Composer: Franz Peter Schubert
Performer: Adam Laloum
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Harmonia Mundi
Catalogue: HMM902386
Release: 2024
Size: 2.44 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Piano Sonata in A Major, D. 959
01. I. Allegro
02. II. Andantino
03. III. Scherzo. Allegro vivace – Trio
04. IV. Rondo. Allegretto
Moments musicaux, Op. 94, D. 780
05. No. 1, Moderato (C Major)
06. No. 2, Andantino (A-Flat Major)
07. No. 3, Allegro moderato (F Minor)
08. No. 4, Moderato (C-Sharp Minor)
09. No. 5, Allegro vivace (F Minor)
10. No. 6, Allegretto (A-Flat Major)
Under the fingers of Adam Laloum, Schubert’s music becomes a journey. The emotions that enrich it are those of a deeply human artistry and the murmur of a voice that still moves us 200 years after falling silent. Adam Laloum’s way with Schubert is unique, as his first album (Sonatas D894 and D958) so eloquently demonstrated. A new world awaits us here with the Sonata D959 and the Moments musicaux, whose unassuming title belies the lasting impact they have had on piano lovers.
Adam Laloum has offered low-key Schubert in the past, and it has gone against the current grain of finding big Beethovenian drama in Schubert. Here, in the Piano Sonata in A major, D. 959, he shifts gears a bit. His first movement involves flexible tempos and a good deal of general instability. Then he settles down, resulting in a first-movement-heavy treatment of the sonata. It is unusual and probably fulfills the goal of standing out from the large crowd of recordings of this late Schubert work. Perhaps stronger are the six Moments Musicaux, where Laloum’s perfect control results in crystalline miniatures that truly entrance the listener if external thoughts are set aside. Sample the Allegro, D. 780, No. 3, a perfect miniature. Harmonia Mundi finds idiomatic sound at the Théâtre Auditorium de Poitiers but mikes Laloum too closely, picking up a good deal of non-musical noise. Laloum is perhaps a pianist who excels in music of small dimensions, a valuable thing in a field where heroics are usually what is valued, and he produces an excellent example here.