Franz Schubert on a country outing
On the recording of the
Piano Sonatas D664 and
D850
“The weeks in Steyr were
pure A major: like the
Sonata and the [Trout]
Quintet, the ones I
composed there! Deep
contentment, warm,
mild sunlight, cheerfulness
and tranquillity – A major, in short … The
best medicine for melancholy!
And without that,
the whole world turns into
a ‘Nachtstück’…”
Franz Schubert
How, as a performer,
does one deal with these two
“beacons of light” within
a sonata cosmos
that (depending on the count) comprises 21 or
22 works, of which
only 11 were actually completed
(and only 3 published
during his lifetime) and which
is, at best, interwoven with
many a ‘Nachtstück’
with an almost psychedelic
flavour –
such as the middle section of the
Andantino from the ‘Great’
A major Sonata D 959 or the
outer movements of D 784.
Like any interpretative approach
, engaging
with Schubert’s piano sonatas
raises far more questions than
answers can be found.
Much remains conjecture,
much is also very personal.
And so every recording is the
capture of a moment,
which at a later
date might sound
quite differently. And yet
as a performer, one
all too readily succumbs
to the Faustian allure of
the possibility of ‘lingering’ in this
moment.
A pact with the devil?
Florian Krumpöck, piano
Born in 1978, the son of a
cellist and an
art historian,
Krumpöck learnt the art of
piano playing from renowned
pianists such as Rudolf Buchbinder,
Gerhard Oppitz, Elisabeth
Leonskaja and Daniel Barenboim.
In 2011, he was appointed as one of the
youngest General Music Directors
for concert and opera at the
Volkstheater Rostock and as
Principal Conductor of the North German
Philharmonic; in 2012
he was appointed
Principal Conductor of the
Liechtenstein Symphony Orchestra.
Since summer 2015, Florian
Krumpo¨ck has been artistic director of the
Kultur.Sommer.Semmering.
The musician is known for his
solo recitals at international
festivals such as those in
Salzburg, Bregenz, Bad Kissingen
or the Bach Festival in Leipzig
as well as his regular performances
of complete piano
work cycles such as the 32
piano sonatas by Ludwig van Beethoven or the complete
piano sonatas by Franz Schubert.
As a guest conductor,
Krumpo¨ck has performed with,
among others, the
Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the
Philadelphia Orchestra, the
Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra,
the Gulbenkian Orchestra
in Lisbon and the Royal
Copenhagen Philharmonic.
Since the 2018/19 season,
Florian Krumpo¨ck has maintained
a regular collaboration with
the Théâtre du Capitole in
Toulouse, where, among other things,
he successfully conducted the new
production of Janáček’s Jenu°fa
in 2022.
Florian Krumpo¨ck performs as a soloist,
a song accompanist and a chamber musician
in the majority of his
international concerts and
recordings on his own
instruments.
June 2022
www.floriankrumpoeck.com