Volume Six of Malcolm Bilson’s Schubert sonata cycle covers lesser-known terrain than its predecessors. The E major Sonata D. 459 was first posthumously published as a five-movement composite work. Here Bilson reconfigures the movements for maximum formal and emotional contrast, while omitting the original fifth piece (Bilson feels the latter to be a first movement belonging to another sonata). Likewise, the F-sharp minor Sonata D. 571 joins separate entities that seemingly belong together: a lovely, lyrical Andante, a neat, compact Scherzo, and two unfinished outer movements. Bilson provides his own seamless and stylish completions for the latter. He also completes a magnificent torso of an Allegretto that follows the early C major Sonata’s first three movements.
Bilson’s six-octave fortepiano is modeled after a Viennese instrument circa 1814, and Hungaraton’s close miking magnifies its nasal yet warm sonority and striking registral differentiation. The pianist is most convincing in the slow movements, where he fortifies the lyrical right hand melodies with decisive yet never aggressive left-hand support. However, when power and rhythmic continuity are needed to sustain the sometimes rambling Allegros, Bilson’s nudgey rubato not only impedes the overall momentum but lets you predict these phrasal distensions before they occur (as in the E major Sonata’s Allegro moderato). Similarly, the backbone of the C major Sonata’s opening march figures and scurrying scales (a beta version of the Wanderer Fantasy’s like-minded patterns, perhaps?) softens as the movement progresses, while the opposite should happen. One or two extra ounces of bravura would have been worth the pounds of scholarship. As usual, Bilson supplies compelling, well-researched, and very readable program notes.
