Wednesday, 6 February 2008

Gig-a-Blog™ (Daniel-Ben Pienaar, St Anne & St Agnes)

Friday, 18 January 2008

Daniel-Ben Pienaar, Piano. Schubert Sonatas Cycle I (no. 15, D 840 and no. 19, D958)

This was a monster recital: it's only one and a half sonatas (D840 is just two movements) but it still filled every minute of lunchtime today.

D840: Starts innocently enough - pastoral calm then impassioned fireworks with some great juicy chromatic moments

D958: Fiery start then settles down to a symphonic-length marathon. Some fantastic playing here. These sonatas weren't entirely my thing despite many beautiful moments, but I can't tell you exactly why: maybe it's a product of my unfamiliarity with them, and the seriousness of the listening requirement being quite a tall order for lunchtime. Must try harder Vogel! Meanwhile, hats off to Daniel-Ben Pienaar for fabulous playing on an epic scale.

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