Artur Schnabel Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-18 ‘Artur Schnabel pono Philharmonia Orchestra conse Issoy Dobrowen Bt 1021 Artur Schnabel Pe Uae Cee i) vr20 Philharmonia Orchestra 435 PeARTUR SCHNABEL Artur Schnabel (1882-1951) was once described as ‘he most vite, tender passionate and intellectual’ of all pianists. And tis hardly surprising that such fichand inclusive qualities should emanate from a man of exceptional wisdom and wide culture. His wt, too, was proverbial. Asked which school he adhered torte one which makes you playin ime othe one which makes you lay as you ec, Schnabel asked, “Cant one fee in ime Again, fora man who had his Trt Enis lesson a the age of thity-ciht, Schnabel had a remarkable {command ofthe language. healthy sceptical things, be was fond of defining personality’ inpiane-playing as conspicuous and recurrent mannerisms’ and a. Fis devoted and brillant student Sir Clifford Curzon sai, Schnabel didnot restrict, his love of puns a spoonerismsto musi. Af less than succesful vst tothe ‘ents he prose,“ pad ity slings forthese shi filigs” Like al pioneers f the highest distinction, Schnabel has been parodied and riscepresented and he himself was quick to quote critical estimates of him as titer ‘gustee, professorial, schoary and ruminaive” ofa tipsy RISY & bombastic neoromantc of, quite simply, an amateur Vet, so serene and assured snas Schnabel’ at that itnot only stood the test of time bul expanded to become touchstone of quality Eay In isle, Schnabel ws told by his eminent teacher Leschetizhy, You will never be a plans, you are a musician, and he later accepted this ambiguous remark asthe highest compliment, feral he knew to many pianiss who would never be musicians, and he candidly rejoiced in his unusual Focus onthe highest mascal andl spiritual ideals For hin, music was a calling, anda eliion whose demands were to be met with unswerving loyalty, and afer 2 remarkably shot time he discarded those composers who filed to provide him ‘witha musical rather than a mechanical challenge. In is own words, his ‘ncern was ith music that is always beter than can be performed. Schnabelvas a great admirer, fr example, of Chopin and Lise but he nonetheless preferred those composers he considered of prime importance is ciel loves, {Were Mozat, Beethoven, Schubert and Brahms, and of these he was most closely “sociated with Beethoven For many, Beethoven and Schubert ae synonymous. Certainly no other pianist has achieved ate Beethovenian eloquence with such force and ‘scanomy, But Schoabel fou a ditect path to musical tuth, his reward was hard won. Audiences atthe turn ofthe century were disinclined to listen rectals exclusively devoted tothe Viennese cassis, preferring instead a sweeter diet composed langly of short romantic showpieces spiced with hyphenated Bach, Godowsky and Schulz-Evler. Schnabel quickly acquited a reputation as ‘dour and inaccessible and he was let al agaist pianists such 3s Rachmaninov who enjoyed what he considered cheap succes. His wt turned tivestandably caustic and he pounced with sais glee on evidence of provincial ignorance and supericialiy. T am the only pianist who plays a second ha ofa programme as boring asthe fst he quipped and was fond of quoting an American newspaper that scorflly claimed of his Mozart Concerto performance that he even played the pasae work af it meant something” However, an increasing wind of change meant that afer years of neglect and misunderstanding, Schnabel became fist accepted, then legendary and Finally a cult igure. Once seen a cerebral and forbidding he wa ater exalted 3 bath vital and profound. When recognition came twas overwhelming BEETHOVEN: CONCERTOS NOS. 4 & 3 Schnabel recorded the Beethoven Concertos on several acasions, but his set ‘with say Dobrowen and Alceo Galler sadly omits the Fist stl remains the finest of al, Schnabel may have detested recording, referring io EMI's stain 35 the Abbey Road torture chamber yt he invariably transcended his fear and inhibition an captured permaneniy on discal of his iessible ebulience, vividness and characte, Doubtless pained by the odd imprecision of ensemble, lelescoped phase or passing wrong noe, he sought trcessly fr qualities above fn beyond mere accuracy. As he himself putt to his sometimes doubting Thomas’ of a producer,“ could play more perectly, but could not play beter For Schnabel, simple conectness oa literal response to the score were hardly ‘compatible with the highest interpretative or ecretive goals. His temp in both fast and slow movements are exceptionally rapid, and inthe Third Concerto Imusic writen very much in what EM. Forster called “Beethoven's C minor of Hie’) an essential solemnity s balanced by a wholly apt brusqueness, fulminating billance and bravura. The Finale, in particular, proceeds with a ‘hythmic vitality that is atthe very heat of al great music-making. and if the pedal haze in which Schnabel envelops the opening phrases ofthe cenval Lanto Femains conteversial hi failure to dot ever" and cross every inthe cadenza Fs ypically, evidence of an exhilarating rather than an unfocused oe conluned temperament For many, the Fourth Concerto is the most deply sical ofall concertos, ‘yet, again, Schnabel, forever onthe qu vive forall posible complacency or etd notions of interpretation, dismisses conveation in alash. Those who pieturesquely fel thatthe opening isthe stuf of fairy tales suggesting Prince Frimand entering the sleeping palace to avaken io life and beauty, wil be stated hy Schnabel's recess. Once again he replaces Beethovea’s moderato qualification in he opening Allegro with a braso very much his own, aslty Vigour, sweep and continuity that ease all possible sentimersality ot take 2 polar opposite point of view, the gente vitues of, say, Dame Myra Hess's no Tes legendary reading He may occasionally shake aterm such as dolce in the fist movement cadenza bythe suf ofthe neck, but hi apt quality in the