Speaking of Pianists

Pianist Richard Goode will play Franz Schubert’s final sonata in his second Portland recital on Tuesday, October 14th.

The Sonata in Bb Major, D. 960, written in the last year of Schubert’s short life, is a work of transcendental beauty.

Goode discusses Schubert over dinner with the late David Blum, author of Quintet: Five Journeys toward Musical Fulfillment (Cornell University Press, 1998).

“Some people feel that there’s a premonition of death in those last sonatas,” he said. “Yes, there’s a darkness and fatalism, but you find those qualities in Schubert from way back, not only in his last year. One of the things that move you in Schubert is the coexistence of marvelous beauty, sweetness, and grace with a kind of terror waiting to be disclosed.  More than Beethoven, he evokes the uncanny. You feel how vulnerable that beauty is.”

In addition to the Goode piece, Blum’s wonderful book contains stories about Yo-Yo Ma, Jeffery Tate, Josef Gingold and Birgit Nilsson.

Tickets are available for Goode’s Tuesday evening Portland performance.  Go here for information.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 6th, 2008 at 7:37 pm and is filed under pianists. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.