"Schubert" - a recent release: Sivan Silver and Gil Garburg (Silver-Garburg piano duo) record late Schubert works for four hands

 

The tradition of composing music for piano four hands originated in the genial salons of the Austro-German upper class. No other prominent composer has left as many works for piano duet as Franz Schubert. His 54 works of the genre (one being his earliest work) would have provided the composer and his friends with many hours of enjoyable music-making, filled with energy and virtuosity, taking place in the lively atmosphere of salon gatherings. As of his early teens and until the final year of his life, Schubert wrote 4-hand works in various forms, those works including fantasias, dances, marches, variations, rondos, sonatas, and more. Several of Schubert's most significant works for four hands had their origins in his two visits to the summer residence of Count Esterházy at Zseliz, Hungary (1818, 1824) where the composer was employed to provide music for the family to play, in addition to giving piano and singing lessons to the two young countesses - Caroline and Marie. By the last years of Schubert's life, there was also an increase in households that could afford to buy pianos, motivating him to write piano duets remarkable in quality and quantity. In the Silver-Garburg Piano Duo's recently-issued two-disc album "Schubert", Sivan Silver and Gil Garburg explore some of Schubert's four-hand repertoire from the composer's latter years. 

On this recording, Silver and Garburg perform one of the major works of the second Zseliz visit - the Variations on an Original Theme in A flat major D.813, published in February 1825. From their plain-sailing, noble presentation of the Allegretto theme, the artists show the listener through the gamut of the variations' contrasting moods, gestures and textures, the cantabile shaping of melodies a constant reminder of Schubert the Lied composer, as the work concludes with a zesty Siciliano offering the primo a concerto-like display of virtuosity. 

As to Schubert's Grand Duo Sonata in C major (1824), the magnum opus of the composer's oeuvre for piano duo (also composed in Schubert's second visit to Zseliz) Silver and Garburg create a coherent stream seamlessly connecting gesture to gesture, unfolding the sudden unconventional shifts woven via the composer's new harmonic routes, with their playing constantly provoking fresh curiosity on the part of the listener. Following the splendid expression the artists give to the restless energy of the Allegro moderato, their reading of the second movement (Andante), carefully paced, empathic and introspective, seems to reflect Schubert's own personal soul-searching. From the Scherzo, ebullient and unbridled, juxtaposing the two main ideas propelling the convivial, zestful conversation between the two sets of hands, the Trio - suddenly sombre, plangent and indrawn - takes the listener once again into Schubert's wistful, ruminative inner world. Delivering the final movement (Allegro vivace) with clarity and vibrance, the artists present its kaleidoscope of splendid, richly dovetailed melodies (one drawing its inspiration from a Hungarian dance loved by the Esterházy patrons) with transitions played out with a touch of whimsy. Schumann had considered the Grand Duo a study for a symphony. Brahms arranged it for orchestra in 1855. Silver and Garburg's performance of it, however, speaks of pianistic expression, articulacy, poise, good taste and balance.

The year of Schubert’s death (he died November 19th 1828) was marked - particularly from its springtime - by an extraordinary burst of artistic creativity, propelled by a frenetic working pace. The four works from 1828 heard on this disc call to mind the diversity of Schubert's writing even in his last months. 

Composed at the beginning of his last year (January-March 1828) and dedicated to Caroline Esterházy (with whom it seems Schubert was deeply in love) the Fantasia in F minor D 940 Op. 103, a work of monumental structure, stands alone in musical repertoire. From the hauntingly beautiful opening melody, via its quicksilver major-minor shifts between journeys to unexpected tonalities, Silver and Garburg present the piece's enormous range of emotions - a stern, majestic section of trills, defiant double-dotted gestures, the playful, kindly “con delicatezza” section and finally a fugue that spirals into a massive structure, finally to invite back the opening melody. One of the subtler performances of the Fantasie I have heard, I feel these artists stand back in order to reveal what lies behind the written notes on the page, as they present the work's rich soundscape and poetry, always staying well clear of over-statement. 

Silver and Garburg create a richly crafted musical canvas in their playing of the magnificent Allegro in A minor Op. Posth.144 D.947 (May 1828), also known as "Lebensstürme" (“Storms of Life”, this sobriquet given posthumously by Anton Diabelli), a work offering insight into the emotional complexity of Schubert’s inner life. From the compelling clamour of the opening chords, through imposing sonorities, rhythmic energy and Schubert's harmonic daring set in the unsmiling key of A minor, to the enigmatic second subject, a somewhat otherworldly hymn-like chorale in the remote territory of A-flat major, the two players conjoin consummately to give voice to the work's electrifying drama and sublimity of expression.

The duo's playing of the Rondo in A major Op.107, D.951 (June,1828) gives delightful expression to the piece's sunny, flowing lyricism, its mood of contented innocence and freely treated decorative themes, their relaxed dialogue enhanced by shimmering statements from the Steinway & Sons piano's silvery descant register. 

The only work Schubert wrote for the organ, the Fugue in E minor, posth.152, D.952 (July, 1828), followed his personal encounter with the works of Georg Friedrich Händel, prompting the composer to endeavour to improve his own grasp of fugue and counterpoint writing, a weakness he perceived in himself. Silver and Garburg's unmannered and transparent reading of the piece proves otherwise, as their clean, uncluttered playing calls attention to every entry of the fugue subject (either true or false), the brilliant interconnecting of the work's thematic material leading to Bach-like sophisticated multi layering.

Israeli-born Sivan Silver and Gil Garburg, now residing in Berlin, have an impressive series of recordings to their names, this double album holding particular meaning for the duo: the first work they played together as students was Schubert's F minor Fantasia. Recorded in September 2021, a coproduction of Radio Bremen and Berlin Classics, the disc highlights the pianists' profound reading into each of the works, their insight, subtlety, aesthetic sense, their understanding of the Romantic musical salon environment and their flawless teamwork. Sivan Silver and Gil Garburg have dedicated the album to the memory of sound engineer Renate Wolter-Seevers, the duo's long-time collaborator and friend.