Dalberto reveals the inner Schubert in Gstaad

Performing Schubert in a cold, stony chamber of the Église de Saanen, lit by lanterns, French pianist Michel Dalberto immediately brought warmth, a sense of intimacy, and that “just right” touch that turns an inert piano key into a trigger for pure magic.

Highly regarded as a Schubert specialist, Dalberto has recorded all of Schubert’s works for piano. He wasted not one second at the start of his Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad recital, but immediately plunged into the Beethoven-esque opening of the C minor sonata, providing a reading that blended intelligence and impeccable technique with Romantic feeling. One did not have to wait long to experience the chemistry between this artist and one of the most original and prolific of classical composers. Just 48 measures into the first movement, Schubert leans back from a crescendo and lands on a whispered D flat that still takes us off our guard. It could not be played with great artistry than by Dalberto, and yet this was just a hint of things to come in what are surely two of the most profound sonatas in the piano repertoire. 

Now in his mid-60s, Dalberto is not a showman, but devotes energy and attention to extracting the composer’s hidden message from its blanket of notes and clefs. There are few opportunities for flashy virtuosity in the B flat major sonata, but instead a labyrinth of difficulties leading to stash after stash of sparkling musical gems. Dalberto has a way of imbuing a single high note with radiant clarity and brilliance, while a dark trill deep in the bass midway through the first movement conveyed a mood of smoky sultriness.

Other than a bit of heaviness in the third movement Trio, this was an impressive reading of two of Schubert’s most complex works. Under Dalberto’s hands, they transmitted a sense of pathos and tender yearning even as they dazzled with their structural integrity and staggering imagination.

This performance was reviewed from the Sommets Musicaux video stream