Franz Schubert: Piano Sonatas D. 959 & 960

Dong Hyek Lim has long wanted to devote an entire album to Schubert. Now he has recorded two of the three epic piano sonatas that Schubert produced in the final year of his short but prolific life: No 20 in A D959 and No 21 in B flat D960. “These sonatas are both deep, dark, late Schubert,” says Lim, “but they make a good pairing because they are highly contrasted … In D959 Schubert is more determined and clear about what he wants to do. D960 is more Romantic and fragile. I wouldn’t say that Schubert knew he was going to die that year, but I can still feel the depth of these sonatas. Schubert occupies a place between late Beethoven and Romanticism. I feel I must play his music in a Classical way, but I must also let it sing.”