Artur Schnabel: piano worksCPOSchnabel was probably the most influential pianist of the 20th century, if by no means the most popular. The great crowd pleasers were Russians and Poles. Schnabel (1882-1951) was a Vienna-trained intellectual who edited Beethoven and Schubert sonata editions and performed with a blazing disregard for occasional wrong notes.Schnabel was the first to record the 32 Beethoven sonatas and to perform the late Mozart concertos. A man of limitless curiosity, he softened his demeanour with twinkling wit. Many of his quips and his recordings are still doing the rounds today.Telling everyone he was first and foremost a composer, he was very little performed. His late works, of which he was proudest, are severely atonal. The music here dates from around the First World War, much of it long-lost.A piano quintet of 1915-16 oozes Viennese charm with a sour undertone, not unlike Ravel’s La Valse. At almost an hour it tests the patience, but the personality behind it is recognisably Schnabel – a man who always liked to have the last word. Other works include a piano sonata and two sets of songs. The earlier the music, the more playful it gets. Irmela Roelcke is the pianist behind the project and her persistence really pays off. Next time you listen to a historic Schnabel recording, try some of this for dessert.___Norman Lebrecht is a regular presenter on BBC Radio 3 and a contributor to the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and other publications. He has written 12 books about music, the most recent being Why Mahler? He hosts the blog Slipped Disc.
