For the fifth instalment of the critically acclaimed Schubert+ series, Can Çakmur juxtaposes the Viennese composer with his illustrious elder, Ludwig van Beethoven—for the first time in this series.
Having already established his mastery of the lied, Schubert still needed to demonstrate his full potential in the realm of the piano sonata—a form closely associated with Beethoven. In the Sonata in A major, D 664, Schubert abandons the traditionally oppositional nature of the sonata in favour of a melody-driven narrative. The music unfolds like a landscape seen from a traveller’s perspective, offering a conception as fresh as it is personal.
Beethoven is represented by the 32 Variations in C minor, a work that moves from tender yearning to emotional turbulence reminiscent of the Appassionata Sonata.
In the Sonata in C minor, D 958—the first of his monumental final trilogy, composed in 1828—Schubert stakes his claim as Beethoven’s successor in the genre. In what Çakmur interprets as a tribute to Beethoven, Schubert fuses the elder’s dramatic intensity with the lyricism of his own early sonatas. Just weeks before his death, the younger composer finally sits beside the older master—and engages him in conversation on equal terms.
