Originally published on February 21
Garrick Ohlsson’s aristocratic address, patrician playing and masterly musicianship give us Schubert whole, his first and penultimate Piano Sonatas in studied yet spontaneous readings that are structured, striding and seductive, as magnificent as they are malleable, and as dramatic (the emotional flare-up during D959’s slow movement) as they are disclosing. Ohlsson’s dynamic range is wide, his touch equally varied, all faithfully captured by recording engineer Oscar Torres (November 2021) with producer Andrew Keener lending an ear to proceedings, the finished impression being that Ohlsson entered St Silas’s, sat at the piano for a couple of days, and exited having given great service to equally great music. Hyperion CDA68398 is released on March 3.