat and his Hungarian Melody sandwiching Beethoven’s Bagatelle Op. 126 No. 4.