We have detected that you are using an adblocking plugin in your browser.

The revenue we earn by the advertisements is used to manage this website. Please whitelist our website in your adblocking plugin.

LEBRECHT LISTENS | András Schiff Redefines The Encore

By Norman Lebrecht on November 25, 2016

Andras Schiff explores links to Schubert, Mozart, Haydn and Bach in an album of encores which adds up to humble restraint and deep introspection.
Andras Schiff explores links to Schubert, Mozart, Haydn and Bach in an album of encores which adds up to humble restraint and deep introspection.

András Schiff: Encores after Beethoven (ECM)

★★★★ (out of five)

In a reflective program note, the ex-Hungarian pianist Sir András Schiff remembers being rebuked as a young Vienna debutant for playing “a prematurely given encore.” The caution, he says, was “golden advice.” The encore, if given, must be timed and attuned to how the audience has responded to the concert. It should be neither hasty nor frivolous, not too soon and not too much.

This album gathers together the encores that Schiff gave over the course of a Zurich cycle of the 32 Beethoven sonatas in 2004-5. The seriousness level is set high, and there are no obvious crowd-pleasers. This is music to send people home with Beethoven in mind and a slightly less furrowed brow.

Schubert makes an ideal dessert; the lightest of three pieces is the B-minor Hungarian melody (D817), which Schiff plays practically in his native tongue. Mozart’s “Little Gigue” (KV574) and Beethoven’s playful Andante favori come naturally into reckoning, but there is real nutrition, too — two movements of a G-minor sonata by Haydn, master of sonata form, and four meditations by J S Bach, master of everything.

If you thought of encores as sweetmeats, this album redefines the genre. Each piece is not so much a cap on the proceedings as a new line of inquiry, a way of keeping all the evening’s music in mind while continuing to explore its possible ramifications. Schiff plays the encores with humble restraint and deep introspection, never going for the easy goal. The applause is hesitant, half-muted, a little stunned.

András Schiff: Encores after Beethoven (ECM) is available at Amazon.com and iTunes.

#LUDWIGVAN

Want more updates on Toronto-centric classical music news and review before anyone else finds out? Follow us on Facebook or Twitter for all the latest.

Share this article
lv_toronto_banner_high_590x300
comments powered by Disqus

FREE ARTS NEWS STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX, EVERY MONDAY BY 6 AM

company logo

Part of

Terms of Service & Privacy Policy
© 2024 | Executive Producer Moses Znaimer