Credits:

Valery Afanassiev

Description:

The second live recording of Schubert by the most gifted pianist of our time, Valery Afanasiev, who is renowned as one of the most gifted pianists of our time, performing in Japan in 2005. This is the second live recording of the all-Schubert program, following the previous recording (WAKA-4115-16/Schubert: Piano Sonata No. 20 & 3 Piano Pieces D.946), which won the "Record-Geijutsu" special prize. Schubert is one of Afanasyev's favorite composers, but these three pieces were all recorded for the first time. (However, only Piano Sonata No. 13 was recorded live at the 1972 Queen Elisabeth International Competition in Brussels.) The performances are as one would expect from Afanasyev, with his unique interpretation shining through. From the richly nuanced pp to the intense ff, the way he creates a huge universe of Schubert's works while thoroughly utilizing the possibilities of the modern piano is truly breathtaking.The music is a kind of "Brucknerian Pause," in which the whole world seems to be in a state of suspended animation, and the music is a kind of "Brucknerian Pause" in which the music is a kind of "Brucknerian Pause. The blank space in which all things in the universe, which remind us of "Bruckner's Pause," appear and disappear for a moment, is unique and unique to Afanasyev alone..." (from Tsuneo Sunaga's liner notes) [comments courtesy of Wakabayashi Studio].