Florian Krumpöck takes longer timings than usual to get through Schubert’s B-flat D. 960 sonata. These result less from slow tempos than from the pianist’s persistent modifications of basic pulse by way of tenutos, tapered phrasings, and rubato, along with rallentandos that are frequent, predictable, and often ineffective. There’s no question concerning Krumpöck’s genuine musical instincts and cultivated pianism (I’ve previously heard him play Schubert gorgeously and stylishly both in concert and on disc). In fact, the Scherzo’s outer sections dance with soaring simplicity and bracket a deliberately-paced yet well-proportioned Trio. Still, Krumpöck tries too hard to interpret, and generally lacks simplicity.
Similar virtues and drawbacks apply to the “little” A major sonata. Here Krumpöck stretches beats in the first movement’s opening theme to the point where the work nearly ends before it begins, and he makes heavy weather of the finale’s transitional sequences. Yet the latter movement also features fleet and supple finger-work and intensely surging unison octaves. The sonics capture the Blüthner piano’s light bass, colorful middle register, and mellow top range accurately and well, although slight but noticeable ambient changes (9:48 into D. 960’s first movement, for example) betray rather than conceal editorial handiwork.
