Schubert & Berg: Piano sonatas

Fazıl Say brings together two, highly contrasted Viennese piano sonatas, composed at either end of the Romantic era. Conceived on an epic scale in four movements, Schubert's Sonata in B flat major, D 960 was written shortly before his death in 1828, while in 1909 Alban Berg ushered in Modernism with his opus 1, the compact, hauntingly lyrical Piano Sonata in B minor. "Franz Schubert was only thirty when he died," writes Fazil Say. "There is a unique depth of sorrow and melancholy here, the pain of parting from this world. Yet at the same time, we feel Schubert's joy of life, his vitality, his attachment, his passion, and even his defiance."

While the Schubert sonata is a recent addition to Say's repertoire, he explains that "I first encountered Alban Berg's piano sonata at the age of 15, and I performed it as a student in Ankara ... I listened to all of Berg's works and he became one of the main figures who opened the door for me to contemporary music ... His opus 1, while anchored in B minor, sails boldly toward atonality and modern expression. It is a one-movement sonata, almost like a ballad or a single dramatic scene from an opera ... The piano is used almost orchestrally, full of colour and intensity. It is a remarkably beautiful piece."