Composed 1828; 43 minutes

Schubert’s final instrumental work, the vast B-flat Sonata, unfolds unhurriedly. Its first movement, marked Molto moderato instead of a more customary Allegro, begins serenely, questioningly, with no suggestion of urgency. Then, it halts—chilled by a low, rumbling trill. The second time around, another low rumble, this time modulating to a reassuring variant of the theme in a warm G-flat major. Schubert abruptly forces the music back to B-flat, introducing a poignant second theme in a forlorn F-sharp minor. Where is this sonata leading? A third theme, in dancing triplets, briefly lightens the mood but offers no answers. Each recurrence of the ominous low trill deepens the sense of foreboding.

This foreboding turns to grim desolation in the slow movement, in C-sharp minor. The musical texture and the pathos underlining its slowly pulsing theme is reminiscent of the slow movement of the great C major Quintet, another work from Schubert's last year. A warmly contrasting central episode leads back to the desolate opening theme, now punctuated by a new, deep recurring figure and, in a breathtaking moment, a radiant shift from C-sharp minor to C major in a glimpse of the beyond.

The ethereal lightness of the Scherzo, with its unusual marking con delicatezza, seems removed from the everyday world, even while its theme plays with the main theme of the first movement. It throws into contrast the ambiguity of the finale which begins—in a Beethovenian gesture—in the ‘wrong’ key of C minor, rather than B-flat. Schubert brings back the idea—a held octave G—each time the main theme recurs, much as he used the low rumbling trill throughout the opening movement. With its subtle interplay of forward-driving momentum, poignant lyricism and a serenity that cannot be put into words, the movement caps the greatest contribution to the genre of the piano sonata since Beethoven. 

— All program notes copyright © 2025 Keith Horner. 
Comments welcomed: khnotes@sympatico.ca