BBC Radio 3 Record Review 12th May 2018 Recording of the Week
The heavenly lengths of Schubert’s last piano sonata and second set of impromptus: Marc-André Hamelin captures the other-worldliness of these sublime, quintessentially ‘late’ works as do few other pianists.
His playing is stunningly beautiful with some wonderful varied timbres, particularly when the music modulates to distant keys…There are brilliant moments, too, in Hamelin’s performance of the D935 Impromptus. I was particularly bowled over by the variety of sound and character that he extracts from the Rosamunde Variations. BBC ****
This is spacious Schubert, secure, august and unrushed... it may be in the Sonata’s Andante that the originality of Hamelin’s reading becomes fully evident. With perfect poise, exquisite voice-leading lends the opening theme a chaste, heroic, noble character. Gramophone
There are outstanding recordings of these works by artists such as Schnabel, Lupu, Brendel, Curzon and Richter. This recording by Hamelin is exceptional and it deserves to be placed in the pantheon of great Schubert recordings alongside these artists. MusicWeb
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