THE
SCHUBERT RECORDINGS
VOLUME II
FOUR IMPROMPTUS, OP.90, D.899
No.1 in C minor (Allegro moderato)
No.2 in E-flat major (Allegro)
No.3 in G-flat major (Andante)
No.4 in A-flat major (Allegretto)
FOUR IMPROMPTUS, OP. POSTH.142, D.935
No.1 in F minor (Allegro moderato)
No.2 in A-flat major (Allegretto)
No.3 in B-flat major (Andante)
No. 4 in F minor (Allegro scherezando)
JOSHUA
PIERCE
$14.95 ~ MS1205
"Joshua
Pierce succeeds brilliantly; every time something repeats, it is varied in
the most subtle manner, so that it retains its place in the structure
without becoming redundant. Beautiful music, performed distinctively, with
great feeling."
Turok's
Choice - Issue No.205, December 2008
"Pierce
is a no nonsense performer...the music is left to speak for itself...[Pierce's
playing] is always direct and fully reliable...Pierce demonstrates a
powerful approach to this music. Climaxes are strongly stated...[Pierce's
playing] is quite excellent overall...I found myself admiring and then
starting to love his forthright interpretations. Notes and recording leave
nothing to be desired."
American
Record Guide
- November / December 2008
"...Seriousness
and breadth rightly give way to lyrical fantasy in Pierce's interpretation
of the C minor Impromptu...Pierce's singing legato fully emerges in a fluid,
flexible account of the A-flat...I appreciate the concluding F minor for
Pierce's crisp articulation and genuine feeling for the composer's
syncopated touches."
Gramophone
- November 2008
"...this assemblage of the eight impromptus of 1826 has Joshua
Pierce playing them as though each set of four were a sonata in its own
right, an emotional unity... Pierce brings a formidable, fluent technique to
these familiar keyboard staples, emphasizing the big Gs of the opening C
Minor Impromptu and making short work of the triplet runs in the pungent
No. 2 in E-flat Major. The evolving melos of the G-flat
Major Impromptu Pierce accomplishes by emphasizing the
bass trill in the manner of the posthumous B-flat Major Sonata. The last of
the D. 899 set, the A-flat Major, has Pierce relishing its
deliberate ambiguity of modality... The
C-sharp Minor middle section brings out rich colors from the Pierce palette,
and the da capo elicits all sorts of liquid ripples and gurgles that must
have their roots in the many an Austrian outdoor excursion...[In the] F Minor Impromptu...Pierce
applies a soothing legato to the filigree of the D-flat Major/Minor Trio
section, impelling it forward in the manner of a real improvisation, trill
and arpeggiated triplets quite pronounced...The piu Presto coda [in the F Minor Allegro scherzando]
proves a moment Mr. Pierce obviously anticipated with his
customary zeal."
Audiophile
Audition - October 2008
"Joshua
Pierce has become one of my favorite pianists in recent years, and the next
time someone asks me why, I'm just going to refer them to this disc of
Schubert impromptus (Opp. 90 and 142), which Pierce plays with the perfect
balance of inwardness and emotion. You can't play Schubert well without
understanding his strange and tragic personality, and on this disc you get
the feeling that the composer is being channeled through the pianist. Is
there higher praise than that?"
CD
HotList for Libraries - October 2008
"This
new recording of the Impromptus, Op. 90 and 142, Volume 2 of a projected
3-volume Schubert series by pianist Joshua Pierce, is a genuine delight. In
these eight pieces, probably the composer’s most instantly recognized and
best-loved works for the keyboard, Pierce shows a very natural rubato, an
appropriately affective use of the pedals, and a keen feeling for the rhythm
and flow of the music...
Too
many performers trade on the most obvious aspect
of Franz Schubert’s romanticism, the soft, sweetly feminine lyricism, so
highly expressive and poetic. But Pierce also captures a wild, manic quality
in the music that was also part of the composer’s character. The dramatic
cadences that interrupt the quicksilver flow of the triplets in the E-flat
Impromptu, Op. 90, No.2, show that Pierce really knows when to "take it
big" (as they used to say in the movies), a flair for the dramatic that
he no doubt honed in the course of many memorable duo-piano recitals with
his partner Dorothy Jonas...
The
thing you need to know about the Impromptu, a form that Schubert seems to
have created, is that the name implies an inspired improvisation.
Considering the fact that some of these musical gems have a playing time of
8 or 10 minutes and wander considerably beyond the cozy bounds of their ABA
ternary form, that’s stretching the idea of "working on a riff"
quite a bit. But the impression of spontaneity has to be there, and
in that respect Joshua Pierce’s interpretations are as satisfying as one
could possibly desire...
From
the beginning, Schubert’s contemporaries (Robert Schumann, for one) often
felt that his Four Impromptus, Op. 90 were a sonata in all but name,
although the composer insisted otherwise. There is at least a general sense
of unity here, and Pierce chooses to emphasize their family resemblance
rather than play it down..."
Atlanta
Audio Society ~ August 2008
SELECT
CRITICAL ACCLAIM ON VOLUME I
"…this is impressive Schubert playing, with judicious pedalling, vivid
contrast in tone colour, finely tuned dynamic control and a natural rubato…this is a disc worth
hearing."
MusicWeb International ~
January 2008
"[Joshua
Pierce] applied his mind and heart to every phrase. Nothing is straightforward;
everything is interpreted."
American Record Guide ~
November / December
2007
"Pierce's
interpretations convey
undeniable enthusiasm, energy and sincerity...[a] gifted, charismatic pianist."
Gramophone ~ October
2007
" Joshua Pierce
offers a distinguished Schubert disc."
Turok's Choice ~
October
2007
"Brilliant."
CD HotList ~ September
2007
*
* *
What
is an Impromptu? Presumably something unpremeditated, unplanned. But
how does that apply to a written-out, printed piece of music in an A-B-A
ternary form— boxes within boxes and about as basic and locked-in as a
musical form can be?
To
understand this apparent contradiction and to recapture the magical
freshness of the Schubert Impromptus when they first appeared in the
1820s, we have to return to that heyday of early romanticism in central
Europe when the rise of the middle class – yes, the famous Bourgeoisie
– meant a piano in every parlor and hausmusik in every household.
The eighteenth-century musical salon took place in the mansions of the
aristocracy and the tradition passed on to the new rich of the next
generations who carried it forward. In particular, well-to-do young women
learned to play the piano under the tutelage of some of the leading
composers and pianists of the day and whole new genres of music—lyric,
dreamy or even dramatic character pieces for solo piano and new kinds of art
songs—came into being expressly for the hausmusik market.
Whereas
baroque and classical music were elegant, austere, precise, contrapuntal,
tough to the point of being macho, highly structured and, at the same time,
highly ornamented, the new romanticism was sweet, soft, feminized, highly
expressive and poetic. But there is another side to this picture. Alongside
the poetic lyricism, there is also that darker and more intense strain of
bohemianism, despair, and wildness perhaps best exemplified by the stories
of E.T.A. Hoffmann (who was also one of the leading composers of the day),
the schizophrenic personality of Robert Schumann (who ended up in an asylum)
and the demonic public figures of Paganini and Liszt. We now also know that
the real story of sweet and gentle Franz Schubert was actually one of (to
quote a leading authority) "alcohol abuse, manic depression, syphilis
and hypersexual activity."
*
* *
Joshua
Pierce adds his interpretations of Schubert to his extraordinarily vast
collection of classical, romantic and modern pianism. Pierce is one of the most
versatile virtuosi of our time. His series of recent recordings of major works
for piano and orchestra from the great composers of the late eighteenth and
early nineteenth centuries to the complete Beethoven Concertos to the Schubert
solo keyboard masterpieces recorded here to the romantic world of Liszt and
Brahms form an extraordinary testimony to the mastery and enormous range of an
artist who is also known for his performances of twentieth century repertoire
from Gershwin to Cage and beyond. This huge range and varied repertoire –
encompassing the standard repertoire, contemporary work and rediscovered
masterpieces of the past – are unique among contemporary pianists .
