Piano Music for Four Hands Vol. 5

Abstract

Considerable argument has taken place over this piano duet. For some time it was thought to be a "missing" Schubert symphony, composed at Bad Gastein. But modern musicological opinion is that the "Great" C Major Symphony was composed there, and that there is no missing work. Nevertheless, the character of this piano duet so strongly suggested symphonic form that several different orchestrations emerged during the nineteenth century; of these, Joseph Joachim's emerged victorious. The twentieth century English composer and conductor Raymond Leppard attempted his own orchestration, one that is both more imaginative and colorful and truer to Schubert's own manner or orchestration (Joachim's sounds very much like Brahms). The opening Allegro moderato is indeed symphonic in scope and drama. In the Andante con moto second movement Schubert seems to poke fun at his own stylistic habit of leaping to unexpected keys; when he does so here, the "textbook solution" key is reasserted through commonplace dominant chords, as if a schoolmaster has corrected an errant pupil. The scherzo is a strange piece, relieved by a trio which seems to strive to be as predictable as possible. The finale is predominantly humorous, despite the appearance of some noble lyrical passages.