Claudio Arrau used to read “proximity to death” into Schubert’s last piano sonata, and indeed, the work contains many foreboding, dark corners. Yet there’s also plenty of tenderness, poetry, and warmth, and it is precisely these latter qualities that pianist Risto Lauriala holds at arm’s length, as if he’s observing the score in the manner of a detached reporter. The slow movement particularly suffers as a result.
Lauriala’s tempo modifications in the first movement seem to appear from out of nowhere and serve no structural or emotional purpose. Why the sped-up triplet figurations, or the sudden accelerando in the exposition’s first ending? The Scherzo’s outer sections are overly brisk and angular, while the slower Trio features prolonged bass accents similar to Rudolf Serkin’s performances. I’m also baffled as to why Lauriala accelerates over the Finale’s main theme.
The three Klavierstücke also receive rather bleak and bloodless readings. Lauriala’s push/pull rubato in the E-flat major selection doesn’t ring true, while his tendency to slightly speed up in the C major undermines the impact of Schubert’s tipsy syncopations and rhythmic displacements. Obviously an intelligent virtuoso is at work, but ultimately Lauriala’s forced, wrongheaded Schubert interpretations leave an unsatisfying aftertaste.
