Sir András Schiff | Schubert Lecture-recital - Live at Wigmore Hall

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Whatever he plays, the pianist’s regular visits to Wigmore Hall are invariably keenly anticipated. Sir András Schiff's programme here takes the form of a lecture-recital, covering Schubert's final piano sonata, written in 1828 in the last months of his life but not published until after his death.
PROGRAMME
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Piano Sonata in B flat D960

[@alextryan]

i've been listening to masterclasses by all of the greats lately and no one can touch the depth and clarity of schiff's discussions. what a god among men and a treasure to us all.

[@AlbertoHernandez-zm9ul]

How is it possible to have such a memory.

[@steliosdimitriadis]

30:52 on trills (decorative, prolongating sound, expressive, nachschlag) 36:08 on fermata 41:49 on the importance of rhythm as a means of structural coherence 51:05 on dactyl 63:32 on ppp (triple pianissimo) using a silk layer in front of hammers 68:15 on andante 68:45 on execution of ostinato (Sarabande-like) 90:55 on execution of fortepiano (bell-like) 99:20 on the difference between diminuendo and decrescendo Let's help by listing some important issues discussed.

[@kliberalsing]

Thank you.

[@davidszabo7919]

If only Schubert would see that from heaven. András Schiff, you are a treasure.

[@suzannederringer1607]

Sir András is a Treasure. I learn so much from him.

[@quaver1239]

@Suzanne Derringer : You are right. Sir András is indeed a treasure. He seems to impart knowledge whenever he appears, and sometimes seems unaware that this is what he is doing.

[@louisdresse8650]

I am learning the impromptu op142 nr3 of Schubert. The Masterclass Sir Schiff gave at the Juliard school about this piece is of invaluable and so precious help to me ! He is a God gift to the public and all musicians.

[@kyleethekelt]

Having watched a few videos with Sir András now, I am staggered at the lengths to which he goes, not just to play his music but to share his knowledge with us. What a treat to be able to attend his concerts. Nga mihi nui, Sir András, from aotearoa.

[@sheilanovitz8578]

Wonderful. How privileged we are, being able to listen to this brilliant man play and teach with kindness and humour.

[@vKarl71]

This is wonderful in every way. The recorded sound of the piano is superb - thanks to the engineers.

[@kitbirskovich1838]

Oh heaven, it is so beautiful, I weep with joy, and with so many other emotions. Grateful to you, Andras Schiff, for your brilliance, insight, and humanity! What a miracle you are, to have Schubert sing to us through you!

[@grunercharon5882]

Sir Andras Schiff ist einzigartig - als Interpret und als Musivermittler. Danke!

[@michaelgoutman681]

This is my take on the final movement(as if spoken by Schubert): "The life goes on, much as it has when I was around, but without me. That G octave is saying "I AM DEAD". It is a realization of the fact that universe does not revolve around me". Absolutely chilling, this G octave for me is one of the most powerful moments in western music!

[@ZadokthePriest11]

I wish he would do a lecture-recital of Schumann. He would be an ideal one to explain Schumann the way Schumann should be told.

[@camilledelorme2777]

With the Humoreske Op.21 or Sonata Op.11 ... All of it actually 😃

[@ZadokthePriest11]

@@camilledelorme2777 I was thinking of Schumann Fantasy in C actually. Plenty of stories to tell :D

[@edmoore]

@@ZadokthePriest11 There does exist on YT a masterclass [by Schiff] for the Fantasy, fwiw.

[@kevinmaestroful]

40:15 stunningly beautiful, wish this part went on for longer in the Sonata

[@EdwardDavey123]

he is so wonderful

[@edmarsh36]

Simply astonishing

[@davisatdavis1]

Starts at around 7:45

[@magoit]

Such an interesting lecture. A pleasure to listen to it! Thank you very much for sharing!

[@dorisblay2734]

Pure enchantment!!! Thank you very much

[@RessanInami-ur7qz]

One of the very few, who explains, Harmonik and melodic happening . Bravo !!! I did also like that, during my teaching years !

[@ZadokthePriest11]

When he asks the audience to sing 🥺🥺🥺

[@MelloPianista]

*The best pianist of the world :)*

[@kinorspielmann4649]

"of"?

[@quaver1239]

@@kinorspielmann4649: Why not "of"?

[@kinorspielmann4649]

@@quaver1239 🐖🐵🐒🦍🦧🐶

[@alanleoneldavid1787]

That would be Marc Andre Hamelin in my humble opinion

[@goldennuggets75]

Just say "one of". There is no competition and at this level that statement is purely subjective and pointless.

[@stephanebelizaire3627]

BRAVO !

[@brownosebear8956]

Puzzling, at 1:31:55 or so, Andras Schiff claims that we don't have evidence Schubert knew late Beethoven quartets. I always heard that Schubert requested a performance of Op. 131 towards the end of his life, commenting "After this, what is there left to write?" Perhaps that story's apocryphal; I assume Maestro Schiff knows more about this than I do. Still struck me as strange. Wondered if anyone else has heard this story?

[@erzherzogone4802]

Great!!!!

[@8fledermaus8]

Thank you a lot for these lecture-recitals - they teach me so much about music and the skills which went into the composition and interpretation of these pieces. I love Schiff's recordings, what a great artist. Edit: It is regrettable though that there are some glitches in the encore-before, and that the framerate doesn't match the quality of the audio!

[@AlstonENewball]

Muy buen análisis con la interpretación adecuada.

[@jason1675]

42:38 Bb Bb A Bb C D 1:15:20 2nd mov second theme 1:16:20 4 Impromptus, Op. 90, D. 899 - No. 3 in G-Flat Major, Andante 1:36:48 4th mov Second theme chorale

[@kingjensen8091]

Wow, can't believe this was uploaded 3 days ago! I have been listening and relistening to all of Schiff's lecture recitals, wondering where I would find more of this kind of content. What a treat! Edit: please upload the version with better audio, this one is really hard to listen to

[@matteogarzetti]

21:40 Sir Andras Schiff is a genius of music and didactic!

[@zinam5795]

He's special Musician, Unique--very clearly mind & explanation, like his great playing! "Shubert's not German composer--he's speaking by dialect" & so on... BRAVO❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@kliberalsing]

Fun to imagine that Wigmore Hall was originally built by C. BECHSTEIN (and not their historic rival, S & S)

[@FrankWoodPhotography]

Thanks for re-uploading this brilliant lecture. Absolutely superb. Please could you put the original version up as it didn’t have the frame rate problem? Thanks.

[@metteholm4833]

Very exiting!

[@quaver1239]

Oops. No-one exited that we could see. Do you mean "exciting"? Then we agree.

[@gauriblomeyer1835]

I admire the explanations given in the language of harmony rules always keeping the frame of music feelings which are beyond of any mental explanation. Let’s not forget that the entire note system has been worked out by Bach and a compromise had to be created in order to change from one tonality to the next. To my opinion the receptors in us who bathe in bliss when listening to music and give us ecstasy of happiness are totally independent and are in some respect related to our chakras. Is it not remarkable that one day I sing constantly silently a melody. I go to a concert and listen to classical music and while going home this melody is demanded and sing it again. This is a phenomenon which many experience and in the German language we call it Ohrwurm (worm in the ear). What I want to say is that music can well be analysed by the mental rules of harmony theory and at the same time measured by the joy and happiness we feel.

[@davidward805]

About the finale of Schubert’s B-flat sonata: maybe the connection with the rest of the sonata is that life goes on after all. He isn’t dead yet!

[@totothebunny333]

That's kinda what I was thinking! Either that or he wakes up in heaven and is shocked/surprised by joy and all the pain and sorrow is washed away.

[@burnere633]

Thank you for the webcast and upload. I noticed the frame rates were lower than usual in this video and yesterday's concert by the Danish SQ. Hopefully they can be set right for a wonderful viewing experience.

[@militaryandemergencyservic3286]

i like this recital a lot. Please thumb up and comment below if you think that (despite the triptych nature of them) the greatest CD ever would be a double CD of the following pieces: d959 and 960 and also d 887 and d956

[@piotrkobza2776]

What is the finale of 960 about? Well it’s quite simple. Schubert hallucinates again and believes he is a rabbit escaping from Death disguised as wolves chasing him. He runs through a meadow and once in a while pauses and looks back to see if they are after him. Then Death comes and tries to convince him to come along, first in a menacing and then in a soothing way. No, says Schubert the rabbit, I’d rather be a rabbit forever. And the piece ends.

[@quaver1239]

😮 😊 ❤

[@cemuoimesogaf9009]

Лучший! Обожаю сэра Андраша Шиффа!

[@oliverfrench467]

It starts about 7.30

[@pauliunknown8118]

a pity that his fantastic musicianship is ever so worsened by the audio errors

[@anitadavid5455]

My goodness, you’re spoilt!! The quality of the sound is unimaginably wonderful and precise by comparison to what used to be broadcast....

[@chazinko]

30:45 This was like the start of a Victor Borge moment!

[@KaisarAnvar]

Why are there so many sound glitches??

[@davisatdavis1]

30:52 is my favorite part

[@nicwinchester7102]

20:00 min mark: so how was the concert? Me: I *was* the concert

[@mathersdavid5113]

I think that identifying the end of the slow movement with "Death" is incorrect. To do so makes both final movements seem superfluous. Rather it represents a moment of profound despair. Schubert was driven by his need to say all he had to say in his remaining time. Giving up was not an option. Hence the grim determination and forced jollity that underlies movements 3 and 4. You find a similar situation in the finale of the great String Quintet. In his way, Schubert was as heroic as Beethoven.

[@renzo6490]

Go directly to 7:40

[@staffanolofsson8201]

Isn´t it wonderful? I think that also I want to become an english "Sir".

[@k-k8768]

unbelievable magic 🪄 so much wisdom insight and craftsmanship ! in the realm of gods themselves

[@ProfDrislane]

Very interesting lecture recital by Schiff. As usual with this artist, he offers very interesting insights, and on occasion offers ideas which are debatable to say the least. To assert that Schubert wasn't influenced by Bach in his later works is not a convincing. The "ground bass" of Der Doppelgänger is based on the subject from Bach's C-sharp minor Fugue (WTC Book 1), as are sections of the Mass in Eb (1828). Schubert could indeed write well contrapuntally: see the F Minor Fantasy for four hands, the String Quintet in C, and the A minor four hand Allegro, D.947. The fugue in the A-flat mass isn't too shabby either. As for the the finale of the B-flat Sonata not belonging to the work: just nonsense. What Schiff really means is that Schubert's finale (which wasn't abandoned as in D.840 for example) doesn't fit HIS conception of what Schubert ought to have written. This reminds me of those who wished Schubert had written a different finale for the Sting Quintet in C..for those wanting to have even a quick look at the score, the motivic connection to the other movements is obvious. This is no Unfinished Symphony..

[@pastcloud]

7:19 1:48:10

[@matt4711]

What is the piece at the beginning, please?

[@davidavida100]

Prelude and fugue F major by the Well Tempered Clave vol.2

[@matt4711]

@@davidavida100 Thank you!

[@NN-rn1oz]

1:21:43 😢

[@benzol23]

So anyone has an idea what is the connection between the last movement and the rest of the sonata? :D

[@stoflom]

Speaks to me of a very sick man in a lot of pain trying to forget his misery by remembering good times in nature and with friends. At the end of the second movement, maybe with morphine, he falls asleep and then dreams, but the pain always breaks through.

[@sheilanovitz8578]

@@stoflom : Well said, Mr Lombard.

[@stoflom]

@@sheilanovitz8578 Thanks, but I actually find Schubert very elusive. For me there is always a lot of nostalgia and much playfulness, mixed with sorrow and anxiety in all his works. I never find a single clear emotion, always a mixture, except maybe when he is playful and seems to enjoy his own music.

[@sheilanovitz8578]

@@stoflom : I agree with you, but don’t believe I’ve ever thought seriously about it. I just go with the flow of emotions which often make me cry; at other times I catch my breath at the beauty of it all. Stoffel, are you in RSA?

[@stoflom]

@@sheilanovitz8578 Yes, I fully agree, and I am in South Africa.

[@pablomarqueez]

1:21:20

[@user-ox1ed5rq2s]

Name of the piece first played please!!

[@jeffsmith1798]

Well-Tempered Clavier Book 2 No 11 Prelude and Fugue in F Major BWV 880

[@CarlosMartinez-gr1rp]

As a wanna-be-composer this is invaluable!

[@alanleoneldavid1787]

30:45

[@corneliusfriedel5579]

Start at 7:18 Thank me later💁🏼‍♂️

[@GordonRodriguez-ss6eb]

name of the piece first played

[@shulk7368]

2:21:25

[@ThePianoenergy]

Admirable and knowledgeable he might be, everything is so subdued in his interpretations, he avoids any extremes. I don't know if that really does Schubert full justice. Richter had perhaps used the "wrong edition", but instead he takes the listener on a transcending journey and into deep abysses of the soul, which for me make it possible to experience the piece and also Schubert as a composer very vividly in our day and age. No offence, but for me, this is far more than the rounded and civilised, somewhat bourgeoisly beautiful and narcissistic manner of Schiff's interpretation.

[@markoprekic930]

Indeed. After hearing Richter's performance of the "Tempest", I couldn't listen to any other anymore. In somewhat platonic terms, it seemed to me as if the soul of that sonata was there, somewhere, waiting to be caught, and this great artist took possession of her.

[@sheilanovitz8578]

There is nothing narcissistic in Schiff’s interpretations of ANY music. His attention is entirely on the composer and what he believes to have been the composer’s intentions, not on himself. And describing Schiff’s work as “narcissistic” is certainly offensive, so that your “No offence” is ridiculous.

[@ThePianoenergy]

@@sheilanovitz8578 Well, this point is debatable, I actually didn't mean to hurt anyone, but just to share how he comes across to me. I was a bit annoyed by what he says about Svjatoslav Richter. He ridicules him because he portrays him as if his interpretation was a total failure due to a stupid mistake. Yet Richter not only plays this sonata slower than many of his colleagues, but also others, such as the G major D894. So this is a completely abstruse explanation that implies that if Richter had used the "correct edition", he would have played a "correct" tempo in the Schiff sense (!). Is there just one possible Tempo?

[@louisdresse8650]

Disagree, I know no pianist who gives better justice to Bach, Schubert than Sir Schiff. Schiff has the right to say what he says about Richter as he is Viennese and a true spiritual heir of Schubert. Yes your comment is offensive.

[@anitadavid5455]

S In many ways I completely agree with you. I think Schubert is about interpreting the soul...and, indeed, Schiff is almost too literal and precise to allow that. I don’t think it is narcissistic, though - just a difference in a matter of artistic approach, all of which is valid.

[@poplife123]

Starts at 7:25.....😂

[@dic081211]

Caro Maestro : mi sembra che Franz nel Allegro ma non troppo, vuole rappresentare la Morte chiamando al Campanello della porta, e come non vorrebbe morire scappa cantando la semplice canzone…! Ma la morte, continúa a bussare la Campana….

[@chriss6733]

The quality of the upload isn't great. The prelude was glitchy,and the frame rate for the rest is poor.

[@dic081211]

Il lungo trillo mano sinistra pp , i tuoni lontani …

[@analuisacarrillodiaz4075]

Habla mucho y quiero escuchar el concierto

[@tombroughton6757]

Díaz lleva una tilde sobre la "i."

[@kevinmaestroful]

Sí, porque no es un concierto jaja es una lecture recital

[@alanleoneldavid1787]

Es una conferencia, podés buscar sus interpretaciones de la sonata hay muchos videos de el las toca a todas las de Schubert

[@alanleoneldavid1787]

Sonata D960 De Schubert

[@tombroughton6757]

@@alanleoneldavid1787 (1) Favor de usar los puntos. Lo deberías haber escrito así: "Es una conferencia. Podés buscar sus interpretaciones de la sonata. Hay muchos videos de él. Toca todas las de Schubert."