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Schubert - Piano Works
RECORDING OF THE MONTH - GRAMOPHONE, FEBRUARY 2012 Following his Beethoven immersion on record, Paul Lewis returns to Schubert, some of whose sonatas he set down a decade or so ago for Harmonia Mundi, and project left tantalisingly hanging in the air. Well, it was worth the wait. In the intervening time, he has developed into arguably the finest Schubert interpreter of his generation....
Time and again you marvel at the confidence and sureness of Lewis's playing, combined with the finesse and musicality the he has always displayed. It's the kind of playing, in fact, where comparisons cease to matter... In the first movement of the D major sonata D.850, Lewis really brings out the Beethovenian panache of the writing. Few drive through those opening chords with quite as much conviction...
Harriet Smith, Gramophone Seven years have passed since Paul Lewis's last solo Schubert recording, and this latest collection coincides with his continuing series of Schubert recitals. It groups together the three sonatas of 1825 and 1826 – the earliest of them, in C major D840 just a two-movement torso, the others, in D major D850 and G major D894, perhaps the greatest of all the Schubert sonatas before the final trilogy. As Lewis's legions of admirers would expect, they are all superbly well played, with the same clarity and careful attention to every detail that is also lavished on the Four Impromptus of D899 and the three very late piano pieces D946. Unlike some of Lewis's more recent Beethoven performances, there's nothing over emphatic here; he nudges the first movement of the G major Sonata into motion with great tact, neither making it seem rushed nor lapsing into Richter-style immobility, just as he plays down the assertiveness of the first movement of the C major, never allowing his tone to acquire a steely edge. It's a fine, thoughtful set. Andrew Clements - The Guardian Mr. Lewis, the superb English pianist who has spent much of the last decade performing and recording Beethoven, is now focusing on Schubert. In this set he offers richly nuanced, soulful renditions of the Sonatas in C (D. 840), D (D. 850) and G (D. 894), the Impromptus (D. 899) and the Klavierstücke (D. 946), all fine examples of his compelling artistry. Vivien Schweitzer - New York Times
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Beethoven
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Beethoven - Diabelli Variations
DISC OF THE MONTH - BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE, JULY 2011 Let me shout this loud: here is one of the great Beethoven
performances of the age, from one of the greatest Beethoven pianists of
our time...Lewis's fantastic performance is distinguished above all by
his complete understanding of late Beethoven: it is in every page and
phrase of this phenomenal performance. (Michael Tumelty, The Herald)
Surely Lewis is the finest Beethoven pianist of his generation. (IRR Outstanding, International Record Review)
Nothing in music is more exhilarating than a good performance of the
Diabelli Variations, and this one is exceptionally good - torrential
but controlled, and intensely lyrical. Never has Beethoven's monument to
creative invention seemed less forbidding. In Lewis's hands, it gives
the sense despite all its intellectual mastery of being like a gigantic
piece of improvisation. From the first variation, where Lewis's voicing
of the chords brings out their changing harmonies, the interpretation
carries superb conviction. The varied pauses between variations enhance
the sense of drama...The disc is a delight. (David Cairns, The Sunday
Times)
Lewis's interpretation mixes high drama and poetic aplomb
characteristics of a serious musician, flexing his muscles. (Geoff
Brown, The Times)
Mr Lewis keeps all options open in his elegant, sly and richly
characterized performance, providing rollicking humor in the clattering
16th variation, infectious exuberance in the cascading 18th variation,
and mystery in the harmonically searching time-stands-still variation
that follows. Mr. Lewis takes a bracing tempo in the fugue, played with
punchy attacks and admirable clarity. His way with the flighty, delicate
final minuet variation is especially beguiling. Mr. Lewis again proves
himself a major Beethoven interpreter. (Anthony Tommasini, New York
Times)
In a follow-up to his refreshing recordings of Beethoven’s 32 piano
sonatas and five piano concertos, the British pianist Paul Lewis has now
turned to Beethoven’s other great piano score –- the 33 variations on a
waltz by one Anton von Diabelli. And not a minute too soon. His
sparkling tone reminds us that Beethoven was inspired by a dance tune in
a popular style. Even the most intense variations never lose their
lilt. (Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times)
The playing possesses all the dynamism and discretion, the insight and
immediacy, that Lewis poured into that grand project of encompassing all
32 of the sonatas, and is essential listening. Right from the burst of
energy and innocence that Lewis brings to the theme itself, he is a
master of characterisation, pointing up Beethoven’s inventiveness as
well as his architectural acumen, and playing with palpable
concentration and, in the slower variations, with sublime intensity.
(Geoffrey Norris, The Telegraph) Lewis is a pianist's pianist,
one who understands the weight and significance of every note. This is
particularly apparent in the finely-gauged slow variations towards the
end of the set. In between these he floats the complex weave of
Variation 20, with billowing rubato, perfectly catching what his
teacher, Alfred Brendel, once described as "Gentle Grief". Lewis'
Variation 10 is a rush of irrepressible mirth; his Variation 14 - titled
Intermezzo (to Brahms) - could blend with the younger composer's Opus
117. The team at Harmonia Mundi have excelled themselves with a
recording exemplary in its clarity and presence. (William dart, New
Zealand Herald) Pour réellement apprécier les Variations
Diabelli, il vous faut un interprète assez humble pour traduire sans la
trahir l'incroyable variété des rythmes et des styles que le compositeur
a couchés sur le papier. Cet enregistrement de Paul Lewis s'inscrit par
sa plasticité dans la continuité de son intégrale des 32 sonates. Comme
Beethoven qui, pas une fois au long des 33 variations, ne se répète, le
pianiste passe de l'une à l'autre en changeant constamment l'éclairage,
comme s'il jouait à présenter le même objet sous un angle toujours
différent, en révélant une nouvelle dimension du même univers. Pour
respecter le plan de l'oeuvre, il sait toutefois garder bien ouvertes
toutes les avenues disponibles. Et la vraie beauté de la chose, c'est
qu'on y croit tout au long. (Richard Boisvert, Le Soleil)
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Schubert - Piano Duets
Steven Osborne and Paul Lewis - Piano Duet "From the opening thunderclap of the 'Lebensstürme' it is clear that
great things are in store. As furiously impassioned a movement as
Schubert ever wrote, the piece poses some of the thorniest ensemble
challenges to be found among the duet works … Lewis and Osborne meet
these demands with one heart and one mind and doing so, moreover, with
an audacity that doesn't sacrifice a single degree of the work's molten
intensity … No one with a taste for superlative, passionately committed
music-making, ensemble of the highest calibre or some of Schubert's most
beautiful musc can afford to miss this one" International Record
Review
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Schubert - Die Schöne Müllerin
Tenor: Mark Padmore "Following their exceptional Winterreise and now this equally fine Die schöne Müllerin, tenor Mark Padmore and pianist Paul Lewis may be on their way to cornering the Schubert Lieder franchise for the foreseeable future. Besides being the most lyrically beautiful modern rendition of this oft-recorded cycle, the recording is a model of clear, natural presentation of voice and piano in a very complementary acoustic. You probably have another version or two of this essential work; but you still absolutely need this one." David Vernier, Classics Today
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