Over the last decade András Schiff has made some fascinating forays into the possibilities of historically informed performance, in repertoire from Haydn piano sonatas to Brahms concertos, using instruments that have ranged from an 1820 fortepiano that once belonged to the last emperor of Austro-Hungary, to a Blüthner grand made in the middle of the 19th century. Schubert sonatas featured prominently in those forays, and now Schiff has turned his attention to the same composer’s chamber music, performing the two late piano trios, the B flat D898 and the E flat D929 on a fortepiano, with violinist Erich Höbarth and cellist Christophe Coin.
The fortepiano that Schiff was playing was not identified in the programme, but it was certainly an instrument with a beautifully even tone, almost bell-like in its upper registers, and with a well-defined, almost reedy bass. It allowed Schiff to provide the launching pad for both these performances, whether giving a springing vitality to the opening movement of the B flat trio, or attacking the E flat with forthright intensity, and regularly providing pearly decoration to the strings’ melodic lines, together with Höbarth’s little touches of portamento and Coin’s self-effacing security.
