Franz Schubert
Sonata B flat Major, D.960 (1828)
1. I. Molto moderato
2. II. Andante sostenuto
3. III. Scherzo. Allegro vivace con delicatezza
4. IV. Allegro, ma non troppo
Impromptus op. 90, D.899 (1827)
5. No. 1, C minor, Allegro molto moderato
6. No. 4, A flat Major, Allegretto
Franz Schubert Ā©
For all that Austrian composer Franz Schubert (1797-1828) was only 31 when he died, like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (dead at age 35), he was not only a remarkably prolific creator but someone who wrote many masterpieces that are amongst the most treasured examples of Western classical music. Although, also like Mozart, Schubert composed operas and liturgical
music, his claims to fame are primarily his symphonic music, the chamber and instrumental pieces, and perhaps most of all his many hundreds of wonderful songs with piano accompaniment.
Schubert wrote much for the piano, whether duet or solo. In the latter category are numerous Sonatas, quite a few with movements unfinished. Some of the later Sonatas are ambitious and
visionary pieces, maybe nowhere more so than in the B flat example (D960), with its contemplative, potentially otherworldly, first movement, which maybe found Schubert looking back to
Beethovenās āPastoralā Sonata (in D major, opus 28) or him anticipating a world beyond Earth.