Schiff stresses line and lineage in Beethoven's last sonatas

By Alexander Hall, 06 October 2020

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“With Schiff there are no smudges and certainly no scurrying or scampering”

Reviewed at Wigmore Hall, London on 5 October 2020

Beethoven, Piano Sonata no. 30 in E major, Op.109

Beethoven, Piano Sonata no. 31 in A flat major, Op.110

Beethoven, Piano Sonata no. 32 in C minor, Op.111

Bach, Well-Tempered Clavier 2: Prelude and Fugue No. 9 in E Major, BWV878

Sir András Schiff, Piano

Sir András Schiff and Cappella Andrea Barca get to the heart of Bach

Nahoko Gotoh, 21st March

On their farewell Asian tour, András Schiff and his group Cappella Andrea Barca offer a programme of Bach's keyboard concertos performed in the spirit and style of chamber music.

*****

Recitalist as revenant in Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin

Roy Westbrook, 8th November

At London's Wigmore Hall, Julian Prégardien and Sir András Schiff reveal Schubert’s great song cycle as it once may have sounded.

*****

Hymns of praise: a stirring climax to Schiff's Mendelssohn cycle

Peter Quantrill, 26th April

Schiff takes the long view in Mendelssohn's unfashionable masterpiece.

****1

Schiff's Mendelssohn series with the OAE continues

Roy Westbrook, 25th April

Series of a composer's relatively neglected symphonies, or other genre, face one key test. Do the works emerge with greater stature than before?

****1

A medley of Mendelssohn from Sir András Schiff and the OAE

Dominic Lowe, 24th April

The first of three concerts in a Mendelssohn cycle sees Sir András Schiff and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment tackle the composer's First and Fourth Symphonies, preceded by the Piano Concerto no. 1.

***11

Sir András Schiff returns to Toronto’s Koerner Hall

Michelle Assay, 5th November

Sir András Schiff’s seventh visit to Toronto’s Koerner Hall was an almost three-hour-long feast of “quality” music by his musical heroes.

*****

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Alexander Hall

Alexander Hall divides his time between London and Hamburg, where he had a career in academic administration and teaching. He reviews for Bachtrack and Opera Today, and has also reviewed for Classical Source. A connoisseur of the great orchestras of the world, his musical memories stretch back to Karajan/Berlin Phil, Mravinsky/Leningrad Phil, Bernstein/Vienna Phil, and he has seen most of the great conductors from the past, including Böhm, Klemperer, Kubelik, Ormandy and Szell.