In a thoughtful and creative program, pianist Seong-Jin Cho groups three groundbreaking pieces with a common theme together, all examine the limits and potential of the multi-movement piano composition. Schubert’s “Wanderer Fantasy”, Berg’s Sonata Op. 1 and Liszt’s Mammoth Sonata, can all be viewed as a single movement fantasy with Sonata characteristics, or as Piano Sonatas with fantastical elements.
Brimming with Schubert’s unique gift for modulation, melody, and sense of drama, the “Wanderer Fantasy” takes a formidable Schubertian to make the contrasting and meandering nature of this work convincing. Cho does produce a tone full of promise, akin to Garrick Ohlsson and Barry Douglas, yet he is slow to find his stride and takes slightly more time in the opening pages. Paul Lewis brings a vast range of colors compared to the others, with a greater awareness of phrasing, especially in the inner lines. In the second slow section, Cho’s vision is muted, whilst Lewis’ hushed pianissimos intensify the anguish, melancholy and solitude. The concluding fugato is successful overall, but just lacks that pristine rhythmic clarity that Lewis brings. Cho’s dynamics are very literal and his approach to pedaling, while highlighting the articulation, occasionally breaks the melodic line. A slight overuse of the pedal blares the rhythmic clarity of semi-quaver passages.
Berg’s sonata Op. 1 is a curious work, full of oxymorons; dissonant but harmonically rich, tuneless but strangely melodic, texturally complex yet transparent. It can have starkly contrasting readings, as can be observed by a close listening to three pianists – Peter Donohoe, Yvonne Loroid and Mitsuko Uchida, all bring varied interpretations, and Cho himself sits alongside these three. He finds a Chopinesque poetry, unlike Uchida’s classicism, Loroid’s elegance and Donohoe’s structural insight. From the outset, Cho Expressiveness is the most convincing of the three pieces in this album. Cho brings a song-like quality to the “langsamere tempo”, and often focusses on the sentimentality of the work, unlike the less affectionate but more clear-eyed and dynamically varied Donohoe. The Sonata finds harmonic resolution with a chord of B minor, which Cho encapsulates in mystery, as if this is not the end of a journey but a promise of things to come.
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Arriving at the challenging Liszt Sonata, there is again an etherealness from Cho, though with the slight reservation of not embracing the breathtaking exhilaration that Zimmerman or Argerich find. Cho has unfaltering energy to deliver the most virtuosic passages with a high level of integrity and Fortissimi all-mighty. He loosens the reins when necessary, but not as much as Zimerman, who unleashes completely. The quieter segments are the most successful, where Cho again produces a lovely cantabile tone in his right hand, and gives thick, hushed chords a special meaning, highlighting the similarities to Schubert’s slow section of the Fantasy. Yet he never quite reaches the same heights of unbridled and spellbinding passion one finds from the comparisons mentioned below. Overall, Cho’s approach sits between the passionate Zimerman and Argerich to the more classical view by Lewis and Brendel.
Cho very much exerts his stamp on these pieces, with obviously well-considered interpretations, executed with a respect to the scores and a pensive quality. One cannot fail to be impressed by the technical assurance of Cho, especially in the Liszt. The subtleties of tone are apparent, but nuances of light and shade, which other pianists find in these works, leave him slightly behind. Recorded in two venues, the engineering is of such precision that the difference in sound between the two acoustics is negligible.
“The Wanderer”
Schubert – “Wanderer Fantasy”, D. 760
Berg – Piano Sonata Op. 1
Liszt – Piano Sonata in B minor, S. 178
Seong Jin-Cho – Piano
Deutsche Grammophon, CD 4837909, LP 4837910
Schubert Wanderer Fantasy – Recommended Comparisons
Liszt Piano Sonata – Recommended Comparisons
Liszt Piano Sonata – Recommended Comparisons
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