Schubert: Piano Sonatas Vol. 1

Following the complete recording of Schubert's piano sonatas, Martin Helmchen now devotes himself to a new solo project consisting of four double albums, which will be released by 2028, the two-hundredth anniversary of the composer's death. To embark on this adventure, Martin Helmchen has waited until his 40th year, for in his view, an artist needs maturity to feel the challenges posed by the radical contrasts in Schubert's sonatas: "constant, yet never superfluous virtuosity, set against a stark interiority, the exuberant joy of the Ländler, and outbursts of dramatic madness." Recording a complete body of work also meant carefully studying the scores and grappling with the question of which movements the composer left unfinished, and whether one should stop at the point where Schubert stopped composing, because either time had run out or he did not have enough money to buy sheet music? Helmchen has decided to complete these movements, inspired by the recordings and, above all, the analyses of the eminent pianist Paul Badura-Skoda. This first volume contains sonatas composed between 1815 (when Schubert was 18) and 1825. The entire cycle was recorded on a Bösendorfer grand piano at the Kronberg Academy.