SIr Andras Schiff has such a unique way of playing... every time I listen to him I hear music in its pure, most natural way. He definitely deserved the title " Sir" ;;;
It’s more than a year since my last comment, and this performance by Sir András Schiff remains my benchmark. Never ever in my long lifetime have I heard Beethoven’s No. 30 played like this. To me, it is like heaven would be if one believed in such a place or state of being.
The three sontas no 30, 31and 32 is a gift from heaven to Beethoven. Or is it gift from Beethoven to heaven? And here in no. 30 Andras Schiff plays so well and easy that I melt a little bit.
This is the best performance of No. 30 I have ever heard. Schiff appears relaxed and happy, enjoying his inner world of music. The way he leans back a lot of the time is beautiful. Ashkenazy hunches over the keyboard, his tension palpable, and it ruins his performance of this sonata. András Schiff calls to our hearts with his obvious love and enjoyment. A happier musician I have never encountered.
I think Schiff really relates to this intimate sonata on a very profound personal level. In the lectures he referred to the variations as "the most beautiful movement Beethoven ever wrote; but it's very subjective, everyone can have a favourite movement, and mine is this."
@@quaver1239 No problem! I believe the lectures were taken off youtube but can still be found online: wigmore-hall.org.uk/podcasts/andras-schiff-beethoven-lecture-recitals
Michael T. Lam : Thank you for this. I was very disappointed when they disappeared from RU-vid, and feel really happy now - have only just this minute read your comment! Many thanks. Have just watched and listened again to Schiff play No. 30, and was amazed to find tears running down my cheeks. Extraordinary man and musician, because this is not just “playing the piano”, is it?
when i first heard the 1st movement, i didn't appreciate much. the musical serenity, which I demonstrate by naturality of continuance in music was found to be faulty in my ears. But as I go on, i realised that such judgement was premature. This is a legendary performance
I have the great fortune to spend three years to attend Schiff’s Beethoven piano sonata cycle ! They were performed at Davis Symphony Hall in San Francisco. On the fourth year, he played Bach and that’s where he told us when playing Bach, he doesn’t use the pedals.
"Davies" Symphony Hall. I actually played alto sax on that same stage several hours before Schiff played some Bach (I think it was the French Suites). I was in a 100+ member wind ensemble consisting of amateur musicians drawn by recommendations from the greater SF Bay Area. This was just part of a special community outreach program called “Play Out, Davies!” for woodwind & brass ensembles, string orchestras, choral ensembles, and small instrumental ensembles. The agenda for the huge wind ensemble had us breaking into sections and later rehearsed as a group, playing Grainger's Irish Tune from County Derry, William Walton's Crown Imperial (a coronation march), and a Rodgers and Hammerstein medley. The multitalented Donato Cabrera rehearsed and conducted the group. The sax section was blessed to have a sectional with Kevin Stewart from CSU San Jose, and later with David Henderson of U. of the Pacific (and original member of the San Francisco Sax Quartet). On my way into the building, I passed by Schiff's office door (he was an artist in residence at the time). Chills. Never met the man. Haven't ever seen him in person. But I'm not sure if I'll ever shake the feeling of significance in coincidence, however tangential my connection with him was in point of fact.
The last three sonatas are like living beings. Rather than the performer playing them, they seem to play the performer - the performer who will allow him/herself to be played, that is. Schiff yields himself totally to the sonata. Schiff is in the hands of the sonata. Quite the equal of Kempff and Solomon, who brought it to me when a teenager long ago.
Michael T. Lam : Hello again. Yes, I think we do understand the late sonatas better as we grow older, but then I think it does also depend on the individual. You may remember Schiff suggesting that one should perhaps wait until older before performing them. He seems to have studied them for very many years before recording and performing. Have you seen his DVD made at the Royal Academy of Music, London? “Beethoven The Last Three Piano Sonatas”? It is in The Masterclass Media Foundation series, and IMHO it is brilliant. I bought it online from Presto Music.
@@quaver1239 Thank you for your reply! Yes indeed, I remember Schiff saying that. I guess I should do a similar thing (start looking at them early, and wait until I have the maturity to perform in public). I haven't seen that DVD - thank you so much for bringing it up! I should check it out some time. 👍
I think Maestro Schiff is the most intellectual and accomplished pianist of our time. A real student of the gamer. What I lament is the disappearance of his marvelous series of lectures on the Beethoven sonatas. I can no longer find them anywhere on RU-vid. Can anyone enlighten me?
È la meno popolare delle ultime quattro sonate ma è un capolavoro assoluto, così ricca di cose non dette, appena accennate, che l'ascoltatore non può fare a meno di restare coinvolto
Espetacular interpretação. Schiff tem um toque tao leve e claro que podemos ouvir cada nota executada individualmente, mesmo com acordes cheios. Perfeito!
Roxanne M : You do know that this piano is a Steinway, not a Bösendorfer? He played this recital in Japan on a Steinway. But I agree with you that the Bösendorfer is a wonderful instrument that travels with him when that is feasible.
Bruce Gauthier : I think I agree. In his performances for an audience there is always an extra “something.” Reading his recently published book, Music Comes out of Silence, I fully realised that András Schiff was born to be a musician who performs so as to share his love and understanding of music with the world.
Did Schiff study with Emil Gilels or Svjatoslav Richter? That would have been logical, since he was born in communist Hungary. In Soviet Union the level of piano music was ultimate: in the 40's, 50's and 60's Gilels and Richter premiered compositions of Prokofjev and Shostakovich.
No I don't believe he did, I know he studied with someone from the UK (I can't remember his name) but I think he played period instruments as well and taught Schiff a lot about ornamentation of music of that era, and probably lots more. There is an interesting interview with him if you type in 'Schiff castaway' it'll come up 👍🏻
very possibly the same trolls who terrorize poetry websites and "dislike" all the transcendent beauty in the universe. this is a performance for the ages.
C'est une très belle version mais celles de Sviatoslav Richter du 22/01/1972 (coffret Brilliant classics) me semble inégalée tout à la fois plus maitrisée, intériorisée, plus naturellement chantante et expressive ainsi que celle de Rudolf Serkin du 8/6/1976 (Columbia Sony Legends classics)
A Romain SERS:Je suis tout à fait d'accord avec vous.Mais je pense aux 3 sonates op 109 110 111 par Richter à Leipzig en Nov 1963 sont inégalables.C'est un récital légendaire.Personne ne l'égalera.
Yes, sounds like something straight out of a harpsichord concerto, doesn’t it? Beethoven, like many other composers, got obsessed with Bach’s music in his later years. Hence all the fugues and heavily polyphonic writing.
