Paul Lewis plays Schubert in Boston

Grant Chu Covell

[October 2024.]

“The Last Sonatas.” Franz SCHUBERT: Piano Sonata in C minor, D. 958 (1828); Piano Sonata in A major, D. 959 (1828); Piano Sonata in B-flat major, D. 960 (1828). Paul Lewis (piano). Celebrity Series of Boston, New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall, Boston. October 25, 2024, 8pm.

Paul Lewis brought Schubert’s last three piano sonatas to Boston on Friday, October 25. Lewis offered the summation of Schubert’s piano style with artistry and wisdom. These three were written in 1828, the composer’s final year, perhaps in the very last months of Schubert’s life. Beethoven’s influence can be spied here are there, however those characteristics which we think of as “Schubertian” are prominent: lyricism, varied emotional ranges, impetuous harmonic shifts, and perhaps over-generous lengths.

With intermission, Lewis’ program took 2:20 for all three (with repeats) including a 20-minute break before the B-flat major. Lewis grew steadier as the evening progressed. Not that the C minor could be mistaken for an appetizer, but perhaps because the Steinway sounded leaden and Lewis needed time to figure out how to make it yield. I was surprised NEC hadn’t provided a better instrument.

I sometimes think of Schubert’s sonatas as a collection of characteristic pieces. Admittedly, this may diminish these sonatas’ four-movement shape, but take a moment to consider that in these “Zwölf Stücke” we find three scherzos (or minuets), one tarantella (the last movement of D. 958), a fantasy (the slow movement of D. 959), and a rousing hymn (the last movement of D. 959).

As a group of three, we can also hear the opening sonata-allegro movements as variations (in different keys) on the gathering and release of energy and on different ways to establish a key with the fewest possible notes. I hear Beethoven lurking most in the A major sonata. In the last movement, I suspect Schubert would have loved to have included a fugue or something more contrapuntal to contrast the tender melody, but the notes just did not arrange themselves that way. Not to diminish Schubert, but the snappy coda of the B-flat sonata could have been Beethoven’s starting point.

Compared to his 2002 and 2013 recordings (Harmonia Mundi HMC902165.66), Lewis was curious and wiser, pulling us in to discover (or rediscover) Schubert’s innovations, emphasizing the composer’s harmonic detours. And what would be live music without audience participation: Lewis completed the A-major’s slow movement exactly at the top of the hour and the last phrase was accompanied by an audience member’s jaunty cellphone alarm. Lewis continued after a pause, but the moment was shattered. I’m certain most attendees would have forgiven him had he walked off the stage then and there. (After the last sonata, Lewis did not offer an encore despite rapturous applause and several recalls.)

After Lewis’ concert, I revisited another Paul: Mr. Badura-Skoda’s series on fortepiano from 2013 (Arcana A364). Another possibly unhelpful comparison to Beethoven arises: Beethoven works well on pianoforte, and so does Schubert, but Schubert sounds revelatory on fortepiano. A straightforward change of register was one of Schubert’s development techniques. An octave shift could banish storm clouds and reveal sunshine. On modern piano, the low trill in the B-flat sonata encroaches like a noisy neighbor upon Schubert’s otherwise graceful melody. On fortepiano, it’s a simple sound effect, the swish of a wind-blown curtain preparing a new key.