Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998)

[Mandryka]

Very impressed by what Ragna Schirma makes of the challenging 3rd piano sonata

[DavidW]

Very impressed by what Ragna Schirma makes of the challenging 3rd piano sonata

That is good because it is the only recording I can find on Qobuz of the piano sonatas!

[Mandryka]

There are 14 recordings of the Schnittke string trio (1985) on Presto - it's coming up in a concert in in London (Conway Hall) on Sunday so I thought I'd check it out on the one above. Tonal and (hence) comforting kitchy melodies rapidly undermined by dissonance, never saccherine for long, you know the gen. Quite nice though.

Schnittke's game at this time seems to have been to say in the language of music:  "Hey, we've lost the possibility of consolation in modernity - all you can do is fondly remember what it was like. But as soon as you do you realise that it's all over, all a sham."

[DavidW]

Very impressed by what Ragna Schirma makes of the challenging 3rd piano sonata

Huge thumbs up from me btw!

[Mandryka]

The second sonata as played by Tchetuev is a wonderful thing - I'm starting to think the Schnittke sonatas are a summit of his later style.  The three seem to make a real set - they've got a similar mood.

The recording has an enormous dynamic range - you need a system which sounds good at the extremes!

[relm1]

The second sonata as played by Tchetuev is a wonderful thing - I'm starting to think the Schnittke sonatas are a summit of his later style.  The three seem to make a real set - they've got a similar mood.

The recording has an enormous dynamic range - you need a system which sounds good at the extremes!

This cover should be used as an eye test.  I couldn't figure out what works were on the recording till I realized the work is practically invisible.  A release for those with perfect vision.

[DavidW]

This cover should be used as an eye test.  I couldn't figure out what works were on the recording till I realized the work is practically invisible.  A release for those with perfect vision.

I didn't even realize there was text there!  It reminds me of this photo I saw in the Harvard fog art museum.  It was the ocean at sunrise.  At first it looks like nothing but black.  But as you focus on it you see the details of the waves appear.  Pretty cool... this isn't!

[Iota]

The second sonata as played by Tchetuev is a wonderful thing - I'm starting to think the Schnittke sonatas are a summit of his later style.  The three seem to make a real set - they've got a similar mood.

The recording has an enormous dynamic range - you need a system which sounds good at the extremes!

Agreed, what a piece, and what playing! Thematically obsessive, like braided rope at times, a dark and mesmerising second movement, and a climax of intensity in the last movement you don't hear the like of very often. And actually pretty moving I thought.

[Iota]

And finally to the first of Schnittke's piano sonatas (1987) as played by Tchetuev.
This seems a more directly acute and personal psychological portrait than the other two, which reaches the same cold blue/white hot extremes of intensity as the other two, but with more overt tonal passages and somewhat less compact. Tchetuev's playing is as ever extraordinary, the dramatic power he conjures up feels like a kind of nuclear fusion at times.

These three sonatas, in this recording, having been a striking and involving discovery, am very grateful to Bachtoven for the recommendation. : )