Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Moments musicaux, D780 (1823-1828)
Two Scherzi, D593 (1817)
Drei Klavierstücke, D946 (1828)
John Damgaard (piano)
rec. 2024, Concert Hall, Danish National Academy of Music, Odense, Denmark
Danacord DACOCD 980 [70]
This disc was a bit of an adventure for me. I may have heard these pieces over the past half-century, but never listened to them systematically. Confession: I enjoy the very little of Schubert’s music that I know. The Piano Trio in B flat was used in the score of the 1975 film Barry Lyndon, hence its popularity then. Winterreise is my perennial favourite, as is the ballet music to Rosamunde (which Arthur Sullivan and George Grove of Dictionary fame rediscovered in a bookshop in Vienna). Then there are the Impromptus, and that is about it.
Six Moments musicaux [musical moments] may have been meant as a cycle or a collection of individual pieces. No.3 was published in 1823, No.6 in 1824, and the whole set in 1828. It has been suggested that some of the pieces reflect nature. The liner notes say that Schubert put “anything he experienced into music – water flowing, hunting scenes, galloping horses, thunder […] and walking”. As his 1822 piano work, the Wanderer Fantasy D760, may suggest, “wandering” was one of his great pleasures, especially in the Austrian Alps.
The first Moment musical opens with a “hunting horn”, the second is a kind of lullaby. The well-known No.3 is a vibrant dance which contrasts major and minor keys. No. 4 seems to nod to the Baroque era. No.5, the most complex, moves from a fiendish opening to a cheery conclusion. No.6 has all the appeal and refinement of a Viennese drawing room soirée.
The liner notes tell us that Schubert was working with the sonata form when he wrote Two Scherzi, and suggest that these “charming movements” could well have originally been meant for a sonata. The scherzo in B flat major, a waltz/Ländler, progresses in a disarming manner. The D flat major scherzo, much more extrovert, begins with a peasant dance. Both pieces have contrasting quieter trio sections. They are played here seductively and stylishly.
We do not know what connects Drei Klavierstücke [three piano pieces]. They are individual numbers but may have been designed to be played together in sequence. Another suggestion is that they may have been intended as another set of impromptus. John Damgaard shares the current opinion that they are a unit, “a sonata […] and not a sonata”. The set lasts just shy of half an hour.
The Allegro assai is dynamic but with a thoughtful middle section. The Allegretto employs a tune from Schubert’s 1823 opera Fierrabras D796; there are two contrasting episodes, one lively, the other more restrained. The Allegro is the briefest but has the most virtuosity, with a bracing pace and off-beat rhythms in the outer sections and a quiet trio.
Danish pianist John Damgaard studied at the Eastman School of Music in New York and at the Royal Danish Conservatory of Music in Copenhagen. His teachers included Georg Vásárhelyi, Ilona Kabos and Wilhelm Kempff. He has held several teaching positions in Denmark; he was a Professor of Music at the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus in 1984-2007. He has performed around the world, in a repertoire oriented towards the classical and romantic periods. He is also an enthusiastic promoter of Danish music. His recordings include the complete piano works of Maurice Ravel, and Schubert’s all finished sonatas.
The disc has vast competition in this repertoire. I would not know where to begin any further exploration of this music. I only know that I enjoyed John Damgaard’s performances, absorbing and moving. It has been a fascinating learning curve for me, in listening and in researching the pieces.
John France
Buying this recording via the link below generates revenue for MWI, which helps the site remain free.
