Das 37. Jahr

„Schiff rejects the conventional notion that Schubert’s inspiration faltered in the brighter-toned Scherzo and Finale; rather, he sees them as further stages in a negotiation with death. His avoidance of mystical excess at the outset results in a more balanced structure.“
[Musical Events NOVEMBER 2, 2015 ISSUE
The Trill of Doom
The pianist András Schiff’s revelatory study of Schubert’s final sonata.
BY ALEX ROSS]
I am quite enthrilled by the „further stages in a negotiation with death“.
While the third movement becomes more deadly the longer you practice and try to find all the connections, the fourth movement starts in a very happy mood. So it seems.
It is not in my opinion!
For me the last movement is a long journey of a horse-drawn carriage and the first open octave is the sound of sharp blow with a whip to make the horses go. After the blow the carriage starts to move and I can almost hear the rhythm of the wheels as they stagger of the cobble stones.
This whip blow is repeated whenever the main theme arrives in this rondo. I have some other associations with special parts of this movement. But it is very essential for me that the whip blows are repeated at the end of the movement in a fading way. Also the horses are getting tired – until …
The final blow makes them go again. But now they are galloping somethere to a higher location whereever that might be.
While I was playing the sonata basically almost all my life at least since the age of 18 (I started to hear it played by my father at the age of 5.) the last movement was always put aside and not practiced for being possible to be performed in front of an audience. I had this stupid belief that I would die if I could play this movement in a somehow decent way.
For my 65th birthday celebration I will play the whole sonata which means I do have to practice the last movement seriously. I am not afraid that I have to die if I can play it with sufficient quality. Or let’s asume I would not mind. Dying in synchronization with the last chord I would not consider a drama.
(Maybe these dark thoughts are more understandable when the whole program is known: Borodin, Petite Suite, Chopin, First Ballade, Beethoven opus 109, and Schubert DV960. Practicing for that program I consider the most rewarding activity nowadays 🙂 )