Daniel Barenboim

Programme to include:

Franz Schubert: Piano Sonata in E flat, D.568
Franz Schubert: Piano Sonata in A minor, D.784
Interval
Franz Schubert: Piano Sonata in D, D.850

From 'cries of pain' to 'uncontainable exuberance' - Barenboim explores the emotional terrain of Schubert's piano sonatas.

Such was the baffling neglect of Schubert's music during his lifetime that a popular dictionary of the period, which contained no fewer than five other Schuberts, did not even mention him! Yet he continued to pour forth glorious music, including D.568, a reworking of an earlier sonata that gives the original more time to blossom naturally and incorporates a delightful, skipping minuet along the way.

The cries of despair that litter D.784 reflect Schubert's anguished state of mind at the time as he began receiving mercury treatment for the disease that would eventually bring about his early demise.

Two years later, while staying at a spa, he sensed his fine spirits returning and his rejoicing can be sensed in D.850, a work of uncontainable exuberance and sparkling virtuosity.