Arcadi Volodos – Schubert : Piano Sonata D.959 – Minuets D. 334, 335, 600 (2019) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Arcadi Volodos – Schubert : Piano Sonata D.959 – Minuets D. 334, 335, 600 (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 55:44 minutes | 839 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Sony Classical

Internationally acclaimed pianist, Arcadi Volodos returns with his sensationally recordings of Schubert’s Piano Sonata D 959 and Minuets D 334, D 335, D 600. This stunning album comes 17 years after Volodos recorded his critically acclaimed interpretations of Schubert’s Piano Sonatas 1 & 18 which was hailed by Gramophone magazine as a “triumphant recording”. This release is the only chance to hear his interpretation of Schubert’s mighty piano sonata No. 20 D 959, as he has now retired this work forever from his live programme. To complete the album Volodos lends his unique and spellbinding artistry to 3 short Minuets – that are seldom recorded or performed.

Seventeen years after his first Schubert recording, Arcadi Volodos takes us on another dive into the world of Schubert with the very great and very turbulent Sonata in A Major, D.959. Less than two months before his death, Schubert wrote this penultimate sonata, the most fully-developed in terms of the scope of its final movement. In its crepuscular light, it enfolds the darkness of human solitude in Andantino in F Sharp Minor, which protests against a cheap happiness, first with resignation and then with indignation. Then, a cheering, somersaulting call to life, a most Viennese Scherzo, full of insousiance and serenity, which comes before the final and utterly simple movement, which suffers from no “longueur”, however “divine”…

Preferring intimacy to ostentation, Arcadi Volodos provides a style of expression which is no less captivating for its sobriety. Going from the most gently-whispered pianissimi to extreme fortissimi, his playing style adapts from moment to moment, a velvet touch that paints unique colours. His interior style of performance, its poetic depth, mixed with the classicism of his approach to the work, all add up to an utterly simple and natural Schubertian language.

Returning to the very young Schubert, this inspired recital is rounded off with three rare Minuets (including the stunning D.600, which starts out sounding like an aria by Bach), sculpted with peerless grace and purity: a fitting end to a programme of such high musical quality.

Tracklist:

01. Arcadi Volodos – I. Allegro (15:35)
02. Arcadi Volodos – II. Andantino (08:55)
03. Arcadi Volodos – III. Scherzo – Allegro Vivace (05:25)
04. Arcadi Volodos – IV. Rondo – Allegretto (11:48)
05. Arcadi Volodos – Minuet in A Major, D. 334 (03:13)
06. Arcadi Volodos – Minuet in E Major, D. 335 (03:55)
07. Arcadi Volodos – Minuet in C-Sharp Minor, D. 600 with Trio in E Major, D. 610 (06:51)

Download: