Schubert:
- Fantasie in F-Minor, and more.
The Fantasie for piano 4-hands in F-Minor by Franz Schubert is one of my all-time favorite pieces of music. And to my way of thinking, it is a terrific way to evaluate the sensitivity and overall skill level of the performers.
On this recording, this selection has been augmented by Schubert’s Sonata #18, and also by a couple of shorted selections, as listed below:
Schubert:
- Piano Sonata No. 18 in G major, D894
- Hungarian Melody in B minor D817
- Fantasie in F minor for piano duet, D940, with Jacques Rouvier (piano)
- Allegro in A minor ‘Lebensstürme’, D947
Performed by David Fray (piano)
David Fray returns to the music of Schubert with his second recording of the composer’s piano music, a collection of passionate late works.
We get to hear the Fantasie in F minor D940 and the towering Allegro in A minor D947, ‘Lebensstürme’ (‘Storms of Life’). Fray invited Jacques Rouvier, his mentor and teacher from the Paris Conservatoire, to join him in the studio, making this album a true labor of love.
Although Schubert composed over 20 sonatas, only three were published during his lifetime, of which the G Major Sonata D894, published in 1826, was the last. After Schubert’s death, Robert Schumann described this masterpiece as the “most perfect in form and conception” of all Schubert’s sonatas.
Franz Schubert spent the summers of 1818 and 1824 at the chateau of Count Johann Karl Esterházy, where he taught the Count’s two daughters. There he was exposed to the lively Magyar rhythms and tunes that infuse the Ungarische Melodie D817, a gem he composed in 1824 on his return to Vienna, but which went unpublished until a century after his death.
One of Schubert’s favorite forms of chamber music was the piano duet – he composed some 60 works in this form. The Fantasia in F minor of 1828 is his last and most poetic contribution to the format.
Here is David Fray in Schubert’s piano music and duets from the album ‘Fantaisie’:
The Fantasie that I love begins at about 05:54.
And next, here is David Fray in Schubert’s “Moment Musicaux N°3”:
What amazing playing, and a totally wonderful sound!!
Tags: David Fray, Franz Schubert, Sonata, Fantasie in F-Minor, Allegro in A minor D947, ‘Lebensstürme’