Franz Schubert Edition: Klaviersonaten Vol. 1: Sonaten in a-Moll D 845 und A-Dur D 959 places Franz Schuberts Klaviersonaten a-Moll D 845 und A-Dur D 959 at the centre. The programme follows no mere succession of separate titles but develops an arc of its own: formal proportion, sonic gesture and the transformation of movement into repose can be experienced as a continuous narrative. Thomas Günther opens up this music with a reading that makes detail audible without losing sight of the larger whole.
Schubert, Franz is the compositional point of reference for this edition. Set against the horizon of Early Romanticism, Romantic music, it becomes clear how many shapes the language of sound, compositional technique and expression can take together. Thomas Günther joins the song-like breadth and the dramatic ruptures of the two sonatas to the nuanced sound of a historical J. B. Streicher grand. The selection leads not into a museum-like retrospective but into a living present of listening: structures become intelligible, the particularities of the works take on profile, and familiar as well as unexpected turns gain weight.
The scoring — Solo instrument, historical fortepiano, piano music — decisively shapes the character of the album. Registration, resonance, breath, touch and silence are treated as musical forces. Where lines overlap, rhythmic impulses gather or tone colours merge into one another, the layout remains transparent. It is precisely this that creates the fine relations which open up further on repeated listening.
Thomas Günther joins technical command to a clear, unforced musicianship. The playing follows the individual character of the works while maintaining an overarching dramaturgy: fragile moments lose none of their tension, virtuoso passages stay articulate, and strong contrasts are not put on display but developed out of the musical material itself. This gives the edition concentration and a convincing inner calm.
The recording carries this concept with particular attention to dynamics, space and tone colour. Hybrid-SACD with a total playing time of 73:14 keeps the sense of closeness to the performance while making spatial dimensions intelligible. Individual voices and layers of sound stand out in relief; reverberation and silence become part of the musical…