Released for the first time, these 1975 BBC studio broadcast performances find pianist Annie Fischer at her communicative best, and on fine pianistic form. The Schumann Sonata No. 1 holds particular value in that Fischer never otherwise recorded the work. It may be simplistic to peg her acknowledged affinity for this composer as “natural”, yet the ebb and flow of Fischer’s rubato always manages to both characterize and unify the changes of mood and style that permeate this work’s first, third, and fourth movements, while giving full voice to the composer’s wide dynamic range. While the second- movement Aria certainly provides lyrical respite, Fischer’s intensity of expression and heartfelt inflections certainly do not reflect the composer’s “Senza passion” directive, and that’s all to the music’s good.
Sonically speaking, the BBC Schubert Impromptus D. 935 are infinitely superior to an archival recording issued by Hungaroton. In the opening F minor Impromptu, Fischer bounds from the proverbial starting gate like an eager yet focused racehorse, yet giving the cantabile episodes enough room to resonate. Again, the word “natural” encapsulates the total aesthetic rightness of how the A-flat Impromptu so gorgeously and inevitably progresses in Fischer’s pliable hands. Her treatment of the B-flat Theme and Variations Impromptu strikes a happy medium between Schnabel’s angularity and Horowitz’s sense of caprice, while the concluding F minor’s cross-rhythmic accentuations and descending scales pack nearly as fearless a wallop as does Rudolf Serkin’s famously unfettered live 1957 Lugano performance. Self-recommending for all Annie Fischer fans.
