Kristian Bezuidenhout: Schubert

Schubert wrote a number of large-scale piano sonatas, one of which concludes this delightful survey of his music. Alongside, he composed fantasies, waltzes, marches and minuets – small but perfectly formed examples of the composer’s apparently boundless creativity.

The first half of the recital tells a fascinating story of Schubert’s musical life. The programme ranges through a variety of moods, resting for a while to explore a particular key or style, before shifting to a different musical landscape. The opening Fantasy was written when Schubert was a precocious 14-year old; immediately following is an Allegretto written the year before his death.

The substantial Sonata in E flat is full of charm and sunshine, though with a few thorny encounters along the way.

Kristian Bezuidenhout is the ideal performer of these expressive and intricate works and in today’s concert will play them on the fortepiano, an instrument from Schubert’s own era.

Kristian Bezuidenhout fortepiano