Franz SCHUBERT<\/p>\n<\/div>
Sonate en r\u00e9 majeur op. 53 D. 850<\/p>\n<\/div>
23 juin et 3 septembre\u00a01969. 1er f\u00e9vrier 1970. Studio Columbia, 30th Street, New York<\/p>\n<\/div>
LP: Columbia MS 7443<\/p>\n
CD: \u00a0Sony Japon SICC 538<\/p>\n
Coffret Sony 88875026172 (12 CD Eugene Istomin, The concerto and solo recordings)<\/p>\n<\/div>
Schubert.\u00a0 Sonata in D D. 850<\/b><\/p>\n
He played this sonata very often in the sixties and seventies. He liked to draw a parallel with Beethoven\u2019s Waldstein Sonata<\/i>, with which it has some points in common, particularly the drive of their first movement. It is one of the very rare Schubert\u2019s optimistic work. Istomin made a point of recording this Sonata, insisting to make one more session whereas Andrew Kazdin, a perfectionist himself, found the recording flawless. Some years later, Istomin considered that the first movement was a bit too fast, but was completely satisfied with the three other movements.<\/p>\n
Account of James Gollin in his biography:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In 1968, Columbia also released Eugene\u2019s recording of the Schubert Sonata in D Major, D.850. Eugene developed his \u201ccrush\u201d on the piece after listening to Artur Schnabel\u2019s recording.\u00a0 The sonata, he said rightly, is \u201cvery, very virtuosic and excessively manic,\u201d with an incredibly beautiful second movement, \u201cfull of all kinds of offbeat stuff that Harold Brown would have loved.\u201d The third movement is a L\u00e4ndler, a piece in three-quarter time somewhat like a waltz. It is \u201cthe most famous in Vienna,\u201d Eugene said, and so hard that at first he despaired of ever being able to do it justice. As usual, he persevered. \u201cOne day, when I was learning the piece, I had some friends over because I needed to play it through.\u201d The friends were the Abstract Expressionist painter Barnett Newman, Newman\u2019s wife Anna Lee and one or two others. They sat through the entire forty minutes sonata as it swung back and forth between pyrotechnics and tenderness. At the end, Newman said, in the style of the psychedelic times, \u201cWhat a trip!\u201d The quality of the recording reflects Eugene\u2019s passion for the music, but Columbia made little effort to promote it.<\/p>\n<\/div>