Franz Schubert died at the age of 31 in November 1828, some twenty months after the death of Beethoven.  From December 1827 to September 1828 Schubert composed a wealth of piano music, culminating in his final group of three sonatas, in C minor, A major, and B-flat major. Although Beethoven’s musical fingerprints are all over these last works, Schubert did not simply imitate the revered master composer:  he found his own unmistakable way of sustaining large-scale compositions for piano.  With the help of the amazing artistry of pianist Ilya Itin, we will discover how Schubert did this, by exploring issues of lyricism, tonality, and form as they arise in these sonatas, and mostly in the last of them, the Sonata in B-flat, D. 960.

In this lecture-recital, we will explore the life and music of Franz Schubert, one of the most popular yet misunderstood and elusive composers. We will speak about his music as a reflection of the human soul.  Through the prism of the Impromptus op 90 and op 142, I would like to invite the public to immerse ourselves into Schubert’s music of the last 18 months of his life. From his letter “Mein Träum” to Winterreise or a psychological journey into the heart of human psyche.  Schubert compositions transform rather than develop in the strict classical tradition. Through harmonic and rhythmical metamorphosis, Schubert achieves an emotional poignancy that is not only novel but also influenced all the Romantic composers yet to come.  This lecture intends to demonstrate how through his unique writing Schubert reveals psychological and emotional depths yet unknown until then.