{"id":119125,"date":"2025-11-03T13:55:56","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T18:55:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=119125"},"modified":"2025-11-03T13:55:56","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T18:55:56","slug":"scrutiny-communion-music-sir-andras-schiffs-return-koerner-hall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2025\/11\/03\/scrutiny-communion-music-sir-andras-schiffs-return-koerner-hall\/","title":{"rendered":"SCRUTINY | A Communion With Music Itself \u2013 Sir Andr\u00e1s Schiff\u2019s Return To Koerner Hall"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Sir
Sir Andr\u00e1s Schiff performs at Koerner Hall (Photo: Lisa Sakulensky Photography)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Royal Conservatory of Music: Sir Andr\u00e1s Schiff, piano. November 2, 2025, Koerner Hall.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

There was something almost domestic about Sir Andr\u00e1s Schiff\u2019s return to Koerner Hall \u2014 his eighth visit, and by now more an intimate conversation than a display of technical prowess.<\/p>\n

Comfortably predictable yet constantly surprising, it felt a bit like revisiting a favourite uncle, full of charming stories and anecdotes, with a few familiar ones mixed in. He walked on slowly, head bowed and palms clasped at his chest, took a gentle bow, and immediately set to playing the Aria from Bach\u2019s Goldberg Variations. It was pondering without being ponderous, profound yet naturally flowing, allowing moments of polyphonic tension and release to register with unforced clarity.<\/p>\n

\"Sir
Sir Andr\u00e1s Schiff performs at Koerner Hall (Photo: Lisa Sakulensky Photography)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

No Program<\/h3>\n

With no printed program \u2014 now standard practice for Schiff\u2019s recitals \u2014 the audience might well have expected the entire set of variations, a longstanding calling card of the pianist.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t worry! I am not going to play the whole thing,\u201d he said wryly to the full house.<\/p>\n

Probably nobody would have objected if he had. Instead, he shaped the ensuing nearly three hours of \u201cnothing but very good music\u201d as a reflection on musical lineage \u2014 Bach and Mozart in the first half, Haydn, Beethoven and Schubert in the second.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom there it was all downhill,\u201d joked Schiff, referring to the composers who came after Bach, \u201cthe greatest composer of all time \u2014 and the great four, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, and Schubert.\u201d For those fortunate enough to have attended his previous Koerner Hall visit in 2023, featuring Schumann and Mendelssohn, the intended irony could not have been lost.<\/p>\n

They also had the opportunity to rehear Bach\u2019s youthful Capriccio on the Departure of a Beloved Brother, preceded by Schiff\u2019s genial spoken introduction of its main themes. His musical reading was equally full of charm and delightful storytelling. A sense of free-flowing discovery and spontaneity shrouded this and the subsequent G major French Suite, each movement marked by its own distinctive timbre.<\/p>\n

In lesser hands the forward-moving tempi might have verged on the rushed, and the near absence of una corda did produce a somewhat monochrome palette. But the finely spun ornaments \u2014 especially elaborate in the repeats \u2014 prevented any hint of monotony. From the suite, Schiff singled out the concluding Gigue, juxtaposing it with Mozart\u2019s \u201cLittle Gigue,\u201d a highly chromatic, almost Schoenbergian polyphonic labyrinth, to illustrate Mozart\u2019s debt to Bach.<\/p>\n

Schiff couldn\u2019t resist a political aside either, celebrating the suite as a truly European genre, \u201cI really believe in a united Europe. The Brits did a stupid thing. Imagine if the Gigue decided to step out of the Suite and declare independence!\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cblack\u201d key of B minor was the connecting thread for his next pairing \u2014 Bach\u2019s B-minor Prelude and Fugue from Book I of the Well-Tempered Clavier and Mozart\u2019s enigmatic B-minor Adagio, in Schiff\u2019s view both meditations on mortality. The Prelude was solemnly prayerful, searching, as if probing ever deeper shades of black; Schiff\u2019s fluttering pedalling kept the texture limpid. In the Fugue, every complexity of its high chromaticism was savoured, consoled by the flowing countersubject, producing a transcendental narrative arc.<\/p>\n

With natural forward momentum, Schiff made as persuasive a case as possible for Mozart\u2019s Adagio, a work that requires unrelenting concentration and conviction \u2013 especially when performing both repeats. A radiant Italian Concerto, ever so slightly smudged around some of the edges, closed the first half with exuberance.<\/p>\n

\"Sir
Sir Andr\u00e1s Schiff performs at Koerner Hall (Photo: Lisa Sakulensky Photography)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Second Half<\/h3>\n

For the second half, the Steinway was replaced by a B\u00f6sendorfer, offering, as Schiff put it, \u201ca diversity of instruments\u201d and a distinct \u201cViennese accent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Haydn\u2019s F minor Variations were another welcome reprise from his previous visit. Imbued with poetic poise, Schiff subtly traced the shifts from the melancholic minor-key variations to the serenely glowing major ones. The B\u00f6sendorfer\u2019s thinner treble and deeper bass allowed him to illuminate Haydn\u2019s polyphonic undertones while bathing them in a veiled dreaminess.<\/p>\n

The final pairing of the program continued the theme of late-period composition. As Beethoven\u2019s last work for the keyboard, the Op. 126 Bagatelles stand as a condensed summation of his late style \u2014 miniature string quartets in spirit, kaleidoscopic in character, and rich in contrast. Schiff approached them not as trifles but as self-contained narratives, each revealing a distinct emotional landscape. His playing combined deep, resonant attack with quiet, unforced grandeur.<\/p>\n

The second Bagatelle, with its mercurial shifts and inward lyricism, felt almost Schumannesque in its duality; the third was meditative, the fourth capricious and storytelling, the fifth pastoral in its calm, and the sixth marked by an air of resignation. Schiff\u2019s command of colour and articulation lent coherence to these vignettes without smoothing away their eccentric edges \u2014 a late-Beethoven world rendered in brilliant microcosm.<\/p>\n

If Beethoven\u2019s Bagatelles distilled a lifetime\u2019s invention into concise form, Schubert\u2019s Drei Klavierst\u00fccke opened a door to the beyond. Schiff\u2019s interpretation emphasised their haunted beauty, with an imposing left hand that brought out an even darker undercurrent. His playing was noble and poetic, yet entirely unsentimental.<\/p>\n

The second piece, in particular, emerged as deeply poignant. Its Lied-like opening melody repeatedly interrupted by nightmarish visions and stifled cries; each return of the lullaby theme felt more remote, more unreal \u2014 a blurred threshold between dream and death. In the final reprise, Schiff introduced subtle ad-libitum tremolos, heightening the sense of echo and estrangement.<\/p>\n

Final Thoughts<\/h3>\n

The packed audience could hardly have expected an encore after such a satisfying conclusion to such a long program. Yet, Schiff rewarded their enthusiasm with Chopin\u2019s A minor Waltz, delivered with unhurried warmth and understated melancholy \u2014 a moment of solace after the spectral Schubert.<\/p>\n

Clearly it wasn\u2019t all downhill after the fab four.<\/p>\n

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There was something almost domestic about Sir Andr\u00e1s Schiff\u2019s return to Koerner Hall \u2014 his eighth visit, and by now more an intimate conversation than a display of technical prowess.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":117,"featured_media":119127,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[41660,76,19,47,52,63],"tags":[5938],"yst_prominent_words":[6606,32217,13893,31424],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/11\/Copy-of-REVIEW-2025-11-03T135153.433.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-uZn","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119125"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/117"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119125"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":119132,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119125\/revisions\/119132"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119125"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=119125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}